When it comes to weddings, we have become all thumbs!
Who here remembers the late 1980s? Ok, I see one hand up…Oh, wait…That’s me…Old me. Well, for all you born-in-the-90s folks reading this, it was during that time that the miracle of compact discs came about.
They were pretty much read-only, music vehicles back then, but eventually went on to hold computer programs and, eventually, movies. Then they became recordable, used as data storage and ultimately became a staple in many photography portrait packages. However, today they are disappearing right along with the CD/DVD-ROM drives which read them. But Abanathy Photography, LLC is rolling with the punches on this one and have been anything but disappointed so far.
As of the beginning of this wedding season, we are foregoing the promised CD/DVD and instead offering USB thumb drives to our brides and grooms. At first, we thought this might be met with opposition, as we do guarantee a DVD with our Wedding Packages. So one might imagine my delight at seeing people’s eyes light up when I note the change of plans. In fact, one of my brides recently requested a different method of file delivery before I even broached the subject. And It almost seems as though a weight lifts when they find out they will not have to rummage around for a CD/DVD-ROM when the time comes to view/print their images.
Not only is this a keeping-with-the-times moves for us, but also a files space move which ultimately makes for a much cleaner presentation to our clients. As megapixel counts have increased, so too have files sizes. With this comes the need for more space on whichever storage device one chooses to present image files. For our standard sessions, discs work well, however, for a wedding (500+ images on average), a second disc was always a necessity. With this came an awkward split in the file list, an extra DVD case and twice the amount of items with which to keep up.
The only other way around this (and still be able to keep the disc) would have been to go to a Blu-Ray-based system. And let’s face it: How many people, let alone printing kiosks, have Blu-Ray drives? So the logical step is to move forward with something with exponentially more storage space as well as it being a more universally accepted medium. Heck, the acronym USB includes the word “universal”, right (even you youngsters should know the full meaning)? So how could we go wrong?
Now you might take a look at the picture above and say “Hey, old man, you do know you could totally have your name printed on custom USB drives, essentially placing a cherry on this pie, right?” To that, I say: True, but the decision to use the boring black and red thumbs comes more from the brand. See, I don’t know what type of hardware the custom printing folks use for their USBs and I have never yet (knock on wood) been let down by SanDisk products. As such, I want only the very best for my clients. These are what we use in our business and that is what I will continue to use for the time being. And, hey, they are not that boring. I think they look pretty cool…or keen…or sick…or something.
But that is enough free advertising for SanDisk, I do have to bring up one other point. For right now, we are continuing to use discs for all other portrait sessions. Like I said above, this was becoming a major storage issue for ever-increasing file sizes. However, standard portrait sessions seldom yield 500+ images. So they will remain retro and old school for the time being.
Well, it is time for me to get back to the wedding (editing) season, so until August, be safe!! And be sure to book your wedding with Abanathy Photography, LLC to receive one of these beautiful thumb drives.