So last week I had the privilege of stepping into a new era in my photography business. “Same-day professional photo printing”. The University of Michigan deserves a special thank you for their event last week which started the who process for me… and helped fund the amazing new printer I recently acquired. The story goes like this…
This thing weighed 125 pounds coming off the truck. I had to call Ryan Prins to help unload it!
I got a call about a month ago asking if I could provide photography services for UofM for a high end event they were going to hold at the JW Marriot in November. The requirements however were outside my ability as a “same day print” service was needed to give 5×7’s to their guests as part of the evening. I told them I’d see if my photo lab could assist me… but never managed to get a call into them. I politely called back and told them I was probably not able to do it since I didn’t have a printer, or knew anyone in the business locally who could provide high quality same day prints. … and … well to make a long story short, I ended up buying a printer and using it at the UofM event last Thursday.
I ended up getting an Epson Stylus Pro 4880… a well respected and revered printer among many professional photographers. What you don’t know is that this printer was not available anywhere in the US as the old model (the 4800) was being phased out for its replacement, the 4880. The new model was slated to ship in late November, which meant two things; No one had the old models in stock in anticipation of the new one, and the new printer wouldn’t arrive in time for my event. What was I to do.
Inside the box – note the 8 different ink cartidges!
Notice it takes up my whole coffee table!
While getting some last minute materials together for the bridal show I participated in a few weeks ago (I meant to blog about that too, but didn’t get around to it), I asked my friend Tim, from my photo lab, Color Inc what he suggested. He connected me with a great supplier in Illinois who just happened to meet with Epson the day before (definitely the right person to be connecting with)! Miraculously he was among the first in the world to get the first shipments of this new printer… and wouldn’t you guess it… I was the first customer to buy one! So I am the proud owner of the first ever Epson Stylus Pro 4880 printer in the world. Yay!
At the JW with Ryan and Jen editing and printing photos
Anyway here’s a sample image (below) from the UofM event featuring Jen Kroll, Ryan Prins (and me) who assisted at the event. Part of the gig involved pasting our photo’s onto a background supplied by UofM which was taken of a building on their campus. While not my style of photography per se, but it was greatly appreciated by the guests at the event, and got rave reviews from the UofM staff compared to previous vendors who provided a similar service for UofM in other states.
