Do Consumer Labs Cheapen Professional Photography?

Last week, I came across a version of this question posed by a real professional photographer in an online discussion group, and it’s been bugging me ever since. Finally, I thought I would try to exorcise this demon from my mind by writing down my thoughts about it.

The original question was along the lines of:

I get my clients’ prints made at Sam’s or Walmart, but I don’t want them to know because it might take the pro out of what I do… what if they see me in line waiting to pick up their prints?

I can barely begin to say how upsetting I found this! It wasn’t so much that a professional photographer was using a consumer budget print shop to have their client’s prints made that upset me (although I feel that’s bad enough just on its own), it’s more that they had to ask the question, as if they felt there might be some justification for it out there from other professionals.

Perhaps they were expecting others to say, “oh sure, we use consumer labs all the time, and our clients can’t tell the difference. It saves us a bunch of money. Keep up the great work.”

We Can Be Professionals And Consumers, But Not At The Same Time

I know that some consumer print shops do use good equipment and that the quality can be pretty good a lot of the time, and it’s perfectly okay for us to have our personal or vacation photos printed there; I have no problem with that whatsoever, because in those instances we are ourselves fulfilling the role of consumers. However, my own experience is that the quality overall is highly variable, even from one store branch to another, or across different days in the same store.

In any case, I personally feel there’s something fundamentally wrong about using a non-pro lab to produce work that will carry my name and reputation along with it for years to come.  I also find it very hard to imagine how I would feel standing in line at Sam’s or Costco’s to pick up a client’s print order, and turning around to find that very same client standing behind me waiting on their vacation photos. How would the client feel? How would I feel? Not good, I can assure you.

Put The Professional Back In Photography!

At the end of the day, this whole idea upsets me tremendously because there are just so many things wrong with it. I think the type of “professional” who would even consider it is doing a great disservice to our wonderful industry. Don’t they understand that it’s what’s printed on the paper that matters most, the emotions and relationships they capture, and the professional way those images are captured? Are they not concerned about the attention to the quality of craftsmanship at every stage of the process, and the love they should have for their work? So many of these things are intangible and abstract concepts that too many self-professed professionals are missing in their philosophy.

The worst part of all is that a move to use consumer labs is probably fuelled more by a desire to save operating costs than anything else, an indicator that the photographer’s prices are too low in the first place – another symptom of the decline in professionalism we’re seeing in the industry.

I’m sure there are some strong ideas and feelings on both sides of the fence on this one, so please feel free to leave comments and any personal experiences you might have regarding this issue.

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Photography Business Ideas print labs, professional photography