September 08, 2007 – Robert Morrissey Photographer & Inventor
So, I went straight into photography and find out that I enjoyed it. It was a quick and fast way to express an idea. What I really enjoyed was lighting, and found out that the hardest part of any type of photography is commercial lighting. As my career grew, I found that the lighting was specifically used to enhance a product or enhance a person and make them look bigger or better than life. That brings you right to the commercial photography or the small business owner or what you’re trying to do with your imagery is focus on exactly what you’re selling. You want to stay very, very clear on what you’re selling and you want that to come across in your imagery as well.
Erin: Did you go to college for this as well?
Rob M: Yes, I did. I went to the Kansas City Art Institute. Unfortunately, it took me four and a half years. I was considered too commercial for this school.
Erin: Did you find that your parents were real supportive of that and everything? I know sometimes artsy types have a struggle with people around them not embracing their art.
Rob M: I really did have a struggle. My parents thought-and hopefully they don’t hear this, but they thought there would be no way that an artist could actually make a living because we all think of the starving artist. But the starving artist is more of a cliché than anything. Many, many people on the wealthy planet-they’re all artists, especially if you go into musicians, and high-end photographers, and high-end painters. They’re all making good money.
Rob: So what are your latest projects? You’re not just a photographer. You’re not just an entrepreneur. You’re not just an author; you’re an inventor as well. Tell us about your project-your Pro Shop Box. What is it and what does it do?
Rob M: The Pro Shop Box is a compilation of 20 years of experience just jammed into a box that makes it so that anybody on the planet can actually take a photograph of a product that’s probably the size of three or four footballs put together without worrying about the light. It was designed to help the eBay market or the very small entrepreneur that’s trying to sell a camera or a telephone, or whatever they’re trying to sell. You can actually place any product in this box, close it up, take the shot, and you’re done.
Erin: As opposed to laying it out on you’re grandma’s carpet and having that lovely background.
Rob: I’ve done that. I’ve put a nylon over a lamp.
Rob M: What was funny is so many people do that with their photographs. They do terrible photographs and they’re wondering why won’t anybody bid on this or why won’t they buy it for the right price? It’s because it looks ugly.
Rob: You can’t see the object because you’re distracted by the horrifying background.
Rob M: There’s a puppy in the background on the carpet and there’s some dog food and-
Rob: Dog hair.
Rob M: Exactly. People judge things, especially on the Internet, via an image immediately. That’s you’re silent sales person, is the photograph. If you don’t have a good photo, you’ve got poor sales. Simple.
Rob: So, why would you do this because then you would no longer need a photographer?
Rob M: Yeah, that kind of came up. I actually had a lot of photographers that were against the whole product and I slowly backed away from it. There are very few of these shot boxes available. The general public saw it as too expensive for the perfect photo.
Erin: How much is it?
Rob M: It’s 500 bucks. It makes it so you can shoot ads right away. The funny thing is, my biggest clients were ad agencies that were buying this and they were putting photographers out. Then they’re going into jewelry stores and things of that sort and I just realized that I actually took something that was a very complicated situation, which is a product photo, and made it too simple.
