Print your photos!
Do you have digital packages?
I’ve had more than a few people get upset that I don’t offer digital-only sessions. I’ve heard it more than once, “(New Photographer) charged me (a small amount of money) and gave me (a lot of) digital images, do you do that?” The simple answer is no, and there is a good reason why…people want to see your photos. You want to show your photos off. I don’t think a photo is complete until it is printed.
Looking through old albums…
Do you remember going to your grandparent’s house and looking at all the old photos? Or grabbing a family album and looking back on family vacations, birthdays, wedding, or just summer days in those faded photos? I love that feeling and the smell and feel of the books. Especially hearing and telling the stories behind the scenes, “remember when…” Those are the best!
Did you know there is a whole generation that will never experience photographs that way? This current generation doesn’t know what it’s like to open an old shoebox full of memories. Today’s kids will never experience the laughter (or embarrassment) of hideous hairstyles and poor fashion decisions documented for eternity in well-worn family albums. In fact, it is possible this generation will be erased from photographic history altogether. Consider for a moment that obsolete technology can erase the memories of an entire generation.
Shouldn’t we value this generation more? Why don’t we love our memories enough to print them, display them, and share them? For this reason alone I print Love.
Professionals value what you love
Clearly, I love photographs and I think the value of a printed memory is irreplaceable. Not to mention, I believe as a client you should expect a certain level of investment by the photographer in what you love most.
Here is another reason don’t offer digital-only packages. When a photographer hands you a disk with a bunch of files, they just put you to work for them. Now you have to figure out where and how to print, frame, and display the photos. How would you feel if you went into Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, ordered an expensive meal and the waiter brought you a raw steak and vegetables expecting you to go home and cook for yourself? That would never be acceptable in any other industry, don’t accept it from photographers. Your memories are too important.
A professional should never ask a client to do the job they were hired to do. This is why you hired a professional in the first place. Professional photographers should do more than click a button, they should master their craft, becoming artists who document memories and creating something timeless and beautiful. Not only that, shouldn’t a professional know the best way to display and preserve your memories? Shouldn’t they want to print something you will love for generations?
One of my greatest joys as a photographer is seeing the excitement and reaction when a client opens their new photographs and the look on their faces as they hold an album full of memories. That moment is priceless because that moment is full of love, and it can be revisited over and over
It is a tragedy when memories are lost, and I fear that is exactly what is happening with this generation. The memories and images of a whole generation will be lost as soon as the technology changes. That’s the reason I partner with professional print houses that use papers designed to last and not fade. We make photographs with colors will remain true. Finally, we present your memory, and the things you love and cherish in displays, frames, and albums that will last generations.
To be fair, this really only applies to family sessions, special occasions, and high school senior photos. Those are the memories you want to hold in your hand, and put on the wall, and share in an album. Of course I offer digital images for corporate, commercial, and advertising clients, thats because they need them to print in magazines and billboards.
Now I understand that this isn’t for everyone, some people will still want the immediate gratification of digital. There will always be a market for quick and convenient photographers, and that is ok. However, that is not me, and I’m just fine with that. I want your children’s children to be able to look at and enjoy the memories that were captured.
