Digital Photos: What I think I'm going to do vs what I actually do
“Hey, how much for a photo session with the digital images? No prints or anything, we will do that ourselves.”
Is this you? It’s me too.
So I think it’s time to face the music about what we actually DO with our digital photos.
Alright, talking from my own experience…
My son is now 8 years old and I’ve had six professional photo sessions in this time.
The first was a photographer that visited my hospital room and got a few photos of Rohan tucked in under a baby blanket and his tiny hand holding his dads finger. We got digitals and a few small prints. We may have given a photo to the grandparents and uploaded one or two to Facebook but they’ve basically been in Rohan’s keepsake tub since day one.
The second was one of those shopping centre studio set-ups where they grab you on your way to the grocery store and tell you how adorable your baby is… Rohan was about 6 months old. The minimum package including digitals was over $1000 and Rohan’s Dad forbade me from buying anything.
Not long after, a friend offered to do a few photos of Rohan and I in her studio. A few were shared on Facebook, and that was about it…
In 2013 while I was a single Mum and Rohan was about two years old, I sought out a photographer I admired and had photos taken of the two of us. They’re beautiful, I made one my profile picture. I received the digitals from the session and they’re…. On a disk (I think!), and on my old computer, and backed up to hard drive. I don’t recall printing any!
In 2017, we had some gorgeous family photos taken and again received the digitals… They’re backed up, I shared a few online, I use one as my business portrait and one was my personal profile picture for a long while. We gave a few 8x10” prints to our parents and grandparents and have a few 5x7” prints in a cheap collage frame on the wall.
Much to Jono’s dismay, we had more photos taken the following year as well but with my dad, four younger sisters and their partners. Again, we received digitals. I made one my profile picture, gave a few 8x10” prints to family and made another 5x7” collage frame.
2010 Newborn photo by GFP - 2011 Studio session by Julie Gordon - 2013 Mummy & Me by Kellie Sinclair - 2017 Family session by Sandie Mallon - 2018 Extended family session by Trish Woodford
NONE of these images have been printed larger than an A4 piece of paper.
Keep in mind, I also work part-time at Harvey Norman’s Photo Lab….. Sure I print stuff. But I’ve never actually put the time into envisioning what I want to become of these memories and how I want to keep them alive.
That is until now.
And all of a sudden I UNDERSTAND. I’ve realised I only really have another 8 or so years of Rohan as a child, and how much per year I’d be willing to invest on remembering the quirks and dynamics of each age as he grows and I grow and our family grows. I also decided that I’d like a big wall print and an album from each session. Not a fancy “have to wear gloves” album, just a durable, neat album that we can flick through together as a family every so often. Yet I still doubt I’ll get around to doing a quality album of these past sessions…
Working in a budget print lab, I’ve seen the quality difference and know that a $50 canvas is not going to last anywhere near as long as a $300 canvas and a $50 photo book is not going to withstand the test of time like a $500 photo book would. I’m proof of the good intentions we have of making these canvases, prints and albums and it not happening for months or even years and then when we do, we realise that album design and/or figuring out which picture will work well for landscape/portrait/gallery wrap canvas etc is actually a real pain in the ass!
So for now I’ll continue offering my “all inclusive” packages with the session fee, digitals and prints included and if you need ANY help what-so-ever printing, editing an image to work as a gallery wrap canvas or making a photo album, please reach out!! My online galleries are now linked with Atkins professional lab or I can help with budget printing through Harvey Norman. But sometime in the future, my goal will be to help you envision what type of art you’d like in your home, how you want to keep the memory of today alive and to source beautiful, timeless, quality albums and wall art for you to see, touch and feel to assist in that vision :)