Lost Memories are Expensive

A Blog written by Mike Yost Photography

Cameras.

     They’re everywhere. In your phone, on your tablet, you have your point-n-shoot, and maybe even a DSLR. A few might even own a film camera. You can’t escape the selfies, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. People are deluged with photographs. And today, people are taking more pictures than ever before. It’s been estimated that in the past 5 years, more photos have been taken than all the prior years combined.

     The sad part is that few of these photographs will survive beyond a year. To many people, a “picture” is only good for the moment. Moms and Dads want to snap every little movement of that new baby. Grandma wants to see everyone one of those too. When you want to show off the new puppy, you pull out the phone. And in a week, none of them have any real meaning and might even get “deleted” just to make room for more pictures that have little meaning as well inside of a couple of weeks.
So what will become of all the pictures that are being taken today? Here is the reason that 99% of the photographs being taken today are soon going to be totally gone – digital images are no longer important enough to most people to actually keep them in printed form!

     Yes, I started in a film only world. We bought a roll of film and took our vacation photographs. We had them developed and printed. They were put in photo albums or photo boxes. We looked at them and cherished those memories with great care. They were a slice of our life and for many, if disaster struck, those photographs were the one thing we would try to find first. Wedding albums and photographs represented our LIFE and we salvaged all we could.

     It is estimated and less that 1 out of 100,000 photographs taken today actually ends up being a printed photograph. The digital world means you can look at those on some computer screen and without one, you have nothing. You probably have countless pictures that are just randomly stored and has no organization or way to locate them. Perhaps you have made some effort, but even that can seem overwhelming a task when you decide to tackle the task.

     Add to this, over the years, the technology has changed so fast, that many photographs taken 6-7 years ago are stored on a type of media that is no longer supported. I have boxes of floppy discs and not even a computer that works to view them. In 5 years or less, your DVD is going to be obsolete as will your USB drives. File types are going to change as well. And the technology of tomorrow may not support these “older” file types.

     Many today have older cell phones with countless pictures on them. Maybe you “shared” some on Facebook or Instagram or uploaded to your photo storage website. But none of these are “permanent” solutions to viewing your photos and sadly, many of your memories you captured today, aren’t going to be around tomorrow. So where is that old cellphone today? In a drawer someplace, your not sure where, but you know it’s around here somewhere!

     There are also countless memory cards filled with photographs. Each of those represent a small slice of you or something that was a part of your life. Some are older and you have fewer options to view them as technology simply outpaces their usefulness. Does anyone remember the 256mb SD cards when today, a 4 gb is considered tiny?

     Perhaps you go to a Professional Photographer and all you want is someone to “take some pictures and give us the disc”.  After all, it IS a “digital world” and it shouldn’t cost you very much. You can “take them down to the 1 hr place” and get prints really cheap. No film. No prints from the lab needed to “see” them. So where are your discs today? Probably in that same drawer you haven’t found yet where that old cell phone is “lost” in. I doubt you have your DVD’s or old floppies on your wall! And when Mom asks if you have that adorable photo of your now 16 year old son or daughter- you know the one when they were 2- and you have to answer, I do, but I have to find it. “It’s on a disk…someplace…I think….maybe we still do…honey, where did we put that disk again?”.

     In my home, you will find photographs. Real, honest to goodness prints. Nothing fancy in most cases and most are just plain snapshots of family at holidays, on vacation, or doing something silly or even important. These are the slices of our lives where we can open the old “self sticking” album and find out it no longer sticks. Where memories of our life unfolds before our eyes. We laugh. We cry. We tease each other. Our life is right there. It’s in that printed image that anyone can see. There is no wondering “if this file type is still supported” or does my “machine still have a DVD drive”. None of that is needed. Even the older, not quite as sharp as they used to be eyes can see them and feel the emotions of that instant in time as if it happened yesterday. These are the things we protect with everything we have should some disaster strike and the ones we start looking for first if it does. All of a sudden that $250 DeLonghi Coffee maker isn’t all that important. Nor is the fishing boat. Or the 72″ big screen TV with all the bells and whistles. It’s always the memories of our lives that become the thing we search for first.

