Timeless Treasures

This post is a creative collaboration with some talented photographers around the US and Canada. The theme for this post is “Monochrome” which describes images in a single color. My inspiration for this post came from my friend Olga’s box of old photos that we browsed through over a cup of tea.

Interestingly, they bear a striking resemblance to my own box of old photos. There is just something magical about sifting through the photos of yesteryears. I asked Olga if I could borrow them for this post. Every image is so powerful that it tells its own story. Although, I am not a studio photographer I find these images very inspiring. The subjects took care to dress and accessorize for their portraits. Most often, they were seated with somber expressions. You might wonder what was going to through their minds. Since my father was a regular patron of studios, I asked him about the phenomenon of the somber expression. He said the photographer would get the shot ready and then cover his head and the rear of the camera with a dark cloth and shout, “Don’t move!!” That did it! 🙂 Most likely the subjects just froze in fear while the image was exposed.

In the olden days, patrons would purchase prints from the studio. A print that would live through posterity. For additional prints, they would go back to the studio or at times purchase the film negative as well. If all they had were negatives, the prints would have likely not seen the light of day.

The following was written in collaboration with St. Louis Photographer Lauri Baker. This brings to light some important points relevant to your portraits today. When potential clients want digital files, today’s equivalent of those old negatives, there are several considerations to keep in mind:

1. When you hire a professional for his/her vision, its best to acquire a finished piece of art from the photographer rather than being a do-it-yourself-er. Cropping and finishing of an image is an art as well, and a professional photographer will be able to complete the photography job to ensure you receive a high quality professional print.

2. Digital files can be valuable to own, or worthless. The files allow the flexibility to print several copies that you might want to gift to all your relatives and archive them for the future. If your artist charges a premium for the files, this is one reason for it. Another reason is that those files contain all of your photographer’s vision, which is where most of the value lies when buying images in any media format…print or digital. But they can also be a useless purchase. 90% of clients interviewed say they never get the images printed because they don’t know how, don’t have time, or don’t ever decide what to print because they have the ‘luxury’ of deciding later. In the meantime, they spent money hiring a photographer and they have no portraits. That’s not luxury. That’s self-serve.

3. Finally, consider your children and grandchildren, and the importance of these portraits to them later in their lives. If you hire a photographer to create portraits for you, then portraiture has some importance in your life. That respect for family history is something your children will most likely inherit from you. So please keep in mind that digital media isn’t always reliable. The media they are on can fail or even get obsolete in just a few short years. And your precious photos would be gone.

To see the next wonderful interpretation of the theme “Monochrome” please check out Grand Rapids newborn, child and family photographer, Marybeth