February 2nd, 2010
We are in our new home and so much is going on! With our new space comes a Grand Opening party, the consolidation of companies and expansion of services!!
First off, Imagexperts has merged with RPL. Imagexperts became well known as they worked hard for more than 20 years right on the Hollywood Blvd walk of fame. With a very similar client base of pro photogs, headshot shooters and commercial work, it made a lot of sense when Jane and Zaid were ready to move on to new ventures, that we would be asked to take care of the employees and clients.
Next, RPL needed a new home because our lease was fast approaching its end. The old building already had plans for a complete remodel and the landlord was excited to make our space into four retail stores! Since we needed a bigger building anyway, it was a no brainer to get out there and find a better space. This brought me to talk to SuperColor. The connection is that RPL (formerly owed by Richard K) and SuperColor (formally owned by Richards brother in law!) were all in the same building together about 15 years ago. In fact, Joe Buissink used to work at the SuperColor customer service counter before he was “Joe Buissink, world famous celebrity wedding photographer”….. But that’s a story for a different day!!! Anyway, SC was thinking about going to a smaller facility because their clients, which are all Movie Industry and Studios, have gone mostly digital, so they didn’t need such a big building, just a really big file server!! So one thing leads to another and now RPL is servicing the Movie Industry!
The Movie Industry services are similar to the stuff we already do, with the biggest difference being its all high security. We now operate a web site based system called Ivia that hosts movie stills and has images posted to it while the movie is in production. For instance, when “Twilight” was being filmed, the production photographer would send RAW files over almost every day. We would color correct, convert to tiff & jpeg, rename, set up an archive, post online, and then keep track of the whole shoot. Later, different people from the studio would request retouching, prints or files to be sent all over the place. Other projects include “Kill Bill 1 & 2”, “Lord Of The Rings”, “Austin Powers” and more recently the Weinstein release of “Nine”. We are now also working with archives specific to the Movie Industry along with other photo related projects.
Finally, we are in high gear for the planning of our Open House / Grand Opening Party. I am excited to see several of the companies that we work closely with getting involved like CypressAlbums.com, Fuji, Instaproofs.com and Photographic Rental Service. There might be more, but you will have to stop by and see for yourself! So mark Feb 18th on your calendar and come see us!
Our New Sign!
Tags: Grand Opening Party, Imagexperts, SuperColor
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November 25th, 2009
Our move day is finally here! December 1st is our official first day in our new building, but if you are shipping jobs in or just want to stop by, the new space is open now.
The new address is 979 N La Brea, Hollywood 90038. It is one block south of Santa Monica Blvd on the west side of the street. And we have our own parking lot right in front of our door!!!
For several years, because of the wide variety of services we offer, we have operated out of two different buildings. December 1st marks the first time we have had everyone under one roof in waaay too many years. The new space is also larger which will allow us to add new services like fine art mounting. If you have ever been to our Melrose building, just imagine a space almost 4x bigger!!
Look for a grand opening party in January!!!
Tags: fine art mounting, La Brea, new address
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October 28th, 2009
For the latest and greatest info, or at least some fun photo lab news, make sure to follow us on twitter! We are at www.twitter.com/richardphotolab. With so much good stuff going on, don’t you want to be the first on your block to know what cool stuff is happening?? I know you do!
Special thanks to Robin of www.robinlayton.com for the photo of our sign. We are using it for our twitter photo. She shot it one night while walking her dog past the lab. Check out her site and see some of her other great shots. The Walmart wedding was a four day long, multi location extravaganza, totally unbelievable!!!
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October 23rd, 2009
We all see so many weddings!! Fun ones, quiet ones, private ones, big ones, little ones: all special in their own way. But when a actual event photographer gets married…. now you know the event will be amazing! Who better to put together an awesome event then the people that see and live it every day?? They know which friends to call to make the day really something special…….
Look at the latest from Jose Villa. He shot Jessica Claire’s wedding (see www.jessicaclaire.net), and its defiantly an amazing shoot. Check out www.josevillablog.com for a full look at this event very soon. For now, here is a little preview:
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October 16th, 2009
Fresh off the trip from the “Film Is not Dead” work shop in Utah, I am hitting the road again!
This time down to Mexico for the Jose Villa workshop. I made it to this one 2 years ago and it was really cool. The location is amazing, the cost is reasonable the people are great. It’s so nice to go to such special place, the stars at night are amazing!
I hear there are just a few spots left, you should try and check this one out!
http://josevillablog.com/2009/09/mexico-workshop-w-jessica-claire/
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October 7th, 2009
Once again, we have news from a workshop put on by one of our photographers. This time, we have images that were shot by Carrie Patterson in the Grand Teton National Park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Take a look:
Carrie was also gracious enough to tell us a little bit about these images, how she shot them, and her inspiration for the shots:
“The couple actually went antelope hunting earlier that day, so they had the gun in the truck. I thought the gun was a great prop. Sort of a take on the term “shot gun wedding”. Some of my favorites are of Jenny holding the gun along with her bouquet. She looks soft and badass all at the same time.
I photographed with my Contax 645, 80mm lens, over exposed +2, AV mode, F2 to F4, on Fuji Pro 400. I generally expose for the shadows, however the photograph with the dramatic sunset was exposed more for the sunset. The black and white shots were photographed using my Canon 1-V HS, 70mm lens, over exposed +2, AV mode, F2.8, on Fuji Neopan 400.
