Digital Vs. Print
This is always a hot topic in the photography community Digital Vs. Print. Wither to offer your clients prints the traditional way… or to offer digital files that they can share and print on their own.
The answer always comes back to longevity… and of course quality. Two things that I want both my photography and the products I provide to have… to stand the test of time. Will the images you receive on a CD or USB last forever? Honestly, I can’t really answer that question as a 100% yes! And here is a great article I have read recently that really got me thinking of how I do business in the digital world.
First as we all know CD’s get damaged so easily.. which is why I have switched over to using USB in the last year, that are at least a little more reliable. However even your fancy USB does not mean your memories are safe. I don’t know how many times I have had clients contact me to tell me that they have lost, misplaced or even washed their USB in the laundry and are hoping that I have a “SAVED” copy of their files since they have not printed their images YET…
I have even had a client contact me two years after their session in this same situation… losing all of their newborn images, all those memories of their first few days gone… vanish forever! It breaks my heart to think that these memories were not something that they could treasure forever had they had a printed copy of their images.
This of course also brings me back to my own personal photo heart break of losing nearly 6 months of photos of my children when they were only 3 and 4 from a corrupt hard drive. It included their 3rd and 4th birthday party photos and Christmas of that year! Even now after 5 years I still shed a tear thinking about losing those photos.. those memories.
This is why it is so important to have PRINTS of your images. To have a hard copy of them that you can hold… can view and can past down too your children and even grandchildren. Cell phone pictures are not enough… I mean are you going to sit down with your grandchildren and show them thousands of pictures on a screen of their parents first “duck face selfies”! I truly hope not!
One of my favorite things to do when I would visit my grandparents and even when we visit my own parents home is to view all of the photos on the wall and photo albums of our family and history. To see even the black and white photos of my 74 year old father as a boy being held my grandfather which was taken over 70 years ago.
These are the things that I want to past down to my own children and grandchildren. Not a CD or USB that they might not even be able to use the way technology is going so fast these days. I want to be able to document my families memories… my treasured memories to share with generations to come. And I want this for my clients as well.
There will no longer be the Digital Vs. Print debate at Treasured Memories Photography. Starting in 2015 Treasured Memories will now begin to include complimentary 4×6 keepsake image prints with every newborn, maternity, child and family digital file collection purchased. We want every memory you share with us preserved for the next generation.
Not sure what to do with all those 4×6 prints? Here is an idea… why not buy a beautiful photo album like your grandparents did to keep all those memories safe. Guess we are still learning for the generations before us!
Great article Gwen, I find that people place more value over digital than prints or seem to prefer that they receive the digitals from their session… But will they ever be printed? Im so guilty of this. I never print or edit my own photos, They just sit on my hard drive or possibly make it to my FB wall to be viewed from my computer from time to time.That being said some of my most cherished possessions are not my computer or my Facebook wall but rather old photos that show my mother playing on a beach in Glasgow Scotland or photos of her and my dad when they were young (Before us kids) and the photos of her and I on my wedding day (yup I printed that one). Now thats she is gone those photos and my memories are all I have left of her.. would I trust that my hard drive would save them no way they are carefully placed in an album that I will pull out from time to time if I am sad or to show my children who their grandmother was.
Thanks Shannon… it was something that just really hit home with me…. living in a digital world but still wanting to ensure that my clients and even my own family have documents of our memories… so important…
Excellent post! While the digitals are stil strong, I’m finding so many couples getting back to the art of the print. There’s just no comparison when you have guests over to show off your photos and you have to flip up your laptop vs pulling out a thick, beautiful album. I love looking through photos of my grand parents as children, it’s just sad there are so few of them for me to look through.
Such a debate in our world! Glad your offering a print now, people will appreciate it!
Such great advice! Print your photos!!!!!!!!
Ooh, I just love this! I have this on my list of things to talk about this year! I feel that prints are so important and I love the example that you gave!!
Great post! I am terribly guilty of not printing my own photos so I can only imagine how few of my clients actually print their images.