Heirloom Artistry is the work I do for my private portrait clients.  These are images that we have emotional attachment to. These products are made and meant to be passed down.  I talked to a friend of mine a while back and I have eluded to this conversation in other blog posts, let me share what he told me and why what I do is so important.

"I had my grandkids over for the weekend, and we were sitting around in my back room where I edit my photos (he's a photographer too)  and my grandson started asking to see photos of his mom, my daughter, when she was younger. We spent the evening looking at albums, they would stop and ask questions as we flipped the pages. "How old was she there?" "Where were you guys at?" "What were you doing?" and so on."

I talked to my friend a little more and we discussed how important it was to have tangible pictures. Back when his daughter was a child digital wasn't a "thing".  Computers in the 70s and 80s used floppy disks. Even though scanning wasn't widely used and we were in the film days could you imagine if the technology was as readily available and as easily accessible to put on a floppy disc as they are to put on a CD today?  What would he have shown his grandchildren that night?  Nothing. I have not been able to go to the store and pick up a computer with that type of disc drive in years.


"Ah, but we'll just print them ourselves." I know that people want to print themselves, it's cheaper. I get that.  Here's a secret:  those kiosks,1 hour developing, and online consumer labs are meant for treasured snap shots from point and shoot and disposable cameras and cell phones. Not professional images.  From the person operating the machine right down to the quality of the paper and ink.

Your photographer should be using a professional lab, preparing the image for the size to be printed (prep work done for an 8x10 will be different than a 11x14 or 4x6), being printed by a machine that is maintained weekly if not daily, being operated by specialists that have been trained in color management and print quality.  All this to produce a product to last for generations.