Reinvent The Wheel?

I've recently been confronted with some challenging questions from new acquaintenances. They have involved some really good people asking some really good questions of me to which I have really not had very good answers. The questions - very tactfully put - have revolved around when, if, or why, I haven't made it easier and more transparent for people to buy prints of my images if they want to. Or even to buy the image so they can make their own prints if they want to, under appropriate license of course.

My approach to this has been that I like to deal with the folks that buy a print to ensure they are satisfied with the result. Kind of the personal touch if you will. Turns out some folks don't see it that way. What I've been told is that the touchy feely stuff is really good during the time of taking the photos, but once taken, processed and posted, my new friends point out that selecting and printing is a commodity process that they feel more comfortable doing without needing to deal with anyone else.

I have to admit that I was uneasy, but I listened. What's more I think I understand and get it! So, what I've been researching is various ways to make the business end of purchasing as transparent as possible. That's where the title of this entry came from. I found that I could reinvent the wheel by setting up my own web-based store and merchant processing account - or - I could use some existing services. I'll be honest, I didn't like most of the 3rd party providers I looked into.

That's when I ran into a site called Smugmug. I know the name is corny, but the service is superior to anything I have seen to date. Not only do they support a professionally outsourced printing agency, but they support the online acquisition of the digital image along with personal and business use licensing, as well as a variety of gift products that go very well with photographic images.

So the short story is that I have bought into Smugmug and have begun loading images up to the site. It'll take some time to get my portfolios up there, but I wanted to let folks know that I've started this process and would love for people to visit the site and provide me with their feedback.

I'll be building the Underwater galleries in the next several days.

I hope that you find this a pleasing method to view my images as well as find it a viable option to acquire any prints or products you find desireable.

Here's the link! http://montychandler.smugmug.com/

Cheers,

Monty