Today's Guest: James McVey of
Today's Host: John Bentley
Listen to this Show
Publish this Show on Your Website
Show Sponsor www.morephotos.com
Oscars Photo Lab
James McVey Transcript Page
James McVey Expert PageANNOUNCER: This VTalk Radio's Spotlight is sponsored by morephotos.com bringing photographers to the web to sell, display, and proof images since 1998. Welcome to the VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: Today we are in the studio with James McVey of Oscars Photo Lab of San Francisco, California. You are listening to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. Welcome to the program today, James.
JAMES: Thanks.
JOHN: Now, you have the photo lab out there in San Francisco tell our listening audience a little bit about it.
JAMES: Well we're a small lab but growing slowly and steadily as everything seems to go down around us. We offer just about everything from film to digital, processing printing, you name it, we do it pretty much
JOHN: Now are you basically dealing with professional photographers, or do you deal with anybody off the street.
JAMES: Primarily our printer clients are professional photographers, but we take walk-ins as well.
JOHN: Ok. What about custom design services. Tell us...do you have those? Tell me a little bit about that.
JAMES: We don't do much design service. We do custom printing, but no real design service.
JOHN: What about your custom printing then?
JAMES: Beg your pardon?
JOHN: Expound on your custom printing a little bit.
JAMES: Well we offer digital or optical custom and color. We can do it in the dark room, cropping, burning, dodging. We can do it digitally or we can actually do some Photoshop work, clean up some spots and this and that, but, like I said, we can do it the old fashioned way or we can do with the new fangled way, whichever is preferred.
JOHN: Okay what kind of paper do you guys use there?
JAMES: We use Fuji Crystal Archive for our color, and we also use Kodak Pendura Metallic paper, and we also for our black and white we use Ilford...just the RC, we don't print on fire base, we just use the RC paper.
JOHN: What about print products are you guys doing stuff like on canvas, are you doing magazine covers. What do you offer in that area?
JAMES: We're starting to begin to investigate canvas work. We're still just kind of exploring into it. We haven't done a lot of it. We've mostly stuck with photographic paper, because we've always found the results a little bit better than the ink jet. But as more and more demand comes up on the canvas, we're starting to play with it and kind of figure out how to do it right and what we really enjoy about it.
JOHN: What about magazine covers, or do you guys do things like coffee mugs, or greeting cards, custom made?
JAMES: It's mostly straight printing. A lot of our clients, we have a lot of wedding clients, and they...what they'll do is they want wedding albums.
JOHN: Oh yeah.
JAMES: So we do printing in that nature where they set up the files, then we print there, but beyond that. Like I said most everything we print that goes out comes out onto photographic paper from here.
JOHN: Ok, what about photo restoration? Do you do anything along those lines?
JAMES: Yeah we do, we do...that's what most of our walk-in clientele come in for. People have seen stuff we've done. They'll bring in an old family photo they want cleaned up, without the scratches and tears.
JOHN: Now do you find that most people are doing digital these days.
JAMES: You know, I think it's a pendulum. I think it's swinging back to where we're getting more and more film
JOHN: No kidding.
JAMES: Because I think people are starting to see the benefits of film.
JOHN: What are the benefits of film?
JAMES: There is kind of a nature of film. One big thing that I think people are starting to really catch onto is as digital is becoming older, people are realizing more and more that there's a lot of digital...they don't have anymore. They had at one point in time, but it's on some CD somewhere that they don't know where it's at anymore, and it's just gone. Or hard drives crash or things like that where films film. We regularly print hundred year old glass negatives here and it's not a problem. Digital files get corrupt there's just a lot of issues like that, I think, when it comes to prints, depending on...it's a case by case scenario with digital. I think if you have control of light in the studio or something like that, I think, digital is great. But I think some times for an event or something you lose latitude when you go to digital. I think there's things like that the people are starting to see and I think there is characteristics of film that are almost undefineable, but you see it in a print. You can still look at a print and know whether it's a film capture or digital capture, and I think people are starting to catch on to that, and come back to film. We have a fair amount of wedding clients, and I think, I'm seeing more and more wedding clients who were film, went digital, and now are mixing it. They'll shoot film and digital at an event as opposed to all digital anymore.
JOHN: How long has Oscars Photo Lab been in business out there in San Francisco?
JAMES: 25 years this year actually.
JOHN: Wow. How long have you been there?
JAMES: I was just discussing this...I think it's 9 or 10 years.
JOHN: They start to blend in together after a while don't they?
JAMES: Yeah. Kind of strange like that.
JOHN: We are in the studio with James McVey of Oscar's Photo Lab out in beautiful San Francisco, California. You are listening to VTalk Radio' Photography Spotlight. We're going to step aside for a minute for these important messages. We'll be right back.
ANNOUNCER: Looking for a bridal show in your area? Visit www.weddingdetails.com for a list of upcoming bridal shows in your area. Visit www.weddingdetails.com tonight.
VTALK RADIO: VTalk Radio.
ANNOUNCER: This VTalk Radio Spotlight is sponsored by morephotos.com, the online photo sales solution to professional photographers worldwide.
ANNOUNCER: We now return you to the VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: We are back in the studio with James McVey of Oscars at Photo Lab out in beautiful San Francisco, California. Welcome back to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight, James.
JAMES: Thank you.
JOHN: Now we've been talking about your lab out there in San Francisco. Would you consider yourself a full service lab?
JAMES: Yes, definitely.
JOHN: What does that entail?
JAMES: Like I said, as far as our services go, we can offer optical or digital, printing processing, we do Photoshop work, anything photographic we generally will do.
JOHN: What do you guys do that makes your company unique, what separates you from the competition?
JAMES: The main thing that separates us, I think, is that our clients walk through the door, we know them. Most of our clientele we know on a first name basis. A lot of our clients will come to us specifically because they know that we are a small enough lab that they know they're going to talk to the person who is either printing their order or processing their files, or something of that nature. They're going to be able to talk to that person one on one and work with them. And we get a feel for what clients want prints a certain ways. Some clients like their prints a little warm or a little cooler. And as time goes on you figured that out about a client and you know how they want their prints done. And that's the main thing that we offer is just personal service I think.
JOHN: So mostly your photographers actually come in and see you. Can they send your photos to you via email or through the web?
JAMES: Yes absolutely. We offer email services, ITP services. We actually just recently offered a consumer end uploading service that you can purchase through...and we ship. We've got some clients who are out of town but the majority of our clients are local.
JOHN: And do you offer, you know, if you're going to do it that way there must be a way of the photographer to go online and proof... do online proofing?
JAMES: We do offer online proofing. A majority of our online proofing is offered for our photographers to be able to proof their things for their clients. We offer it through More Photos. It's nice because it's not branded out...kind of our main selling point on it.
JOHN: And before I let you go, James. Why don't you share with our listening audience your website address and phone number.
JAMES: The website is www.oscarsphotolab.com and the phone number is (415) 621-5800.
JOHN: Well I want to thank you for joining us today on V talk radio's photography's spotlight, James.
JAMES: Alright, thank you.
JOHN: We've been speaking with Jame's McVey of Oscar's Photo Lab out there in San Francisco, California. You've been listening to John Bentley on VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. I want to thank our engineer, Damien Allen, and everybody for listening today. Have a great afternoon.
ANNOUNCER: You have been listening to the VTalk Radio's Spotlight; only on www.vtalkradio.com . Radio for the 21st Century.