The Value of a Print

I hear a lot of "I love how you believe in prints". Which makes me a bit uncomfortable, because it's not about believing in tangible products at all. I simply want my clients to receive something that is more valuable than digital files. I want them to walk away not having wasted their money on an image that might be pretty, but will never see the light of day.

Digital files, as versatile and valuable as they are, require specific technology to view them. And technology is changing more rapidly every day. When I was growing up, we had floppy disks. Now, new Apple laptops don't even have the standard USB port. And once a digital file corrupts, it's gone. If Facebook decides to shut down your account (and erase all your data), all your images go with it. And those hard drives we use to store all our precious data, they can corrupt and take everything with them too.

But most of all, I feel that a huge part of what a client is paying for is missing if they don't receive prints. It's like selling an unfinished product. That photograph isn't really done. It doesn't quite exist, not until someone takes the time and effort to bring it into this world as a print. And it's unfair, and sometimes truly cruel, to leave that work up to the person who is paying you to create that image for them.

The presentation of the photograph, in a beautiful white mat, is important too. It's not just any print. It's a print that is displayed in the proper way.. in the way that a museum or a gallery would display it. And then, to compliment it, I have the most gorgeous folio box and photo stand, which are both handmade in the USA using high quality materials.. not to mention packaging to make sure it all arrives home safely with my clients.

It's the kind of stuff you can't buy at a regular store. Every single thing is custom-made. It's not meant to last a few years, because I want these products to last for much longer than that, and to look as beautiful as they did on the day my client first saw them.