You can’t beat print
When I started out in photography my dad built me a darkroom. I would spend hours processing black and white film and making prints. In my spare time I would study Ansel Adams’ zone system for exposures and printing and I would read and re-read the Ilford Manual of Photography and the 11-volume Time Life photogaphy series. I lugged those books around with me for years until all of my photography equipment was stolen out of my apartment in 1988. I had no renter’s insurance and could not replace the equipment. I sold my photography books and darkroom equipment and moved on with my life until the tragic loss of my wife to frontotemporal dementia and ALS in 2014. I used a bit of her life insurance proceeds to restock my photo equipment and rekindled my love for photography.
For the past five years I have been photographing ballroom dancers and giving away the digital images. Now that I have enough experience to justify charging for my work, I have turned professional. Initially, I did not want to deal with sales taxes so I decided to sell just digital images with the proviso that if my clients wanted prints, I would help them get them done on their own through a professional lab. Nearly every professional photographer I’ve come across has said this is a bad idea. Prints have much greater impact, they said, and prints will make the difference between red and black ink. After all, photographic equipment, insurance, software, training and self-employment taxes are expensive.
I decided to give it a try. I got a 16x24” print made at White House Custom Color in Eagan, Minnesota. The first version was too dark and the lustre coating on the paper I ordered reflected too much light, making it hard to read. I consulted with the lab and they recommended fine art paper. I chose Hahnemuhle Torchon paper, which is similar to parchment or watercolor paper. The results were striking and well worth the cost for a 16x24” print. Now I want to make many more prints. One of my clients just ordered a whole collection of prints from a recent family portrait and headshot session. Most were 4x6s and 5x7s. But they also wanted two 12x12s of their two sons. I convinced them to go with the Torchon paper mounted on 3/4” black “standout” backing. They were thrilled with the results, as was I. Digital images are great but they just can’t elicit the kind of reaction I saw on their faces when they saw the printed versions.
Preparing an image for printing takes more work than preparing one for the web. You should expect to pay a premium for the time it takes. Professional Photographers of America, a non-profit trade association, says that a photographer should charge $51 for a regular 8x10” print just to cover their costs. Obviously, that rate changes depending on the paper and mountings used. Typical markups are 2.5 to 3 times the wholesale cost of the print. My 16x24” demonstration print on Torchon paper with simple styrene backing cost me $60 and should be priced at $171 (using 2.85 as a commonly used markup rate). These are images you will be proud to display on your wall; you won’t want them hidden away in an album you see every 10 years. They have power and will command attention from all who see them.
Do you have space on your wall for a work of art? Email me or call me to book a session.
I’m offering a 20% discount on any session begun before Nov. 30.
