"So what's the big deal with the "C" and your name on the photos online?"

"I really love your photos but that big "C" just ruins it."

  These are a few questions I've heard in a few varieties in the last couple of years. 

  I thought I would take a moment and explain...

  I am a photographer because it's what I love. I am a sports photographer because I love sports. I am a Mayes County Sports photographer because my heart is where I grew up and where I live and I love to support Mayes County Athletes. I've said for a very long time. I cheer the players on just as their mommas, daddies, grandmas and grandpas do. I watch them grow each year from young players and some on into and through college, if I can.

   I love when players come up to me before or after the game, at the store, or give me a shout out on social media. I love when they find me and want to make sure that they get a photo with the photographer to remember homecoming by and send me the photo on facebook!

  Here's the thing.... that love doesn't pay. That love and passion for what I do also doesn't pay for the expenses I have by just going to games and capturing those memories.

   Thank you to every one that purchases images, season passes or asks me to capture memories of their senior year through senior portraits or their family with family portraits! It means a lot to me and Squirt too, ya know that little blue eyed boy, looks a lot like me, that comes with me to the games sometimes. I wouldn't be able to do what I do without that support.

  So why the big "C"? Well that big "C" on my photos online is a watermark, a copyrighted watermark. It's there to protect against unauthorