Hi Blake
What I said wasn't easy, I had thought about it for a long time before I posted the aggressive statement.
I love photography and honestly I think it would be way cool for you to achieve your personal and business goals.
I think it would be a bad move on your part to take or receive any more money from this forum or from anyone else.........................
The reason I say this is because I think you are motivated enough and have the skills to accomplish these goals on your own without this kind of help.
Almost all gifts come with some kind of condition, Like people judging you or your income.. Just like I did.....................
Personally I would thank everyone for their kind thoughts and them wanting to help you, but at the same time its YOUR goal and its not up for sale....
You can put this together, you can make this goal happen yourself.
Forgive me for expressing my thoughts and me thinking my thoughts might matter.
Bluntly speaking this would mean so much more to you, for you to accomplish it yourself............
As said above I want you to achieve your personal goals, I don't think you getting donations to achieve your goals is proper.
Mike,
No hard feelings. I have nothing but respect for you, and I appreciate your words of wisdom. It was a very well thought-out and direct post, and I appreciate that.
I'd like to share a couple of ideas that popped back into my head as I was considering your message. Bare with me while I try to write this out, and please let me know what you think. I'd also like to hear opinions from others about these ideas.
As much as I would enjoy using a camera like this to make more pool videos, I wouldn't classify it as a career goal. The professional-level high speed camera production and rental houses all use the expensive Phantom cameras, so I just don't think there would be much business value in purchasing the Edgertronic.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I really just want to see the pool videos this thing is capable of producing. It's not about the money, or having the actual camera; it's learning about pool, and seeing its beauty in slomo that's most important to me.
I have a feeling there are others who feel the same way.
With my current (and hopefully increasing) workload, I'm not even sure how much time I could devote to slomo pool videos, especially since I no longer have a pool table at home. I'd also like to see what others could create with it.
As you so eloquently pointed out, I finally realized that I have indeed felt some stress or uneasiness about how I would feel if this ever did get fully funded. As much as I appreciate the sentiment, it just doesn't feel quite right. When I'm doing a live stream and receive a $20 tip or a free lunch, that's one thing. But this is a $5500 camera. That's a whole different ball park.
So how about this:
We set up some kind of simple trust or organization, perhaps recruiting a handful of the many respected members of the forum as trustees (perhaps even a subset of the donors). Actual ownership of the camera would stay with the organization. Trustees wouldn't necessarily need to be video experts, just reputable and trustworthy people and/or business leaders.
With trustee approval, the camera could then be shared among those of us here that have some experience with and auxiliary equipment for high speed and/or higher-end cameras. The camera comes with a nice Pelican case, which is appropriate for interstate shipping, and even has a pressure release valve for air travel. There are several contributors here on AZB that I really think could work some magic with this camera.
As a bonus, with a nationwide "rotation," we'd have easier access to potentially grab some slomo video of pros from all over the country.
Basically, it would be a high speed camera owned by the pool community instead of any one individual.
I would even be willing to flip this around and pledge $100 of my own if we can all work together to engineer a solution like this.
There are some details we would need to figure out in terms of video ownership, how the work can be used, and probably some basic equipment insurance. No need to get too in depth with that stuff unless or until we get closer to funding it.
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It's just an idea that I had already been thinking about before our recent conversation, and to be honest, I like it better than the original idea. I'm sure there are also some pitfalls that I haven't considered, but we might just be able to make it work.
Thanks again to everybody for even considering this, and to MMike for helping me see this from a better perspective.
-Blake
The good news is that the seller on eBay (aimedresearch) offers a 1-week rental, including a camera operator, for only $2000 plus travel expenses. That's by far the lowest rental rate I've seen for this level of camera. Maybe something to keep in mind as an alternative if purchasing the Edgertronic doesn't work out.
