The Artistry of Elizabeth Homan: The PRINTED portrait...a dying breed? {San Antonio Portrait Photographer}

Today I open up Facebook and all I see are images. Snapshots...Selfies...and even some Professional Portraits. Photographers are everywhere. SERIOUSLY, EVERYWHERE. We have cameras within our phones so they are with us AT ALL TIMES (which sometimes is uncalled for). We document and share everything. Some people take this a too literally (we do not really need to see what you ate at breakfast, lunch and dinner).
However, once we share it with the world, do WE ever look at it again? Now some things are not worthy of a repeat glance. But some ARE. Some are even worth of....wait for it....PRINTING! Gasp!

I am completely guilty of having my kids every day activities sitting on my phone for the past 3 years. I admit it. Life is crazy and I just don't have time to sit and organize those and then figure out what size to print and where I should put them afterwards. I get it, I really do.

So here is where I start to scratch my head. WHY on earth would I HIRE (pay money to) a "professional" photographer to take photos of my kids and them PAY them to give ME all the digital files? I mean, I don't have time to do something will all the photos I take already. Why would I want up to 100 more images to sift through and figure out what to do with? THIS is why you HIRE someone, right?

Think about it like this: I hired a housekeeper. She comes once a week. She does a decent job, but I pretty much have to go behind her and "finish" the job. That is CRAZY, right? She would not be employed for long. Ain't nobody got time for that!

So WHY would you hire a photographer who makes YOU finish the job?

Ok, so maybe I can understand that you need a new facebook profile photo, so you do a quick session that results in a digital file. You don't have a desire to print that, it's only for online use. Seems reasonable.

BUT, when it comes to capturing your family history, your children growing up, important occasions like a Wedding or Bat Mitvah. These things need to be preserved. Printed. Archived for future generations. Share them all you want, but PRINT them too.

Artistic Images has been PRINTING portraits for 23 years. We have hung THOUSANDS of Wall Portraits, created HUNDREDS of albums. We delight in Completing the Job for you.

Within the past few years, we have more and more been asked for our digital files. And I just wonder why? Is it because people desire to do all the work themselves, possibly getting the portraits for a cheaper price? Is it because they want to archive them after printing? Or is it because the public thinks that they HAVE to do it themselves, that there isn't any photographer left in business who creates a product from start to finish?

Those photographers still exist. They may have a higher pricetag than others, but that is because they create finished Masterpieces. They are trained with a skill that eludes many new photographers these days. The skill of finishing the project. Delivering a complete and finished product.

We (us old fashioned photographers) want to create a Masterpiece that you can hand down for generations. We want you to stop at the portrait in the hallway every day and linger over the memories it holds. THIS is our mission. We CREATE the images in the camera and FINISH the images in the printing.

I say the printed portrait is NOT dying. But it might be on life support. Help me bring it back to life by PRINTING your images. So that when your little child's 2nd grade teacher wants a print of your family for a project, you can actually FIND one.

At Artistic Images, we not only create the standard 8x10 and traditional wall portrait, we pride ourselves in creating unique imagery that can not be found everywhere. Check out some of the products that we can create for you and your family:

Our Newest FLOATING ART PIECES.

Images printed on archival fine art paper, triple matted and framed with simplicity and style.