JADYNE AND I HAD NO IDEA…

what to do with the Dozens of Muslins we had commissioned for high school events over the past umpteen years, so we created this background rental business to help other photographers, who like ourselves, were tired of spending the little free time available to us to create imaginative sets for high school dances.

We've been renting them to clients around the US, most of whom have either heard me speak on special event photography, or who, by word of mouth, have discovered that the mystery of successful dance photography can be turned into mastery by simply using our creative and dramatic muslins.

WHO ARE WE?

Thirty some odd years after our own high school graduations, we finally achieved the dubious distinction of Prom King and Queen. For twenty-four years our home studio was the northern California epicenter of creative event and prom photography. We focused on the essentials:  lighting, posing, and above all, our own unique three-dimensional backgrounds.  In 2004 we gave up the studio and moved closer to the SF Bay Area where we remain committed to serving our Dozens of Muslins clients.

In 2007, our son Jason, whose childhood chores included assisting us at
dances and weddings, joined the business

WHY MUSLIN?

We have learned the secret to painting on muslin, keeping it wrinkle-free and behaving like canvas. Because each background is so light, and the material so flexible, we can fold each background into a 2' square and ship it to you via UPS.

Open the box, clamp the muslin firmly to background poles with clamps, and let hang for a day or two. This will minimize many of the wrinkles.

To achieve a superior seamless appearance, either iron the back of the muslin by spreading it on the floor of your studio or steam it directly from the front as it's suspended from your background poles. (I bought a clothes steamer on ebay for about $75 and it saves both time and work).

Once you've got the wrinkles out, roll the muslin directly onto a background pole for transport to the dance site. Unroll it, clamp it again to the background poles, tape the floor down with gaffer's tape, and you're all set. The few minutes it takes to care for the muslin more than makes up for the cumbersome task of dealing with heavy canvas, props, and other dance set paraphernalia.

HOW DOES IT ALL WORK?

We have more than 100 different backgrounds and multiple copies of many of them. They are available to you on a RENTAL basis only for a weekend's use. We cover the shipping to you so that you have the background(s) a few days prior to your event. You are responsible for returning the background(s) to us by the Thursday following your event. During the busy prom season, you may be asked to send the background(s) on to a fellow photographer via air shipment. In all cases, we will reimburse you for the additional shipping costs.

Many of our clients use our web site to sell directly to dance committees. It's easy to take the committee members to the media center, log on, and have them select directly from the web. Internet access also allows you to see the new backgrounds we create throughout the school year by checking out the "What's New" section.

WHY NOT SELL THE BACKGROUNDS?

Are you kidding? What would you do with a 10' x 18' underwater muslin? By renting backgrounds you can get exactly what you want, when you want it, and not have to deal with accumulating a whole lot of unusable backgrounds. How do you think Dozens of Muslins started in the first place?

3-D Backgrounds have been enormously successful for us, giving us opportunities to photograph school dances that otherwise would have been awarded to contract photographers and larger discount photo companies. We are confident that they will work as successfully for you as they do for us

Copyright 1997-2008 by David Buchholz Photography. All rights Reserved.