Okay, I did something today that I haven’t done in years. I printed a bunch of 4×6’s. The ones you see right at the top of this post (from a recent family vacation to New Jersey). Full disclosure though… my post today has two purposes. First, it’s to help my friends at MPIX get the word out about a special they’re running today only which basically get’s you good quality 4×6 prints at 50% off (around 10 cents). But I want you to really think about this in another way, because my other purpose is to encourage you to get out there and print.
I’m As Guilty As the Next Person
I’m guilty of it too. Totally the pot calling the kettle black here, because I haven’t printed like this in years. In fact, I’d even go as far to say that I’ve often said printing is dying. But I’ve definitely been convinced otherwise lately. Not by anyone in the industry, but by my family. True story: we’ll often go to events (cub scouts, football practice, neighborhood parties) where some one (way more organized than me) is taking pictures. After the event, they go where ever, and print some 4×6’s and give a few out to all the people that were there. My kids totally jump on it. Seriously, they immediately grab thumb tacks and start putting the pictures up in their rooms. My wife grabs a few and puts them on the fridge, and then some get put away into our photo box or drawer (which I have to say we look through much more than we look through old hard drives). As much as I thought print was dying, this shows me it isn’t.
So Here’s Your Task For Today
Get your cell phone out. Why? Because it’s probably your best point-n-shoot camera you own, and I bet there’s a lot of great family moments on it. Download the last 100 photos you have on it. Don’t bring them into Photoshop or Lightroom or iPhoto, don’t try to edit and don’t critique the lack of quality in the photo – nobody cares – they just want memories to look at. Send ’em to MPIX to print today (you have to do it today because the sale ends at midnight). The deal is you get 50% off 4×6 prints (I used the .19 cent print option) which brings the typical print to around 10 cents (+ shipping). Seriously, if it’s 100 photos it’ll cost you $10 bucks. If it’s 200, it’ll cost you $20. Skip the pizza night this week, bring your lunch to work one day or skip whatever it is you spend $10 on without even thinking. Print the photos and give them away. I guarantee you that if you have a family or friends, it will be the best $10 you spend this week.
The special code to get 50% off your prints is 4X6SALE12 and here’s a link to their website (I chose the .19 cent prints). And if you’re a NAPP member don’t forget you get discounts each month on the NAPP Member website.
That’s it. Just do it. I know I said in the beginning that part of this post was helping out my friends over at MPIX spread the word, but I truly believe that by spending that $10-15, you’ll help yourself out too and be happy you did. Have a good one!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Matt… great advise! Our family has spent many enjoyable times going thru a stack of prints from the past. They hate it when I try to get them to sit thru a slide show. BTW, I don’t agree with post by Dennis. Glad to have you recommend a good company for us to consider.
Neil
Matt, I don’t mean to be overly critical, because I think the world of you, but this is the first time I have ever been disappointed with your advice. I have never seen you so blatantly try to sell a product for one of NAPP’s sponsor companies. Phase the sales pitch however you like, but you are clearly selling for Mpix. I have nothing against making prints, but I do object to the commercial for them. I hope they paid you for this post.
Dennis.
Let me ask you this? Why can’t I help a friend out. MPIX is a company I work with. I print my own prints with them. I believe in their product, I use their product and I like to help spread the word about their product because I truly think other people can benefit from it. I’ve been wanting to tell my printing story for a long time. It wasn’t until yesterday when I saw this special come across my email, that the lightbulb went on and I realized this was a perfect way to tell the story and make my prints at the same time.
Every thing that I wrote in that post is true. I went out and printed 148 4×6’s, because I believe it helps change my photography and my family to hold physical copies of the photos.
Now… because I printed these, in two days my kids are going to be running around the house (excited as heck) with thumb tacks putting photos up in their rooms. My wife will no longer complain to me that “you never print out our family vacation photos!” and I’ll have actual physical memories of my experience with my family this summer (rather than JPEGS on a hard drive).
What will you have in two days? I’m not really sure, but I can pretty much guarantee you that no positive memories will have come from writing the comment you wrote.
How can my personal printing experience (coupled with helping out some friends at a company I truly believe in) be a bad thing. And no…. MPIX did not pay me one penny for this post. I did it because that’s what friends in an industry do for each. When I believe in some one’s product and I’ve benefitted from it, I believe I actually do people a favor to tell them my story. It’s hard to make a buying decision these days with so many options out there. So when I hear a trusted source talk about something it makes my decision easier. That could be a good thing right?
Psssst… by the way… if you hate when some one promotes another companies products then perhaps you should have stopped reading in the beginning of the post where I said “Full disclosure… my post has two purposes. First, it’s to help my friends at MPIX….”.
One more thing… when you start something by writing “I don’t mean to be overly critical”, that’s EXACTLY what you doing. Just sayin’ 🙂