“Stop the Insanity”
Ok, I’m revealing my age with that quote. But for those of you who may not remember it, a woman by the name of Susan Powter coined the phrase in the 90s. She encouraged women to “get off the couch” and gain control of their lives and bodies and, self-image.
I want to encourage you to gain control of your portrait experience. We live in a world of excess and photography/portraits are no different. One of the first questions potential portrait clients and fellow photographers ask one another is “How many images are included with the session?”
With the introduction of digital photography, we were no longer bound by the finite number of exposures in a roll of film. With this change, also came the mindset, “take as many shots as possible, the more the better.” This mindset has unfortunately transformed the industry, and not in a positive way.
With every shoot producing hundreds of images, the photographer and client can quickly and easily get lost in the excess. Instead of focusing on the true joy, appreciation and value of the art, the focus shifts to a misguided emphasis on quantity over quality.
One of the first questions I always ask my potential clients is “What are you planning on doing with the images from this session?” The answer is usually the same, “Oh, I don’t know….I’ll probably print a couple of them.”
The keyword here is “COUPLE”. Most shoots provide only a few shots that are impactful enough to print. What happens to the other 10, 20, 30, or 75 images they are placing so much value on? A few will get posted on social media and then saved to a hard drive and forgotten about in a week, eventually to be lost in the abandoned drawer of media storage devices.
Do you know what images maintain their longevity? The ones that are PRINTED! That handful of images that struck a nerve so great that time and money were invested in creating a physical print that could be touched, held and enjoyed without turning on a screen.
So, why is so much value placed on the number of images provided? Shouldn’t the focus be on the potential emotional impact of the finished work instead? Take a moment and really think about that!
The next time you are looking to hire a photographer, instead of asking how many images come with the session, I implore you to rethink your end goal, deeply explore the photographer’s quality of work and inquire about the photographer’s philosophy. Think twice about investing in something that will eventually be forgotten in a drawer.
Interested in Fotoplicity’s philosophy?
The goal here at Fotoplicity is to provide a curated selection of images that capture genuine emotion and personality in a manner that touches your soul in a way that you are compelled to print the photographs. Pixels are an afterthought.
Less is More
For clients interested in wall art, a session providing 5-10 quality images or less is more than enough.
For clients interested in desk art (albums, memory boxes, etc), a session providing 20 quality images is perfect!