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08/19/2008 06:34:16 PM · #1 |
Now don't get me wrong, I've seen many flattering aerial shots of people's property, framed and proudly hanging on their living room wall. And many properties, like big sprawling farms, lend themselves to a great aerial view. But my little house is on a teeny 1/2 acre lot, thickly fringed with big trees, and it's a very plain structure, nothing fancy or elaborate like a Queen Anne or Victoria style house.
So it was shown off basically to its absolute WORST by the gentleman who just knocked on my door 10 minutes ago, trying to sell me an unsolicited aerial pic of my house, for $159 Cdn! Ok, to be fair, the guy's trying to make a buck or two in this business.
However, the composition was terrible, the focal point was the big green slab of tin *roof*, the sunlit colours were blown out, and those features of the property that happened to be in shadow just looked like complete crap.
I smiled sweetly and told him that I'm a bit of a photographer, too, and enter competitions. He just went 'uhhh' then said, 'Ah but you don't have an aerial shot!'
That's when I told him that a new acquaintance of mine does indeed have a lightweight aircraft at a nearby airport...followed by another big sweet smile.
Dang, I should have asked him for the jpeg of the pic so I could post it! :-) |
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08/19/2008 07:07:30 PM · #2 |
So.....did you buy it? :)
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08/19/2008 08:02:54 PM · #3 |
Originally posted by snaffles:
That's when I told him that a new acquaintance of mine does indeed have a lightweight aircraft at a nearby airport...followed by another big sweet smile. |
Damn... I thought you did those by heaving your SLR high in the air with a timer and hoping to catch it :-) [For the record there IS a camera throwing group on flickr] There is a blog somewhere (see if I can find the link) where he built a HUGE stick that could take amazing high end house pictures from 40 foot in the air.... bet chimping is a bitch though :-)
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08/19/2008 08:05:55 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by vxpra:
So.....did you buy it? :) |
Nope, mostly cause a) it was a crap photo and b) I got my credit card bill today, too, and told him so. He offered to take a postdated cheque...but that doesn't change the fact that it's a crap photo! |
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08/19/2008 08:14:26 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by snaffles:
Originally posted by vxpra:
So.....did you buy it? :) |
Nope, mostly cause a) it was a crap photo and b) I got my credit card bill today, too, and told him so. He offered to take a postdated cheque...but that doesn't change the fact that it's a crap photo! |
Hmmmm, well looks like I won't be stealing that business idea. :)
But, seriously, who rents a plane and goes shoot random aerial (or Ariel if you're a little mermaid fan) photos and then walk around trying to sell them. Its not like airplanes are cheap to rent and/or operate.
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08/19/2008 08:19:07 PM · #6 |
| Hey, same thing happened to me about 18 years ago, only it wasn't too bad a picture. I tried to explain we hadn't the money for that kind of thing, and he was still fairly insistent; when I continued to resist he looked around and wanted to know if I had anything to trade - sort of flummoxed me, but I said no. Finally he settled for letting me let his little girl use the bathroom. - Of course now I realize he was only trying to get something back for his work and investment, only then we were really cash poor, and I was quite put out by his aggressiveness. |
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08/19/2008 08:26:19 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by vxpra:
Originally posted by snaffles:
Originally posted by vxpra:
So.....did you buy it? :) |
Nope, mostly cause a) it was a crap photo and b) I got my credit card bill today, too, and told him so. He offered to take a postdated cheque...but that doesn't change the fact that it's a crap photo! |
Hmmmm, well looks like I won't be stealing that business idea. :)
But, seriously, who rents a plane and goes shoot random aerial (or Ariel if you're a little mermaid fan) photos and then walk around trying to sell them. Its not like airplanes are cheap to rent and/or operate. |
My thoughts exactly! A former roommate ran a tandem-jump business, and they charged $250 PER JUMP for people to fling themselves out of a plane 10 000 feet up (with an instructor strapped to their back, lol). I can only imagine how much of that $250 went towards plane rental, fuel etc.
Having said that, I do believe I know where they took off from...umm...that would be right across the frickin street from me! Seriously, there is a 100 acre Xmas tree farm which recently sold, and yes, the seller does have a hangar and two small dirt runways. So I'm guess Mr Aerial Photography is just making the most of the fact that the buyer is not a plane guy, and will probably let runways get overgrown. So in this case it may not have cost him too much to rent a plane.
But, it's still a crap picture!! I've taken far better snapshots of my house than this guy did! [thumb]578016[/thumb]
Message edited by author 2008-08-19 20:29:53. |
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08/19/2008 08:28:27 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by tnun:
Hey, same thing happened to me about 18 years ago, only it wasn't too bad a picture. I tried to explain we hadn't the money for that kind of thing, and he was still fairly insistent; when I continued to resist he looked around and wanted to know if I had anything to trade - sort of flummoxed me, but I said no. Finally he settled for letting me let his little girl use the bathroom. - Of course now I realize he was only trying to get something back for his work and investment, only then we were really cash poor, and I was quite put out by his aggressiveness. |
Was anything missing out of the bathroom afterwards? ;-) |
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08/19/2008 08:32:55 PM · #9 |
| This Group on Flickr seems cool. I wanna get a rig for my point and shoot (no way would I send my SLR up there!) |
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08/19/2008 08:35:25 PM · #10 |
There are companies that make a very good business out of unsolicited aerial photography. They photograph hundreds of properties per day, and even if their sales percentage is low, they can turn a profit.
I actually bought from such a company perhaps ten years ago. The photos were pretty well done, and I knew we would be making substantial changes to the property so it was kind of like documentation of the pre-project condition. |
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08/19/2008 08:44:47 PM · #11 |
| Thanks Art, nothing that I know of, but of course that was before I had all my digital toys. |
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08/19/2008 09:09:46 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by robs:
There is a blog somewhere (see if I can find the link) where he built a HUGE stick that could take amazing high end house pictures from 40 foot in the air.... bet chimping is a bitch though :-) |
That reminded me of this place -- I forgot how I found them, but they make towers up to 65 feet! I think their main market is real-estate photography.
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08/19/2008 09:22:52 PM · #13 |
There's a whole bunch of 'em here.
;-Þ
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