This is a topic that comes up in photographer circles all.the.time these days. It’s also something that occasionally comes up with clients as well. “What about digital files”. Do you sell them? HOW do you sell them? How much are they?
I feel the question really needs to be “WHY do you sell them?” Or, from a client’s perspective, “Why do you want them?” I admit the idea of having a digital file in my hand to keep for forever in a little black box on my desk is a comforting feeling…to know it’s there all safe and sound and tucked away sounds good. But I have to question, what’s the point? Sure you can EASILY find a photographer willing to charge you $200 or $500 and give you all your images on a disc. They are everywhere these days. But let’s think about this a little further.
When clients come to Teresa Wilds Photography, they come to me expecting to get beautiful images and a fun, enjoyable experience for their kids and family. They want ART for their walls. Pieces to treasure for a lifetime, that will grace their walls, that friends and family will admire and that their great-great grandchildren can say – WOW wasn’t she beautiful wayyyy back in 2010? I don’t know about you, but I have over 80,000 digital files of my family on my computer, backed up to an external hard drive, backed up onto CDs as WELL as an off-site facility (just in case an asteroid lands on my roof and destroys all my other copies of everything). Just think about that….80,000 files. This doesn’t count the tens of THOUSANDS of prints I have from the pre-digital era. Who is ever going to look at those? Is ANYONE ever going to sift through 80,000 files someday? (80,000 as of February 2010 mind you. My kids are only 9, 5 and 1 - by the time they leave my home, there could be 500,000 or 750,000 or a MILLION ”digital files” on my computer). Is anyone EVER going to sift through them and pick out their favorites? print them? care about them? CHERISH them??? I challenge you that they will not. The ones that will be meaningful to my kids are the ones they walk past on a daily basis…portraits they have seen on the walls – portraits of themselves, their siblings, of family memories that we’ve shared – and that we TALK about because they’re hanging on our walls and we remember….
Portrait photography is a gift. It’s the one gift we give to our children that they will always have with them. Long after the toys have broken, video games are obsolete, the clothes have been outgrown and the trips are all taken – these portraits are meant to be out in the open – meant to be shared with our children to help them remember their lives – remember the feelings they had running through the park, dancing in the waves, playing with their dog, chasing the seagulls, being held in their mother’s arms.
When you are choosing a photographer to capture these priceless times in your family’s life, please take the time to choose someone who is PASSIONATE about the service and portraits that they provide to you. Someone who wants to see their service to you through to the end product and provide you with beautiful art for your home and lifetime treasures for your children. I feel so strongly about this that I really felt it was important for clients and prospective clients to understand why I do what I do.
So back to the original quesion “Do you sell digital files”? The answer is yes – in a very limited basis. I do allow the purchase of digital files along with collections that include professionally printed and protectively coated gift and wall sized portraits. As a mom, I do understand wanting files for my black box on my desk. But I hope that if you choose Teresa Wilds Photography, your main goal is to provide your children with true gifts and art for your home.
And I leave you with one little, tiny thought…does this precious little face belong in a black box??? 