     So if you are part of this “digital revolution”, let me ask you- where are YOUR photographs? Stuck on some disc or stored out there is cyberspace someplace, hopefully, perhaps? Why didn’t you actually purchase that $500 canvas to display in your home that your Professional photographer worked so hard to produce for you? That was a “one of a kind” work of ART and an heirloom piece for your family to have and remember that little slice of their life. It is something that will be passed from generation to generation and the only visual way your heirs will see what you looked like and the love and emotions you expressed the instant that image was captured.

     2025. You just found that DVD you had in that drawer you couldn’t remember which one it was. Along with 9 old cell phones that no longer will work with today’s new technology. Your 3 inch by 3 inch cube computer no longer has a DVD drive since in 2015 they were totally phased out. Your 3rd grandchild is sitting on your knee and asks to see pictures of their Mom- and all you have to show them is this piece of round plastic that is pretty much worthless. Not to mention dusty and scratched from all those old cellphones moving around every time you opened that drawer.  And since Instagram had been merged with another company, and they started charging, you let that go 8 years ago.

     I guess that makes you one of the “most photographed generation that doesn’t have a photograph in 10 years”. I guess it wasn’t that important then. Digital was cheap. Cameras were everywhere. It just didn’t seem that important.

     Lost memories are expensive.

Dear Bride: 10 Things Your Wedding Photographer Wants You to Know

     Picture it: it’s 30 years from now, and you’re sitting on your porch swing with your sweetheart, watching the sun sink gently towards the horizon. You sigh, nostalgia weighing heavily in the evening air, and as you lean into your life partner’s shoulder you say, “remember how good the veal piccata was at our wedding?” *insert loud record scratch noise here*

     Well… that was awkward. Truth be told, 30 years from now, you probably won’t give a damn about what you ate that day. And when the nostalgia hits, you won’t reach for the car keys so you can go re-live your wedding dinner at the local restaurant… you’ll reach for the photo album.

     Your wedding photos are something you will hold dear for decades to come. If you house is burning down, chances are good that photo album is one of the few things you will grab at a moment’s notice before dashing to safety. 

     Great wedding photographers know this. They take their jobs incredibly seriously, and want to make sure you get the best possible pictures of your special day. 

1. Your wedding is about you. Do what you want.
     Rules are made to be broken. Don’t feel constrained by tradition, or allow yourself to be pushed around by your wedding planner/mother/auntie etc. Do what you want on your wedding day.

     A perfect example is where you stand during the ceremony. Why stand either side of the celebrant? Why not stand off to the side? You might be breaking with tradition, but now you won’t have the officiant in all your photos – better yet, he or she won’t be grinning in the background when you kiss.

     Another example are bridal parties. They can be fun, and you may feel obligated to have them, but they’re not essential, and from a photographer’s point of view, they can be difficult to manage. It’s one thing to take the bride and groom away to get some photos, it’s entirely another to manage a ten-person bridal party, particularly when you have a few locations in mind for photos and there’s champagne involved. And they can be expensive.

     If you do choose to have a bridal party, allow some time away from them with just your photographer. Grooms can feel embarrassed when they’re being intimate with their partner and their friends are watching on. As a photographer, there’s nothing worse than trying to get that magic, romantic warmth from a couple when the best man is heckling the groom, for example. Or taking well-meaning advice and suggestions from the bridesmaids while you’re trying to get the photos you’ve spent days planning.

     A wedding is about you and your partner. Everything else is important, but ancillary.

2. Good photos take time.
     Good photos rarely happen in 20 minutes, so allocate a reasonable amount of time to get them. Some venues have great locations very close by, but often there are places down the road or across town that can help make your wedding photos even more special.
This time doesn’t have to be a trial. Think of it as a break from guests and family, and enjoy it.

3. Get ready somewhere quiet and nice, and try to keep it clean.
     Prep time can be stressful, and it can be doubly stressful when you’re being crowded by a lot of (well-meaning) people. Try to cut the crowd down, so you can relax a bit, and so that your makeup artist and photographer can do their work. Also, be aware of all those packets of crisps and water bottles laying around the place – it’s not always easy to photoshop them out after the fact.

