Jolesch Photographers

[beagus]

And to think DCI told Moe Knox and icon on the east coast in photography and Dave Rice they were no longer needed. The monopoly of the whole season. Dave and Moe knew the shows and what to expect from each corps they took shots of. Same on DCI for just allowing one company to shoot pictures.

[loph]

OMG! Those are incredible...

None of these photos are taken from down on the field, yet they're drastically better than what Jolesch produces... in RussK's photos of SCV, I could actually see the sweat on one guy's face!

I know a lot of parents out there would be more than willing to pay for copies of some of those!

OK, Russ WAS on the field... His High Resolution Images are available for purchase by contacting him at grafix72@hotmail.com

For Hi-Res prints from http://www.flickr.com/photos/phlovell/

contact me here.

[Machine]

Those are some great photos!! But my understanding of DCI's policy is that you are not allowed to sell them.... Technically, I don't think you're even allowed to share them on a public website. I'm bending the rule on that one on my flickr site, but justify it to myself because I'm not allowing anyone to grab an image large enough to make any prints. Just my 2 cents. B)

[loph]

Those are some great photos!! But my understanding of DCI's policy is that you are not allowed to sell them.... Technically, I don't think you're even allowed to share them on a public website. I'm bending the rule on that one on my flickr site, but justify it to myself because I'm not allowing anyone to grab an image large enough to make any prints. Just my 2 cents. B)

Russ was on the field so I assume he was sanctioned by DCI.

At the bottom of this Nightbeat page (featuring photos captioned "Photo: Russ Kafka, Photografix"), you are invited to view his photos at the URL I linked in my previous message.

As for my photos, I have not offered them for sale.

As a drum corps parent (Carolina Crown), I know how much it means to be able to see good photos of a loved one who has dedicated so much of his/her precious life to drum corps. My son does not even get 24 hours between finals and having to report to band camp at GaTech.

So if another parent wants prints of my photos of their young'un they will #### well get them.

You can't say "####"??!!

[artlady]

The pictures we got from Jolesch over the 3 years our son was in The Cavaliers varied. Last year they were blurry and not of good color. 2005, they were very good, clear and crisp. Since he was in the front ensemble, he didn't move much so the blurry picutres were a concern. Even their claim of final ones being better after you order them is not necessarily true. They looked the same when I got them. Plus they are very expensive. Especially when wanting to order for Grandma and such.

I have been trying to find out who took a picture of my son that is on the DCI website now in a photo gallery labeled 2007. It is actually 2006 and he is in his Cavalier uniform taking a picture from the pit before thier encore performance. He is taking a picture of us in the stands. No one can tell me who took it so I can order it. I have emailed DCI and they suggested I email Jolesch but I haven't heard from them yet and that was over a week ago. If anyone knows who took it, I would love to get a copy because you can't save these pictures.

[JustABandMom]

I have been trying to find out who took a picture of my son that is on the DCI website now in a photo gallery labeled 2007. It is actually 2006 and he is in his Cavalier uniform taking a picture from the pit before thier encore performance. He is taking a picture of us in the stands. No one can tell me who took it so I can order it. I have emailed DCI and they suggested I email Jolesch but I haven't heard from them yet and that was over a week ago. If anyone knows who took it, I would love to get a copy because you can't save these pictures.

Hi Art Lady and fellow parent -

It says on the site that the photographer was Johnny Gilbert, and there is even an article about him. But, no contact information is given, and so far, a simple search doesn't yield the info. Surely DCI should be able to lay hands on his contact info.

http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=f...7f-1090f546d312

[emalawskey]

Thanks for this thread. As an amateur photographer it is nice to hear others opinions on the photos put up for purchase.

I too have had poor results with some of the candid Jolesch photos purchased. They seem to be on the dark side. The formal shots of the entire corps are usually done in better than ideal lighting.

