This is a great article of why Professional Prints are still the way to go for your special memories!
GET UPDATES FROM Kathleen Trenske
The Case Against 'Good Enough'
Posted: 03/29/2013 1:35 am
My parents have exactly 18 professional images from their
wedding. Eighteen. I know them inside and out. I could describe each
image to you so well that a sketch artist would be able to recreate
them.
How do I know them so well? Because I've looked at them hundreds of
times. I've looked at them hundreds of times because they were on
display, in an album. An album that was made by a professional, filled
with prints made through a professional lab and bound in a book
available only to professionals. From the time I was a little girl I
was fascinated by it -- seeing my parents so young, my grandparents and
aunts and uncles surrounding them. It was a simple leather book, with
the images slipped in and preserved behind plastic but it held up
surprisingly well over time. Even though I looked at it more times than
I could count. Even though this May those images will turn 42 years
old.
But what about couples that marry today? What if they decide to
forgo an album? What if they decide it's not worth the cost? How many
images do you really think they'll put into frames? Five? Ten? Maybe
that first year married, they'll have a bunch. But then, kids comes
along. Baby pictures replace wedding pictures in those frames. They
move, things change. In 40 years, how many pictures do you think their
children will know by heart? How many pictures will they have even
seen?
Today, a lot of couples think just getting the disc of images is "good enough." Here's the problem with that thinking: it's not true. Not by a long shot.
Don't get me wrong, I think that getting the files from your day is
great. Today's couples probably get up to 1,000 images from their
wedding, WAY more images than my parents did. After all, what happened
to all those other images from my parents' wedding day? They probably
sat, negatives in a box, at their photographer's studio never again to
see the light of day. So I think it's wonderful that couples get ALL
their photos. But what worries me is that even with that option, it
won't mean that today's couples will necessarily be better off. My fear
is that today's couples will actually end up with LESS than what my
parent's got in 1971.
Think about it, will the computers of 2055 even have DVD drives? USB
ports? Will they even have hard drives at all? If the past is any
indication, the answer is no. You know what the big technological
advancement was when my parents got married? Eight-track players. What
if their images were stored on the equivalent of that? How in the
world would I see those images today?
But you know what never becomes obsolete? What never goes out of
style? Photographs. And not just any photographs. Not photos printed
at a drugstore. Professional photographs, printed by a professional
lab. Those are the photos you find in an attic. It could be a
100-year-old photo, but it still looks good. Because back then, the
paper photographs were printed on was high quality and developing them
was an art form. There were no machines that spit out pictures onto
cheap paper with inexpensive ink. I actually have to stop myself from
intervening when I see people at those automated machines in a
drugstore. Whatever they're charging, it's too much. Because those
prints aren't worth the paper they're printed on. They will fade. They
will curl. They will not stand the test of time. Not even close.
Your memories are worth more than that. And your wedding images?
They are worth TONS more than that. These aren't snapshots from a
vacation. They aren't pictures from your iPhone. You cared enough
about these moments to hire a professional to photograph them. Follow
that through by having a professional print them. Have that
professional print the pictures you put into frames and have them design
you a high-quality wedding album that you will cherish for decades.
If you purchase an album through your photographer, you can see a
sample in person. You can touch and feel it and make sure it is worth
every penny.
I know that albums are expensive. That's for good reason. They are
custom-designed books, usually hand-stitched and hand assembled and made
just for you.
But of all the things you spend money on for your wedding, your
wedding photographs are the ONLY thing that will increase in value over
time. As the years pass, you'll be more and more glad that you have
them. Especially, if you can experience looking through them by
flipping through a gorgeous custom-designed album instead of sitting in
front of your computer and clicking "next" with your mouse.
So, figure out a way to make it happen. Figure out a way to afford
that album. Forgo a centerpiece. Cut back on your guest list. Opt out
of the vintage car you'll drive in for all of 20 minutes.
Don't just do it for you. Do it for your children. Do it for your
grandchildren. Because when they root around in your attic in 2075,
they will have no idea what do with a USB key anymore than they would
with a laser disc player.
