I’ve been doing some tough soul searching lately. This is the time of year to do it, too. All bundled up, hanging out closely with our loved ones at home, mostly. Between stoking the fire in the wood stove; shoveling snow; playing board games or cards; reading or journal writing, there’s plenty of time to take stock of what worked last year, and planning for the things upcoming this year; and, yes, time for dreaming, too.
While attending Imaging USA in Nashville, I gathered tidbits of sage advice from industry leaders, artists in the imagery field with years upon years of knowledge and proven success stories in their own right. These offerings of wisdom ultimately reaffirmed what I already knew to be true and sparked my decision to make some changes to the way I do business. It’s my highest and best hope that my clients will benefit the most from these changes, by adding value to their photography investment. With that said, I’ve revamped my website and my entire pricing structure to reflect these positive changes. Take a look, see; Click Here or here: www.my3girlsphotography.com
The number one change I’ve made is to no longer be what our industry refers to as a “Shoot & Burn Photographer.” In an effort to add value to the way I do business, I am switching models. I’ve restructured my packages or what I refer to as "collections," to only include a few or some or all of the digital files in low-resolution, watermarked and ready to upload and share on the web at my clients’ discretion, but will not be given print rights permission. I’ve increased my print options and credits to encourage more, (MORE!) printing of my images with professional print labs that I commission and offer through my online gallery service. I plan to offer additional options and incentives in the months to come for photo books and albums, as well.
These changes have grown out of a genuine concern for my client-friends and their memories, history, and their heirloom treasures. I'm adding value to the collections, offering images to share on the web, plus big incentives to print the images through a professional print lab service, and by doing so will help stretch my client-friends' investment. I've also decided to offer framing suggestions and in-home display consultations, with no additional service fee.
What I mostly noticed was that my client-friends who were receiving their digital files on disc were not doing anything with them. Other than sharing the images on social media platforms, such as Facebook, these files are just collecting dust. They aren’t being printed at quality print labs or put on display, as was the initial intention of my offering these files. I am old school, friends. My passionate love for photography began in the era of film, and I have countless photo albums, framed portraits, and prints of all sort throughout my house. I even have boxes full of old negatives. The printing of images is immensely important to me - and, in my humble opinion, the bigger, the better! You are investing your hard earned income, and you deserve to have a tangible return on your investment. Something to treasure and admire for generations to come.
Confession time - Since I have gone digital, I have become lax on printing out my own images. Things need to change for me as well. I know this, and I always feel guilty for not printing more. I'm over due!
Confession time - Since I have gone digital, I have become lax on printing out my own images. Things need to change for me as well. I know this, and I always feel guilty for not printing more. I'm over due!
And if that wasn't enough cause to ruffle my feathers and cause a turnabout, how about this notion - a looming 'Digital Dark Age' soon to possibly lose our data and documentation (yikes, yikes, and more yikes!):
Time and time again, I am hearing from other professionals with this similar viewpoint - about the importance of printing your digital images - And here's another great article to read and educate ourselves from Mike Yost Photography:
I hope to report back to you at some point later this year with success stories and notes of appreciation for these changes I am making to my collections. Of course, I understand that one or two digital files would be appreciated by my client-friends around the holidays for greeting cards, or engaged couples wanting to print Save-the-Date mailings, and I will make concessions for these special occasions, and others similar to it. I am flexible, and do bend, up to a point. :)
If my decision to change business models can be supported by other professionals in the industry and/or researched, please leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you and your stories of success and why it's so important to print your images. As well, I'd love to hear from my client-friends, too. What are your thoughts? Yay? Nay? How are you using your digital files?
Here's to a New Age, my friends!!
Onward!
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