ROES Software

Well Labor Day has come and gone, all the summer clothes are now stored until next Memorial Day and life is starting to feel a little more normal.  I love summer, I really do, but come each Labor Day I am usually exhausted.  Our summer has been filled with lots of fun trips, great times shared with friends and family, and more cook-outs and tomato pie than I care to count. I have never been so excited to attend a back to school night in my life. I guess I would feel differently about saying goodbye to my kids during the active mid day hours if I felt they were actually dreading going to school (the way I did), but when the first carpool door flew open and my kids burst out of my car without even saying a word, it actually made me feel happy.  On this special day  I exchanged the "I love you daddy" my daughter normally leaves me with  for the  kids' laughter as they departed my car running after friends.  Hearing their laughter made me feel even better  because I knew that they were happy with the school we had chosen. At Mastercolor "Back to School" also has another special meaning: "Back to printing lots of pictures".  Don't get me wrong, we love printing your vacation proofs, a canvas gallery wrap from your favorite scenic spot, and seeing all the wonderful places our customers have traveled when we print their photo books using our ROES software, but nothing makes me happier than strolling through the plant and seeing "units" pour out of the machines.

You know I have always heard how life can imitate art.  Never meant much too me since in my mind as an average photographer, any art I created through my favorite hobby of photography was created from real life events or things that I had captured with my camera.  Well my opinion changed this week.  As I was hustling around trying to prepare our August 1st online news letter (sign up for it on the front page of our site), trying to pay all bills that will become due next week, trying to end and reward the winners of our "Sunset" photo contest all my mind could think of was vacation!  Yep, I am outta here for 5 days to visit my aunt & uncle and their generous offer to share the old family house at on of the most beautiful places on this earth, MARTHA'S VINEYARD!  The place where I captured my favorite image of my children to date, where I proposed to my wife at Gay Head , the place where I learned to fear the water like no other, the place where I saw them film JAWS. Yes life is imitating art.  Shortly after telling a friend of mine that I was headed to the Vineyard, he said with a sly grin, "You have heard about the shark warnings in the area, haven't you?"  I realized (with that  sudden rush over my body like the one Chief Brody felt when relaxing on State Beach and the first cries of a shark attack whizzed through the air) that yes I was taking my family to the same spot where I watched the movie JAWS being filmed. In 1974 I was pulled around by my grandmother to watch as many scenes being filmed as possible, including "the boy on the raft".

At Mastercolor Labs we see thousands of different Christmas Cards each year, and every year we are asked "which picture should I use for my card."  My answer is always, use the photos that show what your family is like in their every day life.  Sure everyone wants to look like a Norman Rockwell Painting, but the cards I remember the most are the funny cards with kids laughing, dogs facing the other way, babies crying, and parents looking frustrated.  Remember you are sending these to friends, and they already know AND like you (hopefully), so be yourself.

Mastercolor Labs is lucky to have established a nice market share on the internet, and usually the first question we are asked about becoming a customer is how is the best way to send orders to our lab, and the answer is simple: Remote Order Entry Service.  You will not find a faster uploading software on the internet.  It does not matter if you are ordering a 30 x40 digital photograph, or 1,000 8x10 units for school photography, the compression method the software uses is amazing.

In the near future  we are opening a new site: Mastercolorcanvas.com, while it is still part of the Mastercolor company, it is a website for the sole purpose of uploading just  Gallery Wrapped images.  We currently allow people to send their digital images via email, or upload them using our Professional or Advanced service but this site will have a quick Browse section.  If you are wanting to upload any images, either Digital Photographs or Giclee Gallery Wrapped Prints I suggest using the ROES software available on the front page of this site.

At Mastercolor Labs we see thousands of different Christmas Cards each year, and every year we are asked "which picture should I use for my card."  My answer is always, use the photos that show what your family is like in their every day life.  Sure everyone wants to look like a Norman Rockwell Painting, but the cards I remember the most are the funny cards with kids laughing, dogs facing the other way, babies crying, and parents looking frustrated.  Remember you are sending these to friends, and they already know AND like you (hopefully), so be yourself.