Gift Guide!
Point and Shop
What to Buy the Finicky Photog
By Jaclyn C. Stevenson
What holiday gift do you get for the photographer who has everything, including a camera, lenses, and every possible accessory?
It’s not an easy feat. Like all personal technology, cameras and photography accessories are advancing so rapidly that without specific instructions from a would-be recipient, buying photo-equipment for a favorite photog can be next to impossible for most shoppers.
But photographers at all levels also appreciate a little creativity, and there are indeed some less-risky gift options available, for everyone from the most casual shutterbug to the busiest professional. Here are a few photo-related gift ideas that are a snap to wrap.
Keeping it Personal
With so many online resources making shopping increasingly simple, for example, a great gift with a personal touch could require little more than some savvy surfing – and perhaps some stealthy snooping, too.
Budding photographers in particular are always eager to proudly display a favorite image, and often, those photos are of the people, places, and things they love. By taking something they’ve created and turning into a one-of-a-kind keepsake, gift-givers can wow their favorite photophile with a gift that showcases their best work. Once that photo has been borrowed from the frame, a number of out-of-the-ordinary gift options are available without leaving home.
For instance, Artistic Direct, an online company based in Colorado Springs, Colo., specializes in personalized products and is featuring its line of photo-gifts this season. By simply uploading a photo, shoppers can purchase an array of inexpensive stocking stuffers, including mouse pads, coasters, address labels, mugs, ornaments, or business and calling cards, each emblazoned with nearly any photo and priced from $10 to $20. 
Bagettes, a company based in Prairie Village, Ka., sells nifty, custom photo makeup bags and totes that can be personalized with a photo, logo, or drawing. The company can be found online at www.bagettes.com, and is currently offering a wide range of products, from golf accessory bags to coin purses, small pocketbooks, and wristlets – small 8” x 5” bags than can be thrown in a briefcase during the day and slung on a wrist or belt loop for a night on the town. Bagettes start at about $20, and can feature a full-color or black and white photo.
Similarly, Portrait Weavers based in Lynn, N.C., has been in business since 1988 creating woven blankets, throws, pillows and wall–hangings. Rather than transferring the image onto fabric, however, Portrait Weaver’s products are actually woven on a loom using four different colors of thread, according to national sales manager Chris Seman.
“It’s a great way to render art,” Seman said of the blankets, which measure 54” x 70”. “There are over eight miles of thread woven into the tapestry pattern that creates one blanket, so the colors are crisp.
“They’re also 100% cotton,” he continued, “so they are machine-washable and don’t fade.”
Portrait Weavers sells directly only to business owners and photographers who market and sell their own work, but the blankets are available through portrait and photography studios, as well as through some retail businesses, including the online store www.CustomCreationsunltd.com. They retail for approximately $150.
In the Bag
For the photog in search of a more utilitarian gift, a snappy new satchel in which to cart equipment is a safe bet. Billingham Bag of England offers a wide range of leather and canvas bags designed for avid photographers, travelers, or those who frequently find themselves battling the elements in search of the perfect shot.
These higher-end bags, which retail for approximately $75 to $600 depending on the size and model of the bag, are weatherproof, include shock-absorbing foams, and float (when empty). They also include ‘AntiFray’ material inside to prevent fibers from making their way into cameras and lenses, and ‘SuperFlex’ inserts to keep separate pieces of equipment from knocking together. Billingham also offers bags made from a material called Nytex, for extremely heavy use, and recently upgraded its entire line to include StormBlock, a new waterproof material developed by the company, which replaces the use of a rubber layer. The new material makes the bags lighter, and more resistant to sunlight and ozone exposure. In addition to bags for SLRs, video equipment, and compact cameras, the company manufactures pouches for cell phones or other small electronics, and ‘Simplies,’ drawstring bags appropriate for extraneous lenses or flashes.
Booking It
Once those shots worthy of sharing are taken, many intermediate photographers are forever in search of the best way to display their photos. While everyday shutterbugs keep a stack of 4x6s in the living room or pepper their bookshelveswith albums, more experienced photographers often wish for a more sophisticated way to display their work, without matting and framing each favorite print and sacrificing precious wall space.
Thomas Lombardo, founder and president of The House of Portfolios Co. Inc., offers a unique and painstakingly crafted gift idea for photographers hoping to display their best work in the best possible setting. Lombardo’s sole craft is that of creating one-of-a-kind, durable portfolios for photos and artwork, and the native of Italy personally oversees a small staff and continues to create new designs.
