I never in a million years thought that I would be writing this post. I have been in denial with offering prints for my business ever since I started in 2010. I started giving digital files on day one, and I thought it was working fine for me, but now I finally get why photographers sell prints as their primary business model! To give you some industry background, you should know that there is a very clear, but friendly divide among photographers when it comes to being a “shoot and share” photographer (shooting and delivering all digital files), versus being a boutique photographer. I have always sided with the “shoot and share” position because I once had a bad experience with a photographer, and still to this day I do not have the digital files from our wedding. For this reason, I have always offered prints only secondary to digital files, and therefore print sales were never an income source for my business.
As my business grew, the idea of switching over to print sales would pop into my head from time to time, but it was only a passing thought. I couldn’t wrap my brain around how I would execute the client experience of print sales, especially since I have always been either a new momma, pregnant, or a new momma of two. So selling prints was just not possible with the little amount of free time I had. Print sales take a lot of extra time for photographers, and I knew I couldn’t handle the extra work.
Up until this point, the extent of my print sales was the option to purchase directly from the online gallery for a discounted price. I think I maybe had about 10% of clients actually purchase prints, which means to me that either 1.) People aren’t printing their own files from the digitals or 2.) They are printing their photos at places like Walgreens and Target, and dealing with the likely occurrence of the photos being over-saturated or a whole different color tone. As time went by, I was noticing that most people who got all their files never did anything with them! They spent all that money for their files to get lost on their hard drive somewhere. They were probably viewed once or maybe even twice, but nothing was printed. Nothing was displayed!
I am even guilty of doing this with my own pictures I take of my kiddos in our day to day. There are a handful of them each year that I think to myself “I need to have this framed,” and then life gets too busy and I don’t do it. Then, I sit down to do it a few months later, and there are so many I want to print it’s too overwhelming to choose which ones and where to put them on my walls. So, I can understand why people never do anything with them. I am guilty as charged. But, I am happy to report, I have changed my ways. And it feels so good! I can’t wait to show you the final product of our recent family session by Tiffany Farley beautifully displayed on our walls.
So, now that I get why prints are so important, I needed a good opportunity to switch over. Once we realized that Steve was going to be on board with the business full time, we decided to switch our business practice to a boutique experience. It made so much sense to us, because our WHOLE brand is about THE EXPERIENCE: building the relationships, making our clients feel cozy and loved, and just front porch living. Adding a chance to spend time with our clients at our house on the day we deliver their gallery fits us perfectly!
What a fun part of the experience. We have a chance to hang out with you in a relaxed and intimate setting, with some food and drink, and then provide you with the entertainment of your beautiful session in slideshow format on a huge high-definition screen. How fun, right? Once you watch (and swoon), then we get to show you all the products we offer. This includes framed and matted gallery collections, individual framed and matted work, canvases, gift prints, mini-albums and digital files.
I will always offer digital files. I strongly believe they should belong to you. But my focus will be on the art of your Love Multiplied displayed on your wall. Your love is art. It’s beautiful. And it should adorn your everyday living space.
Are you ready for this whole new experience?
Here is another sneak peek of the all the new beautiful sample frames I am offering in the boutique – just out of the box. Don’t you just love the idea that you can have your love framed and matted in your favorite style. You have 10 frames to choose from!
I just ordered our wall collection in Barn Gray for our home. Can’t wait to share!
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We are working on a way to bring this experience to people who aren’t local to Delaware. If you are outside of our area, please contact us for more details on how you can be part of the new experience.
Digital files are still offered as part of the wedding package
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Stacy specializes in the Love Multiplied brand – photographing all the moments in your life when your love grows.
Delaware Wedding Photographer
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