Disenfranchised Brides on the North shore

I read this in a professional photography magazine, (no I don't use words like this normally). And last night on Craigslist in the wedding forum several past brides admitted to having received their CD of images and it was now gathering dust in a drawer. Does this sound familiar to you or someone you know? Then they are disenfranchised!

I found out recently that this applies to Bar/Bat Mitzvahs also. I had a referral come to me and the mother admitted that over three years ago her older son had his Bar Mitzvah and all the pictures were still sitting in the closet gathering dust. Then she picks the package that includes a nice leather, digital flush mount album. Now she has to deal with the problem that she doesn't have one for the older son and how that looks to him. All because we think we'll have time down the road to be creative. What happened? Life happened, that's what. Work, kids, husband and friends to name a few.

Today too many photographers take the easy route and miss out on opportunities to have closure with their clients. I too have clients from this year who probably feel they have all the time in the world to create their own personalized albums. I won't say they don't but I wonder how many have the time, after dealing with their home projects, finish a day at work and all the multitudes of things that subtract time from your day, how many pull out the cd and start ordering prints for that Michaels/AC Moore $25.00 album?

What I try to do is keep the cost of an album reasonable and not holding the client hostage with prices that are up with the national debt. I use both digital flush mount and coffee table/magazine style albums that appeal to many couples in today's marketplace. Whether you come to me for a professional album or go to an online book maker and have them design one for you (there are some on the knot) These designers have many albums to pick from and it's a fairly easy process to complete that day which is often termed the most important day of your life. Yet if it was so important why do you have no physical testament to that day?