Today's post has a direct relationship with yesterday's article about why you should hire a professional photographer, so I hope you read both! (this one looks long, but is a fast read...)
God made each of us to be unique individuals. He's an artist. He made so many things, so many pieces to the largest puzzle ever and they all fit and they all have different colors and sides and shades and some are good and some give you trouble, but when it's all finished, you step back, look at the view and pull out your camera and take the picture because it is beautiful. It's a great story. And that's how we see it. A great story, a great piece of the puzzle we're honored to share.
We came up with Love Your Story because we see each session as individual, personal and explicitly YOU. I'm sure a lot of photographers approach their clients this way. I know that when I look at my friend Jessica Devins (Mn based photographer) work, she shoots weddings and babies and even though we're talking about the same category of subjects, I feel like I get something personal out of every unique couple (and baby) she shoots. That's our approach at McKindles Photography. And we wanted to just come out and tell people what we're selling. We're selling stories.
We have been taking a hard look at our product, our pricing and what our clients request. We shoot weddings, business portraits and personal portraits always with the goal to be as creative as possible and tell a great story. There are lots of photographers that tell great stories. But Jenny and I have constantly tried to figure out how to tell our story, promote what makes us different. We don't do different for different sake, but we are different. Our release of the way we will now do business (our prices) and what our clients will receive will certainly be a reflection of that. You may not notice it, but we will. It has something to do with the digital negatives, a very tricky subject that can instigate great debate in the photography business world. But in the end, after much evaluation, we just had to consider what was really going on around us, we wanted to stay current and we wanted to get even more specific about what makes us different.
You get what you pay for!
As I've been writing so far, I can't help but notice that this is supposed to be an article about the value of the digital negative and what it means to you, but it also feels like a letter to our past and future clients. Good! Then it will be a happy accident involving two birds and a stone! This is simply to say that this is sort of an explanation as to how and why we have changed that part of our business as far as what products you receive. As I said, this digital negative subject can be a touchy subject, and I'll eventually explain why.
Simply put, the digital negative is the most important result of what I do. It's what you need to print the picture, to post on Facebook, to make your Christmas card. You cannot do anything without it. Photographers discuss quite frequently the perception the public has regarding this valuable commodity and it's value. The most frequent question we are asked is this: "Can I get the pictures on a disk?". Now, it may not seem like much to you, but it's of great value to us. Not that we want to keep you hostage, but please understand that when you ask for the digital negative, you are asking for a lot!
You have hired us because at some point, taking a "snapshot" was not going to serve the moment or because this image or these images had a greater value to you and you wanted to get it right. That means you've asked me to bring all of my experience, technical know-how, more technical know-how and artistry to capture something special to last forever. The result is a negative. Nowadays, we call it a digital negative. Its value comes from the combination of the emotional investment you've contributed, the importance of the moment and the gifts a photographer uses to create this image. That is why it has such great value! For numbers guys, it looks like this:
So then what? You print it, you show it on Facebook, you share it, you make an album (which takes forever if you don't really know what you're doing), you make Christmas cards, you make graduation announcements, you make a collage for the graduation party, you put it on your phone, etc... It is because our phones are SO awesome that non photographers forget how often you are reproducing that or those images. "Well, I paid for them". Yes...kinda... Digital cameras have made photography accessible to the masses and created new worlds of creative possibilities, stretching our imaginations with new tools. But the result can be mass produced, anyone can steal them (fortunately, we imbed information to claim these files, but it's far from fail-safe), and anyone can sell what's yours. Being an actor means you are in "Show Business" or as John Cameron Mitchell says in his musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, "...the business of Show". As a photographer, I am in the "Photography Business" and running a "business of Photography". It takes a lot of time and energy to create the final product, which is why we asked to be paid for what we feel is our value and worth. In film days, you would have had to pay A LOT of money for the negatives because photographers needed to make money selling your prints. So you see, when you ask me for all of the session on CD, I see how valuable each file has. It's not just a digital file. It took a lot to create that digital file. It has value.
Many photographers do not sell the digital negatives. And worse, some give them away! I say that because often times, a newer wedding photographer will offer to shoot the wedding on the cheap and offer to throw in the disk. They are seeing the opportunity as payment and are grateful for that. Unfortunately, that can rub seasoned photographers wrong because it devalues the market. Imagine if Shell had decided to sell gas for $1.89 a gallon! (I wish I wish!) and giving away 600 donuts with every purchase. With everyone else selling at $324, were are you gonna go an how will the other gas stations compete and still pay their bills and feed their families?! So, it gets tricky.
