Monday, November 12, 2012

It Pays to Go Pro!

Almost a year and a half ago I wrote a blog article entitled, "Don't Be Fooled." (See it below) in which I talked about all the fly by night photography companies that were springing up all over Galesburg, and charging very low prices. I gave some warnings... such as the fact that these people were simply out to make a quick buck, that they were charging for "professional" services, yet having their prints made at Walmart, Walgreens and HyVee, and that was how they were charging the lower prices. I also warned that these people would not be in business down the road, should you have a need to order more pictures. Well... here we are 15 months later... and guess what? Most of those "photographers" are no longer around. Check out their websites, and they are abandoned or no longer work, due to the fact that they have closed up and moved on. In fact, when I wrote that blog in June of 2011, I had checked and there were more than 10 new photographers that had sprung up in Galesburg between 2010 and 2011 and more than 20 total, just in Galesburg. I did a quick Google search this morning, and I found that there are now only 8 that remain, and 2 of those have been open only a few months.   It pays to check out just who is doing your pictures, do they use professional print labs and do they plan on being around in 6 months?

I recently ran into a woman who told me that she wished she had listened to me. She said she went to someone else, trying to save a few bucks, and that she'd gotten burned. She said that the quality of work was not as good, and that the product itself was no where near the quality of that which her daughter's friend had purchased from me. She said that now, 2 years after her daughter is out of school, she looks at those photos and the picture is discoloring and she realized she made a mistake. She said that on the back of the picture, it says, "Printed at Walmart" just like I had warned her. (Hello? I have no reason to lie!)  But she told me that the icing on the cake was that she wanted to get one of those pictures reprinted because one had been damaged when knocked off the wall, and she went to call the company and found out that it no longer exists. Hmmm... I think I said that would happen too! I hate this for this family. They deserve better. But, like I said in another blog entry, "You get what you pay for!"

Holiday Special


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Smugmug is Here

I just realized I had not updated my blog here in quite some time. I will try to start doing better from now on. I made a change a couple of months ago which is proving to be a very good move for my customers. That is, I now have joined up with Smugmug.com which allows me to offer online view and ordering of prints, all from the comfort of your home or office... or anywhere else you might have internet access. This is not only convenient for my customers, it also eliminates any fear of "high pressure" sales... which I've never done anyway, but now you don't even have to deal with me personally. Simply click and order, and the finished product will be shipped directly to you. Check us out on Smugmug and let me know what you think!
Smugmug

Thursday, June 14, 2012