Aren't Digital Files more valuable than Prints?

If you think of all the social media sites,  we currently have such as Instagram, and Facebook, and many more where we share our portraits to each other and the world.  Why should we even care to have a hard copy print to hold in our hands.   Technology is constantly changing.  Do you remember knowing anyone who had an vinyl record, an A track, or a tape player?  Is that what they are currently using?   Then came the cd, and now some computers are not even made with a cd drive...but no worries, the usb stick has now replaced it.  

We are becoming known as the generation that has the most photographs, but with the least amount of prints to show for it! It could be that technology is rapidly expanding, and we prefer to hold our hand held devices to scroll through photographs, but will we be doing this in another 50 years?

I treasure my past family members, in their old 1800's photos, they had to wait so long and still inorder to have their portraits taken.  

"So what you’re saying is digital files are bad?

 No.  To the contrary what I am saying is this.  Think long and hard about basing your photographer choices based upon availability of digital files and/or price.   What you’re making the investment in may not be what is truly the best option for you: digital files are great if you plan on using labs that you know for a fact can reproduce images to what your photographer saw on their screen when they edited those images, if your photographer sells digital files then they should recommend to you a lab that can do a decent job.   HOWEVER know this: to get the best quality images from your session you really should think about having your photographer control the printing process simply because your photographer has access to labs that can accurately reproduce images to their standards.  I assure you most photographers are so ridiculously strict on what they deliver to a client you’d really be surprised how many images don’t pass our muster and have to be redone.  A true professional photographer CARES about the quality of the images that hang on your wall because THEIR name is on those images, maybe not physically so but that is their life’s work up there.  They want your friends and your family to be wowed by the gorgeousness of their work, it only serves them to do so.

Quality should trump quantity every time.  Often photographers receive the questions regarding digital files and then “How many images do I get?” What a silly question really.   Unless you plan on wall paper plastering your walls with photos from your session the question shouldn’t be: ”How many images do I get?”  but  ”How much will I love my images?”  ”Will I want to display my images?”  The answer should be yes.  The photos you put on display in your home should reflect the character and beauty of your family and be captured in the best manner possible and should be reproduced on fine quality professional photo paper or canvas.

A wannabe-hobbyist photographer may say: “You’ll get 50 images (and based on the law of averages) you’ll like some of them.”

A true professional photographer will be confident in their skills enough to say: “You will love your images, all of them.” and assure you the images captured at your photography session will be of the finest quality, reproduced in print on the finest paper by the finest professional labs available to them. "  (This excerpt was written by Marianne Drenthe )

Here at Christina Parker Photography, I want to stand behind my work.  I have your canvases created in the United States, at a professional lab that has outstanding quality.  All images are coated with an UV protectant, which effectively doubles the colourfastness of your canvases.   Using the lastest in colourfast ink and media technology, the estimate lifespan of an un-coated colour image is roughly 60 years, and 100-150 years for black and white images! 

So when, I truly say, "Preserving Generations to Come', your wall art, will be around for your future posterity!