the future of the humble print

I met with a lovely couple the other day to chat about shooting their wedding and obviously the discussion turned to prints, albums and so on. The traditional way of selling a wedding package was to offer a low price for the actual shooting of the pictures but then charge a premium for the album, only allowing the couple to choose a select few pictures for the album and a couple of extra prints for family members.

Today though, so many people never print their pictures, wedding or holiday or nights out or events. Pictures are shared freely through facebook, myspace, on the backs of cameras, on their phones and nobody pays anything to do this. So when a photographer suggests that a customer should pay extra to get their pictures digitally and be allowed to share them online.

The way people 'consume' photos has changed and will change more in the coming years as phones, cameras and the web all merge more and more. What does this mean for the photographer, try to sell their wares, simple, we cahnge our wares to what people want.

Slideshows of photo on youtube will become a far more wanted by our customers than a mounted 10x8 print that only hangs over one fireplace. I think it's brilliant as more people than ever, will get to see and share in the work that we do. Long live the revolution....