4. Your dress is probably going to get dirty.
     If you resign yourself to this, it will be much easier to come to terms with it when it happens. Dresses and shoes are expensive, but you don’t want to be fretting all day over them. Your photographer may take you to some tricky locations. Those beautiful images of newlyweds strolling in sunlit fields and lounging about in old barns don’t happen by magic – you may need to trudge through some muddy paddocks and clamber over a fence or two.
If you want. You can always choose to get your photos in the local garden. But be realistic about the end result. It’s also fun to let go a bit at the end of the night, and it’s much easy to do that when you’re not worried about getting beer or wine spilled on your dress.

5. Consider banning iphones, ipads, etc. at the ceremony.
      iPads are particularly horrid, but any camera phone, held up in the air during the ceremony – particularly at inoportune times – are anathema to wedding photographers. It’s not too much to ask of guests that they hold off from taking their own photos during the ceremony, and instead simply enjoy the occasion.

6. Write a list of family formals, and keep your photographer abreast of any family issues that might crop up.
     Your photographer won’t know your family, so it helps a great deal if they have a list to work with when taking family photos. Let them know about divorces and/or deaths – this could help avoid some embarrassing moments. Most photographers will ask for this information prior to the day, but it pays to be ready if they don’t.

7. Pick the right photographer and ditch the other lists.
     Family photo lists are great – shot lists, not so much. The worst thing you can do is hire a photographer to shoot like someone else. It will never work out. It’s ok to show him or her what images appeal to you, and to give him some examples, but micro-managing a photographer’s post-processing and/or giving him a long list of images you want taken is a bad idea.

     A photographer needs freedom to be creative, to shoot what he sees in front of him. All couples, all locations, all moments are different, and it’s the photographer’s task to capture them as they happen, not to manufacture an image from a different place and time, shot by a another person. The last thing a wedding shooter needs to be doing is looking through lists and pinterest photos at your wedding to make sure that they’ve ticked off all the items you’ve asked of them, because in the time that it takes sweating those details, they’ve missed what’s actually happening in front of them.
     
     Choose well, give them creative freedom, and then trust them.

8. Light is Everything.
     Light can make or break your wedding photos, so it’s important to try to plan your wedding to give your photographer the good stuff. Late in the day is best for your wedding photos, specifically the hour before sunset. Try not to plan your photos in the middle of the day, or early afternoon. Unless it’s overcast, you’re asking for trouble. Strong sunlight = harsh shadows.

     Additionally, if you’re planning an outdoor ceremony, consider the sun. An early ceremony in dappled light is a killer. It’s very hard to fix up a patch of shadow on your face, and walking from sunlight to shadow as you walk down the aisle is a very tricky scenario for any photographer to manage.

9. Give yourself some time alone on the dance-floor.
     If you have a first dance / bridal waltz with your partner, make sure you allow yourself a bit of time alone together on the dance-floor. Savor it. It’s a minute or two that you should enjoy, alone, and it makes for some beautiful photos. If your bridal party swamp the dance floor too early, you may miss out on that one magic image that could be a treasure to you for the rest of your life.

10. Enjoy your day – your photos depend on it.
     Weddings are stressful, and some brides have planned for their big day their whole lives. But when the day arrives, don’t sweat the details. Things will go wrong – they always do. Your task now is not to stress over minutiae, but to enjoy the day as it unfolds.
Be happy. Smile. Slow things down and enjoy all the moments. But mostly, enjoy the company of your new husband/wife. This is the first day of the rest of your life. Happiness = radiance = beautiful wedding photos.

Don’t Confuse Low Cost with Low Price

Authored By Dave Ellison and used with permission

     In working with many clients over the years, I’ve found that it’s easy for some of them to confuse low cost with low price.

     For example, as a business owner, I have had to hire attorneys in the past for a variety of reasons. Lawyers charge by the hour and their hourly rate can be expensive because they have to include all of their overhead within their hourly rate. I once sold out my portion of a business to my partner. We hired an attorney to handle the sale and agreed on one that he liked because of his low price. 

