Thurston Studios

I was able to find the dropshot photos by NUSHIC and USNA2010and07. Does anyone know if there are any others?

Went to Thornton's website this afternoon and they have 4 photos of my DS in my "folder". I couldn't find a way to look at all the other photos. I'm not certain if it's because they don't have the website fully functioning with the I-Day photos they've taken or if there isn't a way to do it.
 
Have already seen my plebe numerous times on the official NA Facebook page.
 
DS hasn't been in but two pics so far---wondering if I am spending my money wisely-lol. Seems there are 4 kids with the same last name as ours and two are in his platoon. Plus two with the same first name. Thorton has all four on my page with only one of my DS. Going to be a long summer may need new glasses after these long searches through FB and Thorton.
 
OK---politically speaking--it says over 8000 pic are posted --i looked at every platoon ,event and company i don't think i saw 300. That said --it would be a very hard job to run around photographing these mids I'm sure they are spread out everywhere. Plus there are 1200 sets of parents all desperately seeking Waldo to deal with.(not criticizing just informing).But--------when you do find your company or platoon you can't see very well because of the lines going through the pics for copyright protection. Group shots were very hard to see anyone but the plebes in front. Maybe the count includes pictures from past events and years.Not sure I guess this is one way to not be a crying idiot missing your mid-you are too busy going blind. Never did like those Where's Waldo books anyhow-:rolleyes::yllol::bang:
 
singaporemom,
Put your cursor over the picture and then right click on it. You'll get the option to 'save as'.
 
singaporemom said:
Does anyone know how to actually get the pics off of drop shot?
Click to expand...

Using Mozilla Firefox on a PC, you can just right-click on any pictures you want (from dropshots, not advocating this for copyrighted photos) and save them to your computer.
 
The USNA facebook page has some GREAT pics, and you don't have to be a Facebook member to view or save them. There were 2 of my Plebe getting his hair shaved! We've only been thru 2 of the albums, plan to spend our 4th of July looking thru the rest!

Singaporemom, as mentioned, at dropshots, click on picture to open it to the larger shot, then right click, and hit "save picture as" and it will let you save it to your computer in whatever file location you want. You can also rename it to whatever you want. You can do the same thing with the facebook pics.
 
thought I'd bring this one back up so anyone not having the dropshots link could find it again. Me all i'm finding on T---st-- is the same ones reposted to up the count. maybe its been tough to get pics because there have been so many black flag days. the lines really make it difficult to find your waldo too. hope i end up with enough to spend my credit money!
 
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I would rate Thornton as "ok"; a C grade at best. Potential to be really good, except their user interface is about circa 1996 (which is dinosaur era for the internet). The searching capability is just awful. And the watermark stripes make it hard to see who's who (I understand the need to watermark, but must be some other method). Several pics I've saved to My Waldo never made it there and now I can't find them again. I get emails that "we photographed your Plebe doing ZYX and the pics will be posted in a few days"; well after 10 days they still aren't posted.

Dropshots actually has better pics. I'm not complaining, but my 1 suggestion would be to not use the rapid shutter release (4 or 5 frames per second). The result is virtually the same pics a split second apart over and over again, making it so hard to click thru the thousands of pics. We do all appreciate your time...great job! :thumb:
 
Studio photos

I have the same issue BlackHawkMom with the lines and the gray scale proofs. I called the studio and talked to them about it. She was very nice and told me that over PPW they will be set up in Dahlgren Hall with their computers so that we can view everything normally and make a decision about purchases.

Also, if you view your "My Waldo" section as a slide show the pics are a little better to see. There is one photo of our boy that is so awesome that it's worth the entire fee that we paid for the one picture! Every time I wonder about him I look at this particular photo and know that he is fine. I want to make a scrapbook of his Plebe Summer and was hoping to get a lot of photos from them but it's very expensive so I may just get one or two priceless ones.
 
I concur with the three previous posts and the "C" grade. No new pictures have been uploaded for several days. On a good note: quick response to email question and one excellent picture during I-day, in my view worth the registration fee. My husband is working in China, where Facebook is blocked, so he is grateful even for the meager pickings on the plebesummer site.
 
