One very important question we have to ask ourselves…
What would have happened if our parents stored their images on 8-tracks instead of having them printed? What if they were stored on a VHS tape instead of being printed? What about a cassette tape? Would you be able to see your childhood memories today? Nope, Nope and Nope! And yet when booking a session a lot of clients are most concerned with getting their images on some type of digital media like a CD or USB.
Media comes and goes…
8-tracks were invented in the 60’s and gone by the 80’s
VHS tapes were invented in the 70’s and gone by the late 90’s
Cassette tapes were invented in the late 70’s and gone by the early 2000’s
CDs came out in the late 90’s and are expected to be gone by 2018
If I’m already pulling at your heart stings; GOOD – that is my intension 😉
Can I get a CD with the files?
I have been asked this question in so many different ways and the answer has always been YES! Now my answer is still YES but I have added a caveat – you now get every file that is printed. YES! I am forcing you to print your images. I want you to have your digital images, I really do because they are yours but I am not here to create art that sits on digital media. It’s just not my thing. There is no value to a CD full of images, it does nothing for you – trust me! Giving away a disk of images is the way some photographers cut out time in their workflow (to each their own) and somehow the industry that I love has begun skipping the most important part, the fun part, the rewarding part, PRINTING!
My determination for printing started with a personal story. I have captured 100’s of images of my nieces and nephews and always thought I was doing my sister a favor by giving her a disc of images that she could print at her leisure. I would post the images to social media and they would get tons of likes and shares, I thought I was doing a great thing. My sister has 4 children and when her oldest was graduating high school we dug in the family photo box for images to display at the party and it became very clear that her 2 older children grew up in the film age and her 2 younger children grew up in the digital age. There were no image of the younger two in the family photo box, zero! Guess what we did find? A couple of ugly plastic discs that I had burned over the years BUT technology has advanced so much there was not even a computer in the house with a disk drive on it. Oh no! From that day forward I decided that I will not be responsible for the death of the family photo box. I am passionate about having your images printed, I too often see beautiful images gracing the newsfeed of Facebook and never printed. Images are meant to be printed and shared with generations to come and although I love social media sharing, you cannot pass down a Facebook profile. PS – I have since had all of my sister’s images printed and her box is all caught up!
Guess what I have learned in my first 5 years of business? No matter how good someone’s intentions are for getting portraits taken, if I don’t walk them through the printing process the images VERY RARELY actually get printed. Even when the images do happen to get printed, they rarely make it to the wall. I have a girlfriend who has 20 frames, big beautiful wall frames and all kinds of printed images (she works for a lab) ready to go but she is so unsure of how to lay everything out. THIS IS MY JOB! I am the bomb dot com at layout options and displays. My job is fine art portrait display! Again, I thought I was doing her a favor – I was not!
YES! These images that I create, the hours I have spent, the days of education I have endured, the blood, sweat and tears that go into my work are to produce fine art for your walls. Your hire a photographer not for snapshots that sit on a disk but to create fine art for you and your family to enjoy for years to come. You cannot pass down Facebook pages – your images in that capacity are not safe. You cannot pass down CDs – just like the 8-track, they will go away forever. But you know what you can pass down? Professional prints! Wall art, albums, gift prints, the family photo box!! Professional printing is different then what you find at retail printers (Shutterfly, Wal-green, etc.) while I do think they have their time and place (like making additional copies, printing cell phone captures, vacation images and prints for Aunt Sally) the quality is different – really different. I use to work in printing so I do know my stuff! Professional prints will last 100’s of years, they are printed on a different paper and with better inks then local retailers. Professional paper has silver in it (yup, real silver) that’s what makes it archival, the paper and color will not degrade over time. Most retail printers use 4 colors (inks) to print, they mix those 4 colors up in an effort to get the 1000’s of color variation that you pay me to capture with my professional gear. Guess what, professional printers use 256 different ink colors and variations, now which print do you think will have the best color? What image do you think will pop when hanging on your wall? Professional printing is different, the color is stunning and it will last beyond a lifetime!
So how does it work???
After your session we have an image review session, it takes about an hour unless you are ohh and aww over your images then it may take a little longer. (I don’t mind one bit!) We get all decision makers in the same place to review and select the products you would like to make. You have the choice for me to come to your home OR you to come to my home studio. Either way you’ll get to see, feel and touch all of the amazing products we can make with your images. I like to start with what you want to hang on the wall – the piece that is for the family! Then we go over additional products and gifts for others. It’s that simple – and then it’s done! The products are delivered ready to hang or ready to gift and you can pat yourself on the back for hiring the right gal for the job!
My job no longer just entails capturing your images, I am a product specialist. Actually I have been working with these products for years with my background in printing. I use to stand at tradeshow booths giving away idea after idea to other photographers on how to create studio displays and fine art wall displays for their clients. It’s my job to give that same knowledge to you!
So do you get the digital files? YES! And the answer is yes because I understand that we live in a digital world and you want to share these images with your “network”. So the caveat…for every image that you have printed on any of the products I offer you will also receive a digital copy on USB (current modern technology) for archiving and sharing on your social networks! For clients who really want every single image I have a simple solution – image boxes or coffee table albums. Every image from your session is printed with these products so you will also get every image on a USB for archiving and sharing.
If you are going to have your images professionally captured then you owe it to yourself to have them professionally printed! Let me show you how easy the process is and how painless it can be to FINALLY check off “get images printed” from your to-do list. The image review session is the best part of the process – oh yeah and I also bring dessert 😉 Images are even sweeter over cake!
Man this really hit home. My girls live in the digital world of technology, which is great, but I do not have many pictures of them printed 🙁 This needs to change. The best part of spring cleaning is finding our family photo box and looking through our childhood pictures from my sisters and I and my mother. Thanks for the reminder and keep up the great work at capturing memories to keep for a lifetime!
Thanks Tai! Yes get printing! My sisters and I LOVE looking at our family photo box which is another reason I am so passionate about printing! It is so fun to look back at our hair and cloths and “remember this”, remember that” Images really do tell the amazing story of our journey!