A Post Worth Reading | Client Disc

Read this one with an open mind, I’m not trying to put anyone down but it is something that I feel needs to be talked about. All comments are welcomed in the section below:

What is more important to you getting a copy of all your photos on social media or getting a print to display in your home? In this day we have been overtaken by the concept that when we get our photos taken we NEED the disc. With all the places available to order your photos now I can say that I understand that aspect. Some people won’t even go to a certain photographer if they don’t provide the disc.  Here is why I 100% disagree with this. 

Professional Portrait Photography is a luxury.  It is not something that is just a part of life now. I personally attended a very intense school to learn how to become the best of the best. Let put this is a simple example. Everyone loves Pumpkin Spice Coffee right now, Everyone.  There are all different types of coffee, but pumpkin spice is your favorite. You can get this coffee from almost anywhere. You can now go to McDonalds and get this coffee, but it’s not always the best and it sometimes comes a little watered down. You can make it from home with some great recipe you found on Pinterest but that isn’t exactly right either.  Maybe if the store would have had the exact ingredients you could probably dupe the recipe and settle for that, yet it still isn’t the best coffee you’ve ever had. You could go to a coffee shop with they carry the top quality ingredients and have people who train how to perfect your coffee. They market for it and you even get to walk away with a cute little cup packaged just for the Pumpkin Spice. It’s one of the best cups of coffee you have ever had. 

Do you see where I am going with this?

I spend my time working to perfect your photos, I order them through a top print company who guarantees your photos, and you’re presented with an awesome product to bring home to proudly display to your friends. I am fully aware that you can get the same product from somewhere cheaper, but you’re NOT GETTING THE SAME PRODUCT FROM THOSE PLACES. It’s not even close. The quality is not there.

Is that worth saving an extra dollar or two? 

So many of my weddings and sessions have purchased the disc in the past only to NEVER ORDER ANYTHING. I don’t understand. You call me about your photos & we shoot them. I’m excited to get them back to you & you let them sit around to collect dust. Once I had that disc over I release all quality control. That is a scary thing for me. I work on your images and pour myself into them as my editing style. After all that time it says nothing about my work if you take it to a sub-par company and it’s terribly printed. How easy is it to set the disc aside and think “Oh I will sit down and order when I have time.” The website is a little confusing, it’s time consuming, and somehow your never order your prints. 

If you want the disc just to be able to share them on Facebook with all our friends and family, I can understand that.  Social media is exciting, but it’s not everything.  Facebook is not meant to be a way to store photos. Allow me to repeat this so you understand what I’m saying FACEBOOK IS NOT A STORAGE DEVICE. Once you get the photos on Facebook, which is easy enough, you can share with everyone and watch as it blows up with likes & comments. Well Facebook won’t last forever and someday you’re going to need a tangible way to show someone what your life looked like in 2013. Here is a little known fact, Facebook takes your photos and makes it very small. You can’t tell since you’re just viewing it on a computer screen. It is also a pain to remove photos from Facebook and put them back onto your computer. You have to download every file and it comes back as a tiny version of what it used to be. That it. You don’t get nearly the quality back. 

When people express their huge desire to share their photos on Facebook, that’s great. Believe me I get it. I have a smart phone and am constantly sharing my photos too. However, this is not the purpose of professional photography. 

So when I read the email that says I only want to book if I can have the disc, I feel like it’s a slap in the face. It says to me “I like your work enough for you to photograph my family, but not enough to display it on quality products like it deserves.”  I know this not the intent but it still stings a little. I have watched as talented photographers hang their  heads low and walk away from the business because they can not stay in business with this type of thing going on. I don’t want to complain, that is not the reason of this. I want to better inform my client so their needs can be realistic, that their expectations will be the same as my expectations. That is when we are all happy and my business runs the smoothest. 

So from now on, I ask that you really consider if you need a disc sitting around with hundreds of files on it? Do you really plan on printing that many canvas’s for your home that you need to go the cheapest route possible? What being able to hold an image in your hand of your child’s first few teeth coming through at their one year session or  your favorite moment from the first dance at your wedding worth to you? Is it really worth the extra dollar less, I don’t think so at least.