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Source: Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.存倉Oct. 06--What began as a hobby for Bob Tucker in 1973 has turned into a full-fledged photography business that has spanned four decades.With just one location, Focalpoint Studio in Orleans, offers business photography, modeling and acting portfolios as well as personal and family portraits and restoration projects.Tucker, who manages to pull in business from all over the Cape -- and beyond -- believes his longevity has much to do with staying current with technology and diversifying customers' options while staying consistent with product and delivery.While he said that keeping up with technology is always a challenge in his field, if you "know your stuff" and have fun while you are shooting, the perfect picture will always develop just right.What's the most important thing your business does?In terms of the bread and butter of this business, it's the family portraits. And I think that giving people a good product -- especially when they are happy about the pictures -- is the best thing that we do. It's a time when people are together -- and usually a happy time, generally speaking. Even with weddings, it's great to be around people when they are having all this fun, and providing them with a lasting portrait is great. Also, when it comes to restoration, I see works from 100 years ago that we are fixing. And when you think about it, the piece was important back then and it is important now. I have been doing this a long time and I love what I do. I feel that when I'm posing people on the beach and getting things in place, I almost feel like I'm on stage and performing. I know it sounds kind of weird, but I love giving people a good product and making them happy.How long have you been in business?I started Focalpoint in January of 1973. Photography was a hobby at one point. And then, as I saw professional photographers around at venues or weddings, I thought to myself that I would really like to do that. A friend of mine started the business with me -- his name was Peter Blatz -- but he left after about a year, and I decided to continue on. At the beginning I just did family portraits and weddings, and then when I moved into a storefront I started diversifying into doing passport photos, photo restoration, business headshots, modeling portfolios, and acting headshots. Now we have diversified further and we do photo restoration work, we do printing, digital imaging, and also lot of printing for artists that is called giclee printing. We also photograph a lot of artwork and we have artists that come from Pocasset and Sandwich because they like the quality -- and we also work hard to get the color right for them.What did you do before?Well, I am currently also a part of a Realtor team with my wife, Sally, at Kinlin Grover. And I've also done a lot of local community-theater acting. But besides that, it has always been photography. I wasn't even supposed to be a photographer. I went to Worcester Polytechnic Institute for problem-solving, but the photography business has always just caught my eye. But I guess, when I think about it, you never know what's going to cross your path. When I first opened my storefront, I did work with Jim Giberti. We had a recording studio here in addition to the photography studio. I was more of an executive producer. He had the talent and I provided the space. Somehow, he expanded it into advertising and we had some things on the radio. (That entity, the Imagination Co., is now in Bethel, Vt.) We did jingles for Sundancers, Goucho's, and he wrote the jingle for the Lobster Claw restaurant. We recorded that in this building and it was fun. We even did the jingle for Barbo's. They wanted to re-record their jingle and all Jim had to work from was from was a 16-millimeter movie soundtrack. So he wrote the arrangement from listening to the soundtrack and we re-recorded the original. And I believe they still use it to this day. That was a lot of fun.How big is your staff? Has your staff grown since starting out?Right now, it's just me here. At the peak of my business ,I had one full-time worker and one part-time person. I have always had a small shop and having computers is almost like having another employee. While one computer is crunching something, I can be working on another. When I started, I was a one-man operation and now I have reverted back to that. It makes the day interesting and I am able to move from one thing to the next with ease.How has the market changed since your business started?In 2008, we definitely saw a drop in sittings. Family portraits are pure disposable income and you can always put off a family portrait. So we definitely struggled a bit. I tried to fill the gaps and diversify what I offered here and I really pushed re儲存torations and printing for artists. But I did see a bump in business last summer -- and this summer was definitely busier and portrait orders were bigger. Even restoration business was bigger and we have been busier this fall.What are your plans for your business' future?In this business, because of ever-changing technology, you really just never know. Things have changed so much over the last 40 years. Back in '73 we were using film and the cameras were all manual. There wasn't a battery then. You really had to just know your stuff. You had to trust what you were shooting, and that you were exposing the film properly. You had to trust your knowledge and really get the job done. The camera stayed the same for decades. I used a Hasselblad, a large-negative camera. Over time, the film slowly got better, got more sensitive for low light, but it was never like it is now. In 2001, all of a sudden there was digital photography and it changed the whole game. When I first started digital, I didn't trust it. By 2002, 2003, I began to give in and trust a little more. For the future, I think customers will be more interested in increasing amounts of digital products and that will be a challenge. I think the method of delivery of a product may change also. When you think in terms of digital frames I think we will see more of that: big wall frames that people can change the image when they want to. It has always been a challenge keeping up with technology. Even when digital technology came along for the first few years, I think we bought new cameras every year because they kept getting cheaper. And now its settled down a bit but, hey, in a few years you just never know.What's the best thing about having a business on the Cape?The best thing about having a business on Cape Cod is that I love the Cape. I have spent every summer of my life here and I have been here year-round since 1972. Plus, for my business, I can't imagine doing what I'm doing in an urban setting or even suburban Boston. Not every photographer in the United States has beaches to shoot at. When I first started photography, we weren't doing beach portraits -- we did photos in the home and the yard early on. But at the beach, there's something about the light here. The morning light at Nauset Beach is different than the afternoon light at Skaket Beach.What's the biggest challenge to having a business on the Cape?There's a limited geographic area that I can draw from. Inland photography has a decent radius and population base that they can work off of. We have this little sandbar that doesn't have the population area. I think that's also a reason why a lot of the family-portrait business we have consists of visitors. Most of them want to do shoots here so they can remember their time here. Other challenges are that there are too many photographers here. When I started in this business, there were about 10 photographers on the Cape. Now there are around 60. With equipment being reasonably priced and at a good quality, it enables more people to get into this business. When I started, the equipment was so expensive. Also, you were shooting film and it was expensive getting it processed. Now you can just upload it onto the computer.What's your most memorable moment with this business?I've shot Kevin McHale, Dermot Mulroney, but I think one of the most ultimate thrills was shooting Julie Harris. Back in '94, I started doing shoots at the Academy of Performing Arts, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Chatham Drama Guild, Harwich Junior Theater, Cape Rep Theatre, Eventide, and Cape Cod Community College. So at one time, I was working for seven theaters, but that has dwindled -- again, because with digital photography, some of them feel they can now do it on their own. So anyway, one of the thrills was when Julie Harris did "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" up at WHAT. I was shooting her dress rehearsal and, with those kinds of shoots, I can move around the way I want, and I can anticipate entrances sometimes and know where to be. For this shoot, I was able to get so close to her when she was doing just full-on acting, and that was definitely a thrill for me. There was so much going on and the lighting was so cool.What advice do you have for someone starting out in business on the Cape?First off, take business courses. I don't think going to a photography school is necessary, although there are some good ones like Hallmark in Turners Falls. But they are good because half of their courses are business courses. The alternative to taking courses is to be an apprentice with an established photographer.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Cape Cod Times (Hyannis, Mass.) 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