ALL wedding packages include an archive quality DVD of the high resolution digital negatives.

Some photographers are finally seeing the light as far as this is concerned, but I’ve been doing this for years…and here’s why.

I’m not a salesman – I don’t get pleasure in selling you high priced pieces of paper. In the good old days, photographers would shoot the wedding for a fairly reasonable price, but then hold you to ransom because they had your negatives. You’d then have to buy high priced prints. This was a valid business model for photographers at the time. The low wedding fee enticed customers in, then they’d try to create awesome images so that they could sell prints, frames and albums at a high mark up to ensure they got the profit their business needed.

However, like the recording industry, many photographers have been slow to adapt to new technology and a client base that has been brought up in the digital age.

I prefer to charge a creation fee for shooting your wedding that enables me to run my business without relying on any salesmanship later on. You are hiring me as a photographer, not to sell you prints. This means that I only have to put on my salesman’s hat once – during the initial meeting. Once hired, I can concentrate on being an awesome photographer – which is the way it should be.

I still offer prints for sale – after the wedding an online gallery will be open for your family and friends to buy prints if they so wish. Any prints ordered from me will have much love and care and attention in Photoshop using my 20+ years of experience as a professional retoucher.

After the album is finished, the happy couple will receive an archival DVD of the full resolution digital negatives. These files are color corrected, but not retouched. Some people are more than happy with that, but others do appreciate the TLC that I can offer and order prints from me and are willing to pay the premium to do so.

The reason I give the DVD of images though is because I prefer to be paid a fair wage for my work as an artist, and not to nickle and dime my clients for small pieces of paper after the wedding.