“This is what I love to do,” Lombardo said, hunching carefully over a pale green album he had just created one day prior to showing it at the PhotoPlus PhotoExpo in New York City recently. The design was so new, in fact, that Lombardo had yet to fix a price for the book, although he said the creation would likely sell for about $200. He explained that the new design, a light-weight, fabric-covered folio that opens via two flaps that meet in the middle and tie with a delicate ribbon, will be available in all 40 colors The House of Portfolios already offers, in addition to leather, suede, or Plexiglas and metal books.
Other designs available through Lombardo’s company include slim portfolio books, which retail for $60 to $290; presentation cases with handles in a variety of sizes, retailing for $160 to $580, and clam shells, priced from $100 to $540. The House of Portfolios also offers nylon carrying cases for all of its products, in a variety of colors and starting at $80.
Photographers consider themselves artisans, but rarely think of their albums and carrying cases as in the same vein. Lombardo, however, sets Doubting Thomases straight with his portfolios; not a photographer himself, he explains his life’s work with a small shrug and a simple declaration:
“What could be better than this?”
Binding Agreements
A unique company based out of Berkeley, Calif., might feel an affinity with Lombardo and his love for creating artistic solutions for fellow creatives. Fastback Creative Books has created a product that many photographers are flocking to. The company pioneered a method for creating professional, bindery-quality paperback and hardcover books in an office environment, opening a year and a half ago with photographer Camille Seaman and Kevin Parker, president of Powis Parker, which manufactures the Fastback bindery system, at the helm. Artists and writers from all walks of life can use the Fastback system to create books of their work for any number of uses, from sending portfolios to galleries or potential buyers to self-publishing a children’s book for small audiences – as small as a mother and child reading at home.
Today, 70% of Fastback Creative Books’ clients are photographers, who utilize the company’s services to fashion professional volumes of their work. The process does not require the use of ready-made templates, and each book is given its own graphic treatment. Stephen Leftokis, a nature photographer and owner of Pacific Landscapes in Berkeley, said not only was he pleased with the quality of the product he received from Fastback Creative Books, but has also seen a very important outcome from his use of the product: increased sales.
“I’ve sold a few thousand dollars in prints to people who have seen the book,” he said, adding that the positive effects have yet to slow. “I have a meeting with a big corporation that needs 25 to 30 prints for their walls, and they found out about me from someone passing the book to the right person.”
In addition to the Berkeley location, Fastback Creative Books opened a second location in New York City this November, and is currently servicing clients across the country; prices vary on products depending on the size and scope of a project.
The Press for Printing
For those photographers looking for quality printing alternatives in an increasingly home-based photographic world, however, there are several options available as photo-ready ink-jet papers become increasingly sophisticated. Bergger Digital, based in Rockford, Il., recently announced a new line of digital printing papers, called New Generation. The line is designed for the highest quality fine-art reproductions and inkjet technology (including giclee), and comes in two finishes. Bergger’s PN 61 papers have a slightly textured surface, with a natural white hue and matte finish PN 62 has a brighter white hue and a natural paper feel, and contains minimal optical brighteners, which give a printed image greater clarity, depth, and detail. Similarly, Oriental Photo, famous for its photo papers used by legends such as Ansel Adams, has unveiled a new inkjet photo paper product, Graphica, which is fiber-based, for a deep, textured print meant to appeal to, as Sina Navidbakhsh of Oriental’s North and South America Agency, “the serious photographer.”
“We are known all over the world for our photo papers,” he said. “”Now we’re introducing a high quality inkjet paper that we feel will be just as well-received. It’s fiber-based, so it’s the thickest paper you can buy.” 8.5” x 11” sheets of Bergger and Oriental inkjet papers retail for approximately $30 for 10 sheets, and the paper can also be purchased in rolls for large printings.
Flash Forward…
Even with such an array of products available, though, some shoppers might still feel overwhelmed, and in that case there is always the option of a deftly enveloped gift certificate. That will leave photographers at all levels to navigate the stores and Web sites themselves, and to discover on their own that no shooter, no matter how advanced, ever truly has everything.
This story Copyright JCS, 2005. All Rights Reserved. Reprint Requests may be sent here.
