There is a large camp of photographers that say "NEVER give the digital files out". There are many reasons for that, one being of course that if you have a disk of files, you are just going to pop over to Walmart or Costco and get cheap, low quality prints, that don't look the way we as artist ever intended. Of course purchasing prints from the photographer is more expensive than the $.19 Costco charges, but there are 100 reasons for that. One of which being quality, we calibrate to labs (expensive labs) to make sure the images are printed exactly how we want them to, another is the photographers time (driving to vancouver to get those prints in my mini van, when gas is like $8/litre, is NOT cheap!), the list can go on.
There is another camp we refer to as "shoot and burn"ers. These photographers include a disk with the session fee, basically paying themselves less than minimum wage after you take in to account shooting time, editing time, cost of equipment, insurance, schooling. Blah! The list goes on and on.
I have been in a major rut lately trying to figure out where I stand. I think I have come to a conclusion. I DO want you to have digital files, I DO want you to have wall art to display proudly and I DO want to be able to pay my mortgage and have a latte when I feel like it, without quickly checking my banking app to see if I can afford it.
This is my new pricing structure.
I want people to be able to afford me, and to be able to display there images. I don't want the beautiful memories I have captured, just sitting on a disk next to your old box set of Friends season 2.