I agree, while their photos are very nice. I have a very hard time navigating their website. I also got an email a week and a half ago saying that certain pictures were going to be put up in the next couple of days of my DS's company and they still haven't shown up. One of their weekly newsletters had a link to a video clip "of the day", it didn't work. I emailed to find out about it and it took several days for them to email me back and they said that they would have the link up in a few days. I have had the same problem with marking photos into My Waldo but then when you go to the slideshow they're not there (they show up as black squares). It took a lot of time to go through the pictures the first time around to now have to go back and do it again. I understand that they take a lot of pictures and they have a lot of staff to pay, but I think their prices are high. However, I will probably buy a couple of them in the end.
On the positive side they have a series of about 6 photos of my DS getting his haircut on I-Day:thumb:

Has anyone also noted that the schedule is a day off? It showed that on Monday 7/26 that the plebes had Chapel Services and Phone calls.
 
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I have to agree with the majority of recent posters here. Two weeks ago, I would have been much more enthusiastic, but I haven't seen a new picture in over a week and there are no new tweets (I check those everyday as well). Also, I hate it when they say there are 200 new pictures of my son's platoon, only to look through and find out they are reposts! This 'exclusive contract' is a good example of why competition is important in business!

But, the most annoying thing to me in recent days is that they've messed up the schedule. (As mumsyto3 mentioned) I used to love looking to see what my son's company did the day before and "talking" to him about it in my letters to him. (Which, I know is a luxury, but a small one that made my day.) Today will be the last day it is obvious until next week. I emailed them about it on Monday and was told my email was forwarded to the appropriate people, but it is still wrong. I know this is a relatively small thing, but it is one of the advertised services I paid for.

With all of that said, I would still purchase the membership again. (And, I'm sure they know that :rolleyes:) I have seen a couple of really good photos of DS (in addition to the haircut series), and even though browsing isn't the easiest, it is WAY easier than Dropshots and even FB, imho. I definitely want to purchase the Gouge, which is relatively inexpensive, for DS's scrapbook. The jury is still out on whether we will purchase other items due to the price.

For the record, I do really appreciate the Dropshots and FB photographers. I just don't always have time to wade through all the great photos they take.
 
The Facebook and Dropshot photos have been awesome. A lot of work to search through but great photos!!! As far as the FB and Dropshot photos, it is helpful for people to make comments under the photos if you recognize a particular company or platoon so that other people who are looking can know where to go.

What is the Gouge and has anyone ordered it before and can comment if it's worthwhile?
 
How do you navigate Dropshots?

Following the link posted back a few pages leads to one person's pics. Then there's a long list of "friends" on the left side. But do I really have to go through each of those and hope that they're current and not from 2006? I know I must be doing somehting wrong. Help please.
 
I feel I need to speak up and tell you all about our experience with Thornton, and it was extensive.

I loved looking for my Waldo, didn't even mind the stripes at all. As a photographer myself I totally understand their need to protect their work.

However, their work is unacceptable in my eyes. A complete rip-off. We bought 25 5x7 downloads, which were ok, nothing earthshattering, but ok. We also purchased the Plebe Summer DVDs. What a joke!! The companies and platoons were completely mislabled, they made excuses that it is sooo difficult to get this right... it is not! The content was repetitive, they showed the same clips several times.

Of course we fell for the portrait offer as well. Ended up purchasing 2 poses, one of which is completely out of focus. I had asked them if it was only the proof that looks iffy, if a 5x7 would come out sharp? I was re-assured that it would be perfect, Larry is a genius at post-processing. I know, I should have known better. No professional or even amateur would call what we received acceptable. Did I mention that the pics arrived in a regular manila envelope, with just a thin cardboard insert? Of course they were bent upon arrival. What professional photographer mails portraits in this manner?!?

Next: the interview. I can't remember all that happened, but it was re-scheduled on their end several times because they LOST the first one. In the end my Mid had enough of their nonsense and we gave up.

I don't know why, but we ended up going for the Sea Trials/ Herndon DVDs as well. We never learn, do we? Totally unprofessional and repetitive again. The change from one segment to the other can be done better by a Kindergardener, and, as I said, they showed the same segments twice. Pathetic editing! My Mids company was featured for maybe 5% of the time. We haven't bothered watching the Herndon DVD.

It is a real shame that these guys have open access to our Mids, our hearts and wallets. You can find better photographs from other free sources, you may not get anything from the O-Course or shooting range, but you won't feel like a su**er either. I know I do, and I probably left out half the things that bugged me about them this year.

Whew! Now I feel better :smile:
 
In Dropshots you can sort by Date. Go to '2010' and then 'July' then each day for when the pictures were taken. If you click on a picture it will change to a large picture with thumbnails down the right-side. You can easily 'slide' through them by clicking the picture (next). Also, you can zoom-in: place the mouse on the right place on the picture and the cursor changes to a zoom sign. Happy Hunting.
 
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