As someone else said in this thread "with the right equipment you get around the lighting problems". One additional thing needed is know how. I once read "it is not the equipment that takes the picture it is the photographer". Even if you don't get the perfect shot there is always Photoshop.

What I realized too is that most of these stadiums Jolesch is shooting these regionals in are very well lit for college and pro football. There should not be a lot of lighting problems.

For the last four years I have spent two weeks each summer volunteering with my daughter’s corps. Although my role was kitchen help I always found time to shoot photos and post them for those parents who do not see their loved ones for months. This year I was able to shoot 1600 shots (thank goodness for digital) to post for the parents to see. It is nice to get a Thank You from a parent in the Netherlands who could not make it to a show in the US or from the dad serving in Korea. In all but one show I shot from the first or second row of the stands so I could get some face shots in. Finally on my last night I tour at our home show I walked on the sidelines with the staff. I stayed out of everyone’s and got some nice shots. My only regret is that you are stuck on one side of the pit so you are pretty much shooting from the 10 to the 50. As I watched the Jolesch photographers in other shows they shoot one corps from one side of the field and then move to the other side for the next corps. So if your member is not on the photographer’s side of the field you are pretty much out of luck.

[GeorgiaGirl]

[on soapbox] This is a hot button issue for me-- I detest the Big-J-Or-Nothing policy, and think somebody got the wool pulled over their eyes in a sales meeting, personally.

Years before the resident kid ever hit drum corps, I endured years of extortion from Lifetouch (the local "we're freakin' everywhere" photo contractor) until I refused to pony up for one single more $40-base-price photo set of whatever nebulous sport activity the kid was involved in at the time.

Terrible print quality, overpriced, abysmal customer service-- and the schools around here use them like they've got a gun to their head or something. There's gotta be payola or somebody's brother-in-law involved, LOL! I think people just don't believe they can say no to photos of their kid, when actually, the photos mom & dad take themselves are better, anyway.

Parents of young kids, tell the shysters to take a hike. <**>

[/soapbox]

Edited July 28, 2007 by GeorgiaGirl

[BariGirlMom]

There's gotta be payola or somebody's brother-in-law involved, LOL!

actually, at least in the case of lifetouch, yes, there IS "payola" involved. When my girls were in a K-8 school, each year the yearbook was less and less "appealing" so when the parents who had been in charge of it left, I volunteered to be on the committee, and then did it almost single-handedly for several years... in that time, I got to know the people at Lifetouch quite well - they were the publisher of the yearbook, and also the fall and spring portrait photographer. The sales from the fall and spring portraits came back in a large percentage to the school... the idea was, if they wanted, they could apply that profit to lower the cost of the yearbook to the kids, or they could keep it and charge whatever they wanted for the yearbooks. If I recall correctly, at a school with a population of approximately 600 kids, the annual profit from portraits was about $3000,maybe more. Not too shabby if a school has limited resources. I'm not sure smaller companies could afford to work that way with schools... they count on quantity (certainly NOT quality).

The guy at jolesch told me they really don't sell all that many photos during the drum corps season, but instead, they rely largely on the fall marching season... in the fall, they ARE allowed to go down the sidelines, get closer to the bands, and have more than one or two photographers on the field. Because there are far fewer restrictions on them, they can get better shots, and sell more photos.

One thing that bugs the heck out of me, but I forgot to ask the fellow at Jolesch, why, when we sign up to be notified that a certain event is now online, does it take about 2 or 3 months (in some cases, that's actually NOT an exaggeration) to receive that email? I've filled that thing out, only to find the photos online myself, and then literally get an email a LONG time later! I can't think of any reasonable excuse for taking that long, especially when they post fairly early "order deadlines", which, by the way, are definitely "soft" deadlines... I ordered somethign from them MONTHS past the deadline, without ANY trouble.

[Toby]

BariGirlMom, in response to having the camera "nazi"s bugging you every so often to say that no video is to be shot, many newer digital photo cameras have the ability to shoot short video clips. :)