Our generation, myself included, is pretty serious about getting what we think we deserve.  And these days, it’s a pretty common practice for photographers to give their clients the rights to printing their images… because who wants to pay $15 for a 4x6 of a shot of the cake… I mean, you WANT the picture of the cake, for posterity sake, but you don’t wanna shell out the dough (pun intended!) for the printed out picture.  I get it.  Which is why I offer the USB of edited images.  However… you may not want a picture of your cake printed up huge on a canvas… but you better believe that your favorite photo of you and your groom gazing into each other's eyes would look eye-catchingly gorgeous up on the wall above the couch/mantel/bed/bookshelf… allow me to explain:

Lets say you book Captured by Colson to shoot your wedding (so excited!).  You’re a busy new wife/hubby, so you don’t get your photos printed right away (and let’s be honest… after a wedding, most of us are pretty low in the pocket money), so instead, you post a few on Facebook, maybe write a blog post of your favorites to brag on how awesome your photographer was… hint hint ;).  And suddenly, as these things always do happen suddenly, five years down the road, you lose your USB and your computer crashes… Just like that; you’ve lost your investment.  It’s possible that I still have your images, but as the contract states, I’m only committing to keep them around and handy for 2 years—keeping thousands of images from hundreds of weddings is a little crazy… So what do you have left… a few grainy shots from Facebook? , a few images that you watermarked for safety and put onto your blog?  And some cheap 4x6s of your cake, of course.  OR...

Your computer was a good one and didn’t crash… and you were thoughtful and kept your custom USB drive locked away and you burned an extra copy and put it at least 50 yards away from the original… Good for you!  But it’s 2030 and like the cassette, the laser disc and the 8-Track, there aren’t any more USB drives…  and you are once again without your images.  Even after all of your due diligence, you’ve lost your investment,  your images, and your memories. 

So what can you do to avoid all of this heartbreak?  Print.  Get canvases made of your favorites to hang on your walls, to show your children how beautiful, happy and in love you were/are.  Display the most gorgeous photos, look at them often and replay the day’s romance in your mind, time and time again.  You can select your favorites and allow me to create a custom album which will tell your wedding day like a storybook, weaving the details in with the preparation photos, with the portraits, the candid moments that tell your story.  And do these things sooner, rather than later… because later, you’ll most certainly be wishing you’d done it sooner. 

Lindsay Colson, photographer and owner of Captured by Colson Photography, is a Valdosta, Georgia based creative who specializes in plantation and farm weddings in the southeast as well as natural light senior photography.  Interested in setting up your own Senior Session?  Inquire or get more information by contacting her:  [email protected]   

Want to know more about Lindsay's work?  Click here!