Deleting Storage and 600+ weddings

I've been paying for storage for the last 10 years at almost $200 a month to keep boxes of  negatives and old bank invoices and statements. Now that two out of three of our children will be in high school next year, it is time to discontinue paying for storage. Photographers used to keep the negatives for as long as they can is just something we all used to do back in the film days. I was our only copy of the job therefor discarding them was unheard of.  
Then came digital and the first shoot and burn job Desecrated the history I was taught as a pro photographer. Did anyone care that I was holding on to these distant memories? Adapting to change isn't always easy but it's usually a must. I have had no problem with digital and the evolution of where we are today but something always had me in my head About all those jobs and I still have the only copy of.  I literally can look at my past and see every job that catapulted me into 2018.  Nerdy I know...but truth.

Well needless to say I could've built a building for the price of paid in storage. I guess it's time to adapt and move on one more time   :)   The best part for me in this entire process of notifying past clients is hearing from them again. When somebody would tell me their wedding day and it was 15, 18 or even 20 years ago, I still get all sappy thinking of those events wayback in the day. It's the one thing I have always endeared the most with photography. 

After you purchase your negatives make sure you put them in a safe place like I have for the past two decades. Negatives need to be in a air-conditioned environment so heat and humidity does not alter the integrity of the negative itself. I'm sure this is understood but sunlight kills and fades just about anything so keep them out of the sunlight. Keep them in a double Ziploc bag inside of a Tupperware container that can get wet on the outside but not leak on the inside just in case one of those big bad hurricanes come around again.  My storage facility was on the second floor in case there was flooding but like many of my past clients who lived in Challmette with hurricane Katrina came we all know sometimes the matter how high he try to stay away from water, the water just finds a way. Putting a negatives in a bank security box is also a great place to store it since the building is under more security for robbery, fire, flooding then your house.
    If you really want to have fun with your negatives feel free to purchase a negative scanner and make them all digital images for you to once more enjoy.  

My business is constantly evolving and I guess this is just one more step into the evolution of my world GK photography.  So please tell anyone you know it may have not seen this post or the several posts made on Facebook about the negatives getting shredded in a few weeks. Facebook unfortunately forces you to pay for exposure and even then it's not guaranteed to get in front of all of your followers.  This is a huge flaw on Mark Zuckerberg's account with Facebook business pages like mine. We are all just trying to stay in business, pay bills and spend it on things we want or need.  It would be fantastic if I knew for sure all 5000+ followers on my business page actually saw this important post but I know I cannot rely on that and neither can you. Share the post with as many as possible that you think should see it and hopefully we can all have a better tomorrow.     


Stay Focused 
​-GK