In
June of 2009, Richard Sturdevant had two prints score 100 at the Texas
Photographers Kerrville print competition! Out of 400 possible
points, Richard gathered up a total of 377 and walked away with more
honors than he could carry! A few weeks ago in Oklahoma, Richard
totaled 382 out of 400 points! Even after this recent success,
Richard is not nearly satisfied with his work at this point. He
intends to do still better. He wants to be more competitive and
help raise the professional standards for quality.
Like many photographers, Richard's career has evolved. He sold cars and
medical insurance, was a painter, and did computer illustration. He
bought a 35mm camera to take photos of his art. He was hired as an
artist, but the company turned its focus to photography. Richard's
success is that it is his nature to morph with the industry. He works
hard and isn't afraid to change with the times!
Richard felt that things were changing and it was time for him to get
good with a camera. His next job was working with a
photographer whose main work was seniors. Richard had grand ideas, but
the photograher wanted him to stay traditional. Soon, the studio went
out of business. Richard now knew he was going to have to go at
it on his own. Initially business was slow but gradually word of
mouth brought him work. “I just kept at it. I am basically
self-taught and I am a workaholic. I’ve always been. I
don’t sleep much. I love creating.”
As his studio business grew, Richard continually was searching for new
ways to enhance his photography. Richard explains, “I had known
about Virtual Backgrounds for several years but I also heard other
photographers claim that the process really didn’t work and wasn’t
worth the money. I decided to think on my own. I saw a lot
of great images created with Virtual Backgrounds, and I knew that
Joseph and Louise Simone used it very effectively so I got serious
about it. I recognized that Virtual Backgrounds was a tool to be
used in many different ways by the operator. I decided to use it
to create my own style and very quickly, it became a cornerstone of my
work.”
“Photographers just don’t seem to realize that Virtual Backgrounds can
be used for just about any kind of photography. Look at my
pictures on my Web site. A great many of them were created with
the Virtual Backgrounds system but you can’t tell. No one knows
it.”
“Too many photographers think that Virtual Backgrounds is supposed to
work automatically and generate dollars for them. Virtual
Backgrounds is a professional tool. It can be used for just about
everything the photographer needs to do. It is not for
amateurs. It’s too expensive and amatuers don't know how to use
it. There is no point-n-shoot mode with VB! That is what makes it
even better for the professional. Many amateurs own the same
camera I own, but they don’t have my talent and they don’t have my
Scene Machine.”
Richard now uses his Virtual Backgrounds system for 95% of all his
studio work. He still does high key with full length white paper
and he can just go out his studio’s back door to get great outdoor
images. His basic studio camera is the Nikon D300 with a 24
- 135 mm lens. He doesn’t like to use a lot of props in part
because he doesn’t have room for them. Richard has created a lot
of his own background images including images of his former muslin and
canvas backgrounds. “I no longer have to worry about a bunch of
wrinkly muslins hanging all over the place. I like a clean and
neat studio. That is exactly what the Scene Machine Virtual
Backgrounds system has helped me create.”
Richard’s Virtual Backgrounds system is portable. He takes it on
location for doing proms, banquets and other events. He is able
to set it up in minutes and the clients love the results!
We asked Richard why he felt that so many photographers don’t get
serious about getting a Virtual Backgrounds system. He offers 3
specific reasons.
1. It is a major investment, but they don’t
realize that they spend thousands of dollars on other simple backdrops
that are nothing special and that burn out in six months. They
just don’t get the numbers. It really is a good investment
because it pays for itself and makes more profit.
2. People think it’s too hard to use. It
isn’t that hard once you get going. When you buy the latest
digital camera, that’s hard. It takes a little time and effort to
learn to use it. I was doing great work with the Scene Machine
the very first day I had it.
3. They don’t understand how much more creative
it helps them become and that brings more profit. I use it all
the time for my rent paying work. It enables me to be so much more creative even with my
routine work. I love to design my own backgrounds and then use
them. I am always coming up with new backgrounds and they cost
essentially nothing. I even use it for some parts of my
competition work but no one knows it except me.
Concluding
the interview, Richard states in no uncertain terms, “If you took that
Scene Machine out of my studio right now, it would cripple me. I
have become dependent on that machine to help me do the work that it
enables me to do. It just makes sense. It makes me
money. I love it.”
The industry will be hearing a lot about Richard’s pet project which he calls Sturdavinci.
It is several sets of special tools Richard developed for photographers
and artists to use with Photoshop that enables them to produce results
similar to Painter but by using Photoshop. The design kits
include actions and brushes along with tutorials. The kits cost
from $129 to $229 and are available now directly from Richard.