We went to close on the sale at separate appointments. My partner showed up the day before I did, signed all the paperwork and left the attorney’s office. I came the next day, signed off on the deal and asked if everything was in good order and had been taken care of. The lawyer reassured me that it had and I went on about my business.

     About six months later, I received a visit from the IRS concerning payment of payroll taxes that were past due on my previous business. I informed the agent that I had sold my business to my partner and that he was now liable for those taxes. Problem was, in the eyes of the IRS, we were both equally responsible because the taxes in question were incurred prior to the date we closed on the sale of the business. They were going to pursue collection on all involved parties until they got their money. The attorney that I agreed to use at the low price came at a very high cost. He did not check that all taxes had been paid at the time of the sale.

Low Cost Is Not The Same As Low Price

 

     Fast forward twenty years. I was served with a lawsuit by a local municipality for property taxes on two pieces of real estate that I had sold 15 years prior to the suit. The purchaser had the properties foreclosed on because he had not paid the property taxes. He had also disappeared from the face of the earth. Due to a mistake by the title company, the chain of title was erroneous and I was being sued not only for the taxes owed but the accrued taxes for the last 15 years on property that I didn’t even own. And of course, penalty and interest had accrued for all those years as well. When I asked why I had never received a notice of any tax due, they politely told me that it was a clerical error and legally, they were not required to give written notice. “Taxes are taxes and they need to be paid”, I was told.

     I was looking at a $60,000 lawsuit and was referred to a very experienced attorney. When I was given the price, it kind of took my breath away. I paid the retainer and within 2 months the matter was settled with the county and city, the title work was corrected, I paid nothing other than the legal fees, and I never had to worry about it again. While the attorney came at a high price, the result was a low cost, and to top it off I could sleep well from then on. I avoided a $60,000 judgement and was out of pocket a little under $4,500 dollars.

     When looking for any kind of professional service, we all want to part with as little money as possible, but we do want an excellent outcome. That’s understandable, it’s human nature. I’ve learned over the years, that there are considerably more criteria in making a purchase other than price. While price is always a factor, cost is a bigger one.

     In working with clients, one thing I try to convey is that they should not confuse low cost with low price.

Dave Ellison

     Dave is a developer for Yellow Frog Media where he works on websites for small to medium sized businesses. In the past he has served as a blogger, teacher, software developer and project manager. He resides in Arlington, Texas with his wife Charlotte and their four-legged child. (A Jack Russell Terrier mix named Eddie).

http://yellowfrogmedia.com

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14 Things Non-Texans Just Don't Understand

You have to read this article:

http://yestotexas.com/14-things-non-texans-just-dont-understand/

Do Your RESEARCH - Discover the REAL Difference

     Just this past week, we were contacted by two separate Brides who had hired other photographers to photograph their weddings. However, they were both having buyer's remorse as the people that they had hired were not very professional - in communications, timeliness, quality of photography, and overall customer service.

     The main common theme in both of these other photographers was that neither were true professional photographers. Both were MWACs - mothers with a camera. Now before you throw darts at me, let me explain a few things. I have nothing against people owning cameras, especially to record things around their own household.

     But, that's where it needs to end. There are hundreds and hundreds of MWACs and Uncle Harry's out there that cannot be classified as professional. They do not earn the majority of their income with photographs they sell. Most, if not all, do not have a retail shop. Most, if not all, operate out of their house and meet people at Starbucks to conduct "business". A vast majority do not belong to the professional photography organizations (mainly because they can't get in or afford the dues). Most, if not all, do not carry $1 Million liability insurance (mainly because they can't afford it or don't see the need in in).

     Did you know that photographers who charge for their images are supposed to have a Limited Use Sales Tax number from the State, and that they are supposed to charge their customers sales tax, and that they are supposed to send the collected sales tax to the State? There are 10 times more photographers in any geographic area on the internet than there are registered with their State Government. And those who collect sales tax and don't send it to the State are breaking the law.

     But, like I said earlier, the market has been flooded with these amateur photographers claiming to be professionals and a lot of consumers are not doing their due diligence in researching the market. Unfortunately, most consumers are only asking who is the cheapest, and quite frankly, that's all their getting and after it's too late, they then complain about their budget photographer. But as I said, it's too late then.

