Why Printed Pictures Are Important
I said a blog post was coming this week on what to expect for your sessions, but in order to write that post correctly, I'm going to take a little more time to do it.
This week I'm going to focus on pictures, and why it's so important to print your pictures.
If you've worked with me, you know almost all of my Collections include prints. I print only at the best quality professional labs to ensure your images are printed on the highest quality paper with the highest quality ink so that these images will be able to last for generations in your family. Just like the picture everyone has of grandma, or even great grandma! You are ensuring future generations have something tangible of your legacy in the family. Time is fleeting. I lost both of my parents before I was 30, and every single picture I find of them today, I swear, is like a treasure. I love going through their friends photo albums, because I know, an image of them will sneak up somewhere and it will make my heart sing.
A picture of my mom with her brother. Both gone now.
This sits on my desk now and makes me smile every time I see it.
Technology is always changing. Depending on how long you've been with me, I started out by giving digital images on CD's. I shudder to think how many of those digital images are completely obsolete at this point and gone. With my newest laptop upgrade (thanks to my amazing husband at Christmas!), I no longer even have the ability to make CD's on my computer. And with my weddings and events, I give a custom USB drive with images. But even USB ports are disappearing on computers as technology marches ever forward to be smaller, sleeker and more efficient. Leaving me to wonder if I should continue to offer these, or just do downloads online like I do for regular galleries.
An image from my CD days.
Computers also crash, or need to be updated. I can't tell you how many pictures I've lost over the years with losing phones (or destroying them), and computers needing to be upgraded. Thankfully, I have a storage system for all client images, but I am not as careful with my own images (though recently, I've started to make sure those are safe as well). I have been contacted by several clients in the past that hope to God I still have their images as they've had some sort of major computer malfunction, all their pictures gone. And I do!
And look, photography isn't cheap. I understand that coming to me is a bit of money. I do hope people understand that me taking your pictures isn't just showing up to click a button. It's hours before a session communicating. It's hours before your session planning. It's hours before your session making sure my equipment is in order, lenses are cleaned, memory cards are formatted, batteries are charged. All in multiples. This equipment is also incredibly expensive and there are multiples I take to every session, in case, God forbid, a failure happens, I can be ready to go with the next battery/card/lens/camera body. Then there's the time after your session I spend. It's 20-30 minutes just getting your session loaded into the computer and then culling (the act of going through the images where your eyes are closed, your body positioning is off, my camera missed focus for some reason....)through the session takes time, and then every individual picture in your gallery is taken in to photoshop and edited to it's full capacity to give you a beautiful final image.
After all that work, after all that money, wouldn't you want to SEE your pictures? Downloading them to your computer, you'll likely leave them there, maybe sharing them to social media. After that, you'll see them once a year as they show up in your "memories". It's hard to really enjoy them that way. Print them! Put them on the wall! Remember how funny it was when I told your kids to whisper a secret into each other's ears, and one thought the other said fart and they broke down into hysterics (that's happened). Remember how little your kids were in the moment. Remember your senior as she (or he) finishes up their high school years and how excited and full of hope they were as they took on life and had nothing but the future ahead of them. It goes fast. People tell you it goes fast, but you never really believe it. Until you realize your "baby" can start taking drivers ed classes in less than a year and you SWEAR she was teething last week. (I'm fine, we're fine, it's all gonna be fine)
The "fart" image.
Print your pictures. And not at Walmart where they're trying to beat prices by giving you inferior products. Print through me. Or ask me where to print! I'm happy to give you some cost effective places that I know won't ruin the quality of my work or the lasting quality of your print. Your kids, and your kids kids, will thank you.
*In a future post, I will be showing the comparison of printing at Walmart, or CVS, compared to a professional lab!