All that being said, McKindles Photography had to consider all of these factors and in the end, what we saw as our value, why you hire us is because of the images we create. Because of the technical know-how, posing experience and ability to create something beautiful to look at. To use all of our gifts to serve a final product, a final goal that you will look at forever. Not until you're bored with your computer desktop, Forever. After years of being advised to not sell or put a tremendous price on the digital negative, we came up with what we think maintains the integrity and value of what we do without undercutting the value of what photographers in our area do and yet still giving our clients what they really want and hopefully encouraging you to consider products you didn't know you wanted. We're not reinventing the wheel, just keeping the wheel and changing the wagon.
God made each of us to be unique individuals. He's an artist. He made so many things, so many pieces to the largest puzzle ever and they all fit and they all have different colors and sides and shades and some are good and some give you trouble, but when it's all finished, you step back, look at the view and pull out your camera and take the picture because it is beautiful. It's a great story. And that's how we see it. A great story, a great piece of the puzzle we're honored to share.
We came up with Love Your Story because we see each session as individual, personal and explicitly YOU. I'm sure a lot of photographers approach their clients this way. I know that when I look at my friend Jessica Devins (Mn based photographer) work, she shoots weddings and babies and even though we're talking about the same category of subjects, I feel like I get something personal out of every unique couple (and baby) she shoots. That's our approach at McKindles Photography. And we wanted to just come out and tell people what we're selling. We're selling stories.
We have been taking a hard look at our product, our pricing and what our clients request. We shoot weddings, business portraits and personal portraits always with the goal to be as creative as possible and tell a great story. There are lots of photographers that tell great stories. But Jenny and I have constantly tried to figure out how to tell our story, promote what makes us different. We don't do different for different sake, but we are different. Our release of the way we will now do business (our prices) and what our clients will receive will certainly be a reflection of that. You may not notice it, but we will. It has something to do with the digital negatives, a very tricky subject that can instigate great debate in the photography business world. But in the end, after much evaluation, we just had to consider what was really going on around us, we wanted to stay current and we wanted to get even more specific about what makes us different.
You get what you pay for!
As I've been writing so far, I can't help but notice that this is supposed to be an article about the value of the digital negative and what it means to you, but it also feels like a letter to our past and future clients. Good! Then it will be a happy accident involving two birds and a stone! This is simply to say that this is sort of an explanation as to how and why we have changed that part of our business as far as what products you receive. As I said, this digital negative subject can be a touchy subject, and I'll eventually explain why.
Simply put, the digital negative is the most important result of what I do. It's what you need to print the picture, to post on Facebook, to make your Christmas card. You cannot do anything without it. Photographers discuss quite frequently the perception the public has regarding this valuable commodity and it's value. The most frequent question we are asked is this: "Can I get the pictures on a disk?". Now, it may not seem like much to you, but it's of great value to us. Not that we want to keep you hostage, but please understand that when you ask for the digital negative, you are asking for a lot!
You have hired us because at some point, taking a "snapshot" was not going to serve the moment or because this image or these images had a greater value to you and you wanted to get it right. That means you've asked me to bring all of my experience, technical know-how, more technical know-how and artistry to capture something special to last forever. The result is a negative. Nowadays, we call it a digital negative. Its value comes from the combination of the emotional investment you've contributed, the importance of the moment and the gifts a photographer uses to create this image. That is why it has such great value! For numbers guys, it looks like this:
What is important to you/Why you need/want a great picture
+
The fact that I own a fancy camera, know how to use it and tell great stories with it
=
The value of our time together
Many photographers do not sell the digital negatives. And worse, some give them away! I say that because often times, a newer wedding photographer will offer to shoot the wedding on the cheap and offer to throw in the disk. They are seeing the opportunity as payment and are grateful for that. Unfortunately, that can rub seasoned photographers wrong because it devalues the market. Imagine if Shell had decided to sell gas for $1.89 a gallon! (I wish I wish!) and giving away 600 donuts with every purchase. With everyone else selling at $324, were are you gonna go an how will the other gas stations compete and still pay their bills and feed their families?! So, it gets tricky.
All that being said, McKindles Photography had to consider all of these factors and in the end, what we saw as our value, why you hire us is because of the images we create. Because of the technical know-how, posing experience and ability to create something beautiful to look at. To use all of our gifts to serve a final product, a final goal that you will look at forever. Not until you're bored with your computer desktop, Forever. After years of being advised to not sell or put a tremendous price on the digital negative, we came up with what we think maintains the integrity and value of what we do without undercutting the value of what photographers in our area do and yet still giving our clients what they really want and hopefully encouraging you to consider products you didn't know you wanted. We're not reinventing the wheel, just keeping the wheel and changing the wagon.
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