Friday, November 16, 2007
I'm kind of annoyed.
Several years ago I had photos done two weeks before I gave birth to my son, then I did another session two weeks after he was born. They are absolutely gorgeous photos, artistic and timeless and I love them! They would not sell us proofs and the portraits were EXTREMELY expensive. The only reason I was able to get the ones I did is because my very generous in-laws paid for them. I got as many as I could. But now, almost 6 years later, I have been thinking of all the ones I couldn't afford and I want them! I don't need 11 X 14's or even 8 X 10's, I just want small, proof size 4 X 6's or something. So I could at least have a scrapbook or something. I had these done while we still lived in Oregon, but I got onto their website and contacted them, wanting to know what my options were, or if they even had my photos any longer. They wrote back and said they will not do online viewing and my only option is to come in to view them and then pay $149 a piece for 5 X 7's. Well first of all, it's not like I can just drop into their studio next week, I live in Texas! And I don't need 5 X7's, mostly since I absolutely cannot afford $149 a pop! So I am just basically screwed! They have a little drawer with photos of me, my son and my husband, at a very special time in our lives, but can I get them? No, so sorry! And I realize that this is how most photographers work, but it still doesn't make it any better. My memories are sitting in a drawer doing no one any good. And although the photos are of ME and MY child, I still have absolutely no claim to them. But I can tell you something... I am considering doing some freelance photography and I have about decided that I will offer people 2 choices, they can either pay a lower sitting fee and buy prints from me, OR they can pay a higher fee and get a disk of their photos that they own. I think it's time for photographers to start allowing people to have ALL of their memories, not just the ones they could afford at the time. I think I would keep copies of the photos (or at least a CD) in case someone ever lost the disk or photos in a fire. It would be nice to be able to provide them with their memories again. Anyway, just thoughts, while I'm sitting here pissed off because MY photos are basically lost and I have no recourse save flying to Oregon and paying thousands of dollars to get them.
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3 comments:
Great idea about the free lance photography. I'd love doing that too but need some photography classes under my belt and good equipment. You have a great business concept of pricing and archiving.
And honestly...150.00 for one 5x7? Are you kidding me? That's outlandish.
Yeah we had a bad experience with our wedding photos.
We actually got to keep the roofs but they stamped the cbacks with ink and didn't let it dry before they put them all together.
They also claimed copyright where none existed.
Unfortunately, this company does have copyright, but it just hurts my heart that they won't print anything smaller than a 5x7! EVery other photographer I have ever used at least offered the proofs at a decent price. That's how I have most of my wedding pics. Couldn't afford to get much more than an 8x10 of the best one, but I purchased the entire lot of proofs and made an album out of it. Oh well, I guess there's not much I can do, but sit here and be pissed off and that seems counter-productive!
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