[ismaelg]

Hi,

I'm a volunteer Boy Scouts adult leader with a TRUE believe in the program. I am CONVINCED that Boy Scouts is the best solution for today's youth.
I am very involved with the council, district and the units and I am some sort of unofficial Official photographer
For the last few years I've been involved in the Jamborettes: A celebration of scouting every two years that has aprox. 8000 people attending. In 2010 I was in charge of physical facilities and for 2012, I'm not only doing that but I've been asked for something special: Come up with a photographic related plan.
The general idea is this: To have a "studio" setup where scouts can have their portraits taken in their uniforms and sell 8x10 prints. The idea is to be economical for the scouts but to get some profit for the event's budget. But that is only part 1:
Part 2: To have 3 or 4 photographers at large covering the events that weekend and to dispaly the pictures in giant screens with a number so people can order prints of them. Similar to what they do in amusement parks like Disney World etc.
For this to happen, I need first and foremost people willing to volunteer for this cause. I don't think that will be a problem.
I'm thinking of having a bunch of say 2 or 4 GB cards so when the card is full you come back swap it for a fresh one and off you go, while another team downloads, freshens the card for another round and work the images.
My hurdle in printing. In the heat of the moment, prints will sell well. If we only take orders to eventually print and mail later, you run into several issues like mixing and mailing the wrong pictures, cost of shipping, loosing interest etc. I would like to have prints ready at the moment.
Having a potential audience of 8,000 to 10,000 people, I need a reliable yet cost effective printing solution. I'm contacting some local photo printers to get their opinions and ideas but I'd like to hear suggestions from you. Yes, I know it is crazy but I've never claimed to be sane
What/how would you do?
Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks,

[George Lama]

You would need to purchase (or borrow if available) a few 8x10 printers that can spit out a print in less than a minute, like for example the Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II or Canon PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II.

As to whether this would be economical depends on the cost of ink and paper plus the yield in your specific situation.

Best of luck - sounds like a wonderful project!