For instance, why spend weeks searching for a designer to create unique wedding invitations that will express the two of you perfectly? Wouldn’t it be easier if your photographer could turn images from your engagement sitting into stunning and unique wedding invitations? With over 20 years of experience in the print design industry, we’re equipped to create one-of-a-kind invitations that will elicit “oohs” and “aahs” from your family and friends. If you’d like matching programs for your ceremony, guess what? We can do that too.

I’m afraid you’ll have to find someone else to bake your wedding cake though.

A web developer of 15 years, Lynn has been the recipient of numerous photography awards and dozens of advertising journalism awards from the South Dakota Newspaper Association. She loves interacting with the people she photographs and has a knack for capturing natural expressions.

Photographers work hard and deserve to be paid adequately for their work and talent. But when you browse online services like Mpix, where many photographers actually have your photos printed, the problem becomes obvious. We’re simply removing the bloated markup per print, cutting out the middle man and charging a single sitting fee. There are no hidden after-charges and life is much simpler for both customer and photographer.

Not surprisingly, this model has come under fierce attack from many professional photographers. In most cases, they’re the same people who held on to their film cameras until it became blatantly obvious that digital photography would make film obsolete. Not accepting the inevitable in advance left them scrambling to purchase new equipment and cramming to learn a whole new set of tools and method of workflow. Many are still struggling to learn Photoshop editing techniques, leaving them behind those of us who have practiced doing so for years.

Change is always hard, but it is also the very thing moving us toward the goals of 1) producing better photographs and 2) offering those products to our customers in a more efficient and economical manner. While no one can predict the future with 100% accuracy, doing proper research and using it to prepare for the future is simply good business practice.

This business model isn’t really new though. We see something similar happening in the entertainment industry in regard to digital file distribution. You can find similar instances dating back to the time when English scribes were being replaced by the printing press, Nothing New Under The Copyright-Eclipsed Sun:

You can’t let anybody read any book for free! Not a single book will be sold ever again! Nobody will be able to live off their writing! No author will write a single book ever again if you pass this law!”

Such nonsense seems humorous to us now, but when compared to the digital distribution methods of today, one can’t help but draw the obvious comparison.

The inspiration for this post today was a recent entry from Scott Kelby’s blog about the state of the photography industry. We’re going to let you in on a little insider information. The following two-part article was written to an audience of photographers by David Ziser, a well-known wedding photographer. Although he was one of the early adopters of digital photography around 2000, he remains an advocate of not giving clients their digital images. If you’ve ever hired a professional photographer or intend to do so in the future, you’ll find this information enlightening:

It’s Guest Blog Wednesday featuring David Ziser: Part 1

It’s Guest Blog Wednesday featuring David Ziser: Part 2

We suggest simply doing away with the unfortunate term, “shoot-and-burn” and replacing it with something more current and accurate to describe what we do. “Own-Your-Portraits” photography comes to mind.

A web developer of 15 years, Lynn has been the recipient of numerous photography awards and dozens of advertising journalism awards from the South Dakota Newspaper Association. She loves interacting with the people she photographs and has a knack for capturing natural expressions.

Back when digital photography was still in its infancy, I was taking pictures nearly every day and uploading them to numerous stock photo sites. While most of these sites required payment per image, a very well known Hungarian one was, and still remains, a free stock photo repository. As one of its earliest contributors, I learned a lot from being a part of that international community of photographers, and uploaded hundreds photos over the years, many of which ended up being used in books, brochures, magazines and web publications. None of us made any money there, but the experience was golden and helped establish some of us as respected stock photographers, while building portfolios of work.

This was one of those photos, snapped in a hurry with a very early 3mp compact camera and edited in Photoshop (probably ver 4?):

And here it is in use during the 47th Annual Grammy Awards staging:






I’ve always believed that expensive tools don’t make the artist, and you don’t need a high-end camera to take great photos. This experience makes that point in a big way, and certainly encouraged me to continue taking pictures. Although I didn’t make a dime from it and the Grammy producers didn’t even let me know they were using the image, it was still quite a thrill and makes a fun story to tell the grandchildren.

I hope it serves to inspire you in some way today.

A web developer of 15 years, Lynn has been the recipient of numerous photography awards and dozens of advertising journalism awards from the South Dakota Newspaper Association. She loves interacting with the people she photographs and has a knack for capturing natural expressions.

As we begin a new year, we’d like to extend the spirit of giving to the photography side of our business. Throughout the year of 2011, we will be offering free portrait sessions to families of deployed military personnel. If you have a loved one who is about to deploy or who is home on leave, please contact us to arrange an appointment. If your loved one has already deployed and you would like a family portrait to send to him or her, our offer applies to you also.

This gift is entirely free of charge to area military families and at the end of their session each family will receive a complimentary CD with their photos and unlimited reproduction rights.

We’d like to share a family portrait from our first Special (Photo) Ops session:

A web developer of 15 years, Lynn has been the recipient of numerous photography awards and dozens of advertising journalism awards from the South Dakota Newspaper Association. She loves interacting with the people she photographs and has a knack for capturing natural expressions.

Traditionally, professional photographers do not make their living from the sitting fees they charge. Their profit margin rests upon their ability to convince you to order as many prints as possible, in the largest sizes available. Photographers generally have a relationship with one or more print shops who do the printing at a very low cost, with the photographer making a substantial markup per print. The photographer retains ownership of your film or digital negatives. You are legally forbidden from making reprints from any of the prints you have purchased, and it is highly unlikely that you’ll ever see the negatives.

This somehow strikes us as wrong. A photo of your likeness is a very private and personal thing and we believe you should have the right to decide how many prints you’ll make at what sizes, and where you’ll have them printed. At the same time, photography is art, and as such, the photographer deserves credit and monetary compensation for the work.

We think we’ve arrived at the perfect solution: a new business model that is catching on quickly among photographers. We like to call it Own Your Portraits. It gives you ownership over your photos, and the right to make any reproductions or enlargements you like, without asking our permission. You pay a one-time fee for our professional services and are free to print and use your images as you wish. All we ask is that you include a very simple credit line anytime you display the photos publicly. If you post the photos online or via email, we always appreciate the favor of a link back to our site, but doing so is not required.

Own Your Portraits. It’s a concept whose time has come.

A web developer of 15 years, Lynn has been the recipient of numerous photography awards and dozens of advertising journalism awards from the South Dakota Newspaper Association. She loves interacting with the people she photographs and has a knack for capturing natural expressions.

He worked some of his Photoshop magic, adjusting color, tonal quality and contrast, and masking out the background. He then recreated the grassy background, removing the legs of the second animal and camera time stamp. The resultant photo made a lovely print and a touching memorial gift for a very pleased young lady:

If you have a less-than-perfect photo you’d like to have restored or repaired, please get in touch for a reasonable price quote. And if it happens to be a snapshot of your puppy, you’ll make Toby’s day.

Toby has been a designer and digital photographer for about 7 years, and he has a bachelor of science degree in Contemporary Media & Journalism. He enjoys all subjects dealing with Macs or movies. In an ideal world, he would probably photograph a new doggy every day.