     The 2 Brides who contacted us last week wised up before it was too late. THEY HAVE FIRED their original photographer (both MWACs). One of them has already booked us for their wedding and we're pretty confident the other one will do so this or next week.

     Do your research first so you don't have to go through what these 2 Brides have gone through.

10 Wedding Planning Secrets Every Bride Should Know - BONUS Part #11

BONUS SECRET #11

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE A MUST.

YOUABSOLUTELY DON’T WANT TO GIVE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR WEDDING TO UNCLE HARRY OR SOMEONE WITH A “NICE” CAMERA.

 

     PROFESSIONAL photographers are trained to know and anticipate every important moment of your wedding day. An experienced professional wedding photographer will actually save you time and money.

     Inexperienced photographers, like Uncle Harry or the friend with a nice camera, do not possess the knowledge need to accurately cover your wedding day. Will you have a feeling that they may have missed important moments like the ring exchange, your first kiss,  or other important times?

     Hiring a professional wedding photographer is often viewed as a large expense and some ask how they can afford to have a photographer at their wedding. The truth is – you can’t afford to NOT have an experienced Professional Wedding Photographer. The images they are trained to capture – the amazing flowers, elegant table settings, Dad’s big smile, the look on the groom’s face at the very moment he sees you for the first time, the tear on Mom’s cheek as she sees her beautiful girl come down the aisle – these images are the images you want to help add the spice to your album.

     The photographs created at your wedding will be priceless treasures to you in coming years.


     Be sure to visit Southern Flair Photography's website at www.sflair.com. Southern Flair Photography is a full-time, full service professional wedding and portrait photography studio with deep roots in the Dallas -Ft. Worth area.

     Southern Flair Photography has a 4,200 square foot state-of-the-art facility in the heart of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. In addition to it's large, well equipped camera room, Southern Flair also has an exclusive outdoor portrait garden with numerous sets for most any look.

    Specializing in high quality portraits of maternity, baby, toddler, children, high school seniors, engagements, bridals, family and corporate photography, Southern Flair's art can be found in some of the finest homes in the Southwest.

     Southern Flair Photography is also a leader in the wedding photography industry, having photographed over 3,800 weddings in the past 38 years.

10 Wedding Planning Secrets Every Bride Should Know - Part 10 of 10

SECRET #10

FIND AN EXPERIENCED WEDDING PLANNER – IF NOT FOR THE WHOLE PROCESS, THEN AT LEAST

FOR THE DAY OF YOUR WEDDING

 

     For most brides, the wedding day is one of the most important days of their lives. Every bride wants their wedding day to be perfect. And while this is something to strive for, it’s not likely that you can do it all yourself.

     Even if you possess the required organization, you may not have the required time, contacts, or resources. That’s why an experience wedding planner is worth their weight in gold to pull off the perfect wedding. An experienced wedding planner will work with you to ensure that your big day is designed to be elegant, romantic, luxurious, and amazing.

     Your better wedding planners will also find you the best deals and negotiate for you. Wedding planners spend a lot of time on your behalf.

     On your wedding day, you’ll want and need someone to help you coordinate your day, run errands for you, ensure people are where they need to be when they need to be there, and keep things organized.

We've got a Bonus Secret for you next time! 

     Be sure to visit Southern Flair Photography's website at www.sflair.com. Southern Flair Photography is a full-time, full service professional wedding and portrait photography studio with deep roots in the Dallas -Ft. Worth area.

     Southern Flair Photography has a 4,200 square foot state-of-the-art facility in the heart of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. In addition to it's large, well equipped camera room, Southern Flair also has an exclusive outdoor portrait garden with numerous sets for most any look.

    Specializing in high quality portraits of maternity, baby, toddler, children, high school seniors, engagements, bridals, family and corporate photography, Southern Flair's art can be found in some of the finest homes in the Southwest.

     Southern Flair Photography is also a leader in the wedding photography industry, having photographed over 3,800 weddings in the past 38 years.