Prints

I saw a picture on Facebook a few weeks ago and it got me thinking. Unfortunately, I have searched Facebook and cannot find it. Instead, I found another picture that conveys the same idea:

The Photo Chic

Why in the world would you put your photos on a floppy disc? Now, I realize that ten years ago it seemed like a good idea, but these days most people don't have a disc drive to read these types of discs on their computer. I sure don't. If I had pictures on a disc like this, how in the world would I get prints of them? I'm sure I could find someone with a computer to read the disc for me, but I don't like the thought of never being able to see or print certain photos of my family or friends.

Thinking about these old storage devices lead me to thinking about CDs...the things I use to hold pictures for all my clients. I personally have thousands of pictures stored on CDs that I don't have printed or saved anywhere else. I remember taking all those pictures because I wanted to have them to remember a certain time or event, and I haven't even taken the time to print 99% of them. I have to believe that I'm not the only one who does this. The digital age has been wonderful in so many ways, but it has also affected our need to print out a physical copy to actually be able to see our photos.

I personally have resolved to find all my CDs with pictures and put them into some sort of digital storage, whether it is my online storage system or an external hard drive. But that's not all - I need to print the pictures that are actually important to me, just in case that is the only chance I will ever have of keeping them. I don't think that I need to print all of the thousands of pictures I have saved, but I do need to print some of them.

After thinking of what I was going to do to remedy the problem for myself, I got thinking about the pictures I take for others. People pay me to take professional pictures of their families. I put my time, effort, and talent into producing photos that they will love and want to have to remember their family during a certain period of life. But I wonder: how many pictures are actually printed? I would guess that some of them are, but what about the others? I love to include ones that contain glimpses into personalities and relationships, not just the typical portrait. To me, those glimpses into real life are the moments I want to remember, but they are not usually the photos I am going to print to display.

When I got married I spent forever looking for a photographer. I knew that we weren't going to pay someone a lot of money, but I was very particular about what I wanted. I completely lucked out and found someone that was great to work with and I absolutely love my wedding pictures. One thing she did for me was provide a 4x6 print of each image that was on my CD. I didn't think much of it at the time, but those pictures are the ones I used during our first year of marriage as I was trying to decorate our apartment and fill some of the picture frames we received as wedding gifts. The ones that aren't displayed are in an album. The ones in frames are still there and I love seeing them. My daughter pulls out the album at least once a week and looks through all the pictures of when momma was dressed up like a princess and married daddy. I don't know how many images I have printed from my CD, but I can tell you that it is not very many. Having the prints was something that I didn't know I would appreciate until after I had them.

All this leads me to my point: I would like to start including a set of 4x6 professional prints with each CD. It would obviously mean that I will be minimally increasing my prices to cover the cost of the prints. But, if this isn't important to anyone but me, I won't put the effort into preparing and ordering the prints. I have posted a poll on the upper right hand side of the blog and I would like each person who reads this to respond. There is no right or wrong answer; please respond honestly after taking these points into consideration. It may not determine what I decide to do, but it will influence my decision.

Now, go print your pictures!