A Series of Articles About the Development of a Photography Business

To introduce myself first, I’m John Stevenson, of Colorado Springs in the fine state of Colorado in the U.S.A. And Wayne has very kindly decided to let me write some invited contributions to his blog for a while. I’m in the process of going into business, as PhotoArtCanvas (actually - legally - as Photoscena LLC d/b/a PhotoArtCanvas) and that will be what I’ll be writing about here, at weekly intervals or so.

Moving onto what it is that the business is actually going to provide - well, this all got started via an article I wrote for Harald Johnson’s DP&I website back last fall, reviewing the use of a new digital imaging software package, ArtMasterPro, developed and sold by Fo2PiX Ltd. in the U.K. By that point I had already spent some time on the learning curve for their product, and also with its precursors the buZZ.Pro plug-in filters, and had visited with Don McCrae and Andrew Bangham, two of the principals of the Fo2PiX company. My impression was that this software might open new opportunities in the re-rendering of photographic portraiture, far more subtle but yet a lot more powerful than anything that had been previously demonstrated via the use of the native artistic filters in Photoshop. As far as the overall technique is concerned, please refer to the original article.

PhotoArtCanvas itself became something of a New Year’s resolution to yours truly; originally a bit exploratory and then later involving more of a definitive commitment (including the upfront financial resources). Some of the early notes I made (cryptically) back in mid-January, concerning business goals, read as follows:

1. to produce high quality prints, onto canvas, from digital photographic files,
2. using all-archival grade materials (canvas, ink(s) and protectant),
3. the files to be supplied by customers, or generated via scans of actual photographs,
4. inclusive of a proprietary artistic rendering of the customer’s images (via Fo2PiX’ ArtMasterPro software),
5. inclusion of a proofing step - e-mail based - for the artistic rendering,
6. maximum of two-week turnaround, from receipt of file to shipment of print, and,
7. with just the very best web-based business interface, at www.photoartcanvas.com

I’ve already gone about halfway along the path outlined here, and in enough detail to know that this only represents about half of what’s actually needed. Where is a marketing plan (?), what about real-world production capability (?), etc. etc. So, this is what will be written about in the coming weeks - hopefully with some insights useful to others. Please stay tuned. Any comments and questions very welcome.