I live in and around both Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. Jackson Hole is a destination wedding spot and my clients are connected to this place because of the mountains, recreation, wildlife, natural environment and open spaces - it’s truly paradise.”
For more fantastic images by Carrie, check out her blog and website! Thanks Carrie!
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October 1st, 2009
One of our favorite things to do at Richard Photo Lab is support the photographers around us that are doing great things for the photography community. One such example is Jonathan Canlas’ “Film Is Not Dead” Workshop. We are also excited to announce that our very own, Brian Greenberg, will be heading out to Park City to attend the festivities.
The “Film Is Not Dead” workshop is uniquely focused on shooting film. Jonathan is a 100% film shooter and will share some insight on this process.
If you would like to know more about this workshop, check out the website at jonathancanlasphotography.com/workshop/
You can also see more of Jonthan’s work at www.jonathancanlasphotography.com
We hope to see you in Utah!
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September 25th, 2009
We are excited to announce that one of our favorite Alabama photographers, Caleb Chancey, got married a few weeks ago, and we have a sneak peak of his amazing wedding! Caleb and Laura’s beautiful wedding also set a new precedent by featuring SIX of our Alabama based photographers! We love how the different styles captured the event in a unique way. Please take note of the wide array of cameras used to capture the event. Cameras used range from 4×5 to Rolleiflex to T4. All of them come together in a really cool way!
With no further ado, the wedding of Caleb and Laura as photographed by Alan Barton, Rob Culpepper, Stephen Devries, Bryan Johnson, Bob Miller, and Cary Norton!
The Girls shot by Bryan Johnson of A Bryan Photo:
And Stephen Devries (on 4×5!):
The Guys shot by Cary Norton (also on 4×5!):
And a picture by Stephen Devries of the above shot being taken (a 4×5 poptpop):
More of the guys by Alan Barton:
The ceremony as shot by Rob Culpepper:
First dance by Alan Barton:
A shot by Bob Miller:
Finally, the amazing couple by Cary Norton:
And Bryan Johnson:
Congratulations Laura and Caleb!
On another note, there are big things happening at Richard Photo Lab right now. Sorry for the momentary lapse in blogging, but we can’t wait to fill you in on everything that has been going on.
Tags: 4x5, A Bryan Photo, Alabama Boys, Alan Barton, Bob Miller, Bryan Johnson, Caleb Chancey, Cary Norton, Rob Culpepper, Stephen Devries, Wedding photography
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July 14th, 2009
Best way to ship us your film while re-using/recycling?! Of course the cardboard box has been used before too. We’ll throw the plastic water bottle into the recycle bin for you! Nice idea, Suzi Q (Q Weddings)!
Tags: Q Weddings, recycling, Suzi Q
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July 9th, 2009
Why the heck is this random picture on our blog? Keep reading to find out.
As you can imagine based on our proximity, we’ve printed for celebrities- personal & private stuff . Like the time we did Salma Heyak’s Xmas card: We took a vintage photo and dropped out Frida Kahlo’s head and put in Selma’s, dropped out Diego Rivera to put in Ed Norton, and then added a Christmas tree! Or there was the time we were in discussion with Madonna’s head of security about printing the very first pictures of her daughter - this operation was more complicated then developing film for a General Motors top secret car (when they stood around the lab and watched us work and wanted to “watch” inside the darkroom)! Then there was the time I had all the photo editors for People Magazine in our lunch room at 3am, selecting all of the final Oscar photos. But that’s just work stuff. I wanted to share some other little tidbits about stuff that’s happened to me “on the job”:
My first meeting with Jose Villa was in a bagel shop in Santa Barbara. He needed a new lab and Teness Herman told him to call me. I drove up and somehow a bagel shop seemed to be a easy place to meet. Jose talked about it recently at one of his workshops, his description was pretty funny. Looking back, it was a nutty place to meet a new client and pick up 60 rolls of film.
Another regular client, Bonnie Pietila, also happens to be a producer for The Simpsons. So aside from hearing all the funny inside stories about the early days of the Simpsons, she actually brought me and Joey from the lab to a table reading. That’s where the whole cast and staff sit around and do a live reading of a episode, funny voices and all. We met the cast and special guest Eric Idle (from Monty Python), and sat in on a voice over session in the recording studio!
One time I went for a 100mph joy ride down Highland Blvd. in Joe Buissink’s Porsche. We are both car guys so it was bound to happen. Once you start talking cars, its not long until you are breaking several laws at one time..
At WPPI one year, a group of us were taught how to play craps by another friend. Vegas being Vegas, we played until 4am and the group won like $6,000. It seemed so easy! So, the next day I tried to show somebody else how to play… I ended up giving all my winnings back!
And the latest wacky event… I was taking Linda Chaja out to a simple lunch down the street from the lab. Well, between parking the car and the door of the restaurant she wandered into a tattoo parlor. She said she didn’t have any tattoos… I thought she was kidding, but the above photo tells you what happened next! Who wants to go to lunch with me next??
I guess life and lab overlap a lot. I’ve said before we are not your average photo lab, and well, this is what I mean; our clients truly are more then clients.
-Brian Greenberg
Tags: Bonnie Pietila, Brian Greenberg, Diego Rivera, Ed Norton, Eric Idle, Frieda Kahlo, General Motors, Joe Buissink, Jose Villa, Linda Chaja, Madonna, People Magazine, Salma Heyak, Teness Herman, The Simpsons, Vegas, WPPI
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