Why do I offer ‘all-inclusive’ packages?

When I put together my price lists for 2022 I wanted to make sure that it gave my clients what they wanted, with options available that would serve the deeper purpose of what I do.

You see, these we craft together are really being made for the future.

Your future.

Of course, it’s important that you like them now, but – like all memories - those pictures will become more meaningful and therefore personally valuable over time.

Think about it.

How are you going to feel about them in 20 years’ time?

How different will your perspective be then, and how will this time in your life, as captured by me, make you feel when you’re more wrinkled and grey?

And how will your choices with regards to the format of your images affect how you experience them in time?

My guess is that in 20 years, technology will have moved on so much that however you are storing them now will be archaic and obsolete. Instagram, phone camera roll, computer harddrive - all relics of the past, in the future.

Any physical prints or photo products alive from this era will be few, and very precious.

That’s why, if you look at my product guide, there are options that go way beyond digital bundles.

Sure, digital files are handy and easy to share now, and I’m all for that!! But if that’s all we’re doing this for then I fear we are missing the point.

In 30 years, believe me, your digitals will be long gone, and our formats and devices might also be different – but your prints, albums and frames will still be there, for your family and children to hold and treasure.

Is it enough to #existinphotos ? I believe we also need to #printthemout !

So how do we combine the best of the digital world with something that will serve you in a much deeper way later on?

Simple, with all-inclusive collections.

The concept is simple: with any of the all-inclusive collection you get your full gallery of digital images, no need to leave anything behind. These can be used to share online, print out yourself, and to keep as a back up.

In addition to this, you also get a selection of some of the most popular products, beautifully printed at professional lab standards (in other words, made to last for generations) offered at a highly discounted price.

While my à la carte products are perfect for creating your custom package, the all-inclusive collections are designed to offer the best of both worlds (digital and printed) to as many families as possible.

I like to imagine the 20 years point, in the future, when the newborn I’ve just photographed is fully grown, a young adult.

And there on the wall, or in a frame, in your house is the photo I took. It’s been there all these years – a silent witness to every phase and milestone. The tears and laughter, ups and downs.

It hasn’t faded like some of your other photos. It still looks so good that you can see those tiny details if you stare closely – that little flake of skin that was on your baby’s nose all those years ago. Where is that flake now? Those eyelashes, cheeks, lips, hair – everything that was, now faded, or grown, or gone.

Like a paper time machine, you can look at that photo and it’s like a door taking you back, and you can’t help but reflect on the life that has happened since then, and feel nostalgia for how young you were.

Long after I’m gone, it makes me happy to know that something I’ve done still makes a positive impact.

How will your children feel when they gaze at this picture as they grow up? Kids really do feel loved and a sense of belonging when they see photos of themselves on display.

My dad lives in South Africa, so I don’t get to see him much. He’s always kept a collection of framed photos of myself and my siblings in his study, wherever he’s lived. 1 year old me still smiles, naked on the beach. 4 year old me with the bad haircut still has her arms around my younger brother, with his white fuzzy hair. There’s me at 13, on the verge of puberty. Yikes!! I know the day will come when I’ll make the last trip to his house, perhaps to pack away all his possessions. I will bring those photos with me and put them somewhere I can see them too, to look at and contemplate, adding photos of my own kids to the collection as they grow.

And I’ll remember all those times as a child, when I would stare at the photos, forming my intuitive sense of nostalgia and what time’s passing means.

This is the beauty and power of photographs.

3MB of data is just not the same. I mean, what is that? Can you touch it? Feel it? What is it actually made of? Dots on a screen? Pixels. How do you keep pixels? In a cloud. On a bit of metal that by nature doesn’t have a very long life span. What good is your collection of pixels in a cloud in 15 years time? How will your children feel about those images? Will they even know that they ever existed?

Get those memories captured and then honour them by making sure they get to live and breathe! Let me help you!!

To book or enquire about a session with me, get in touch - I’d love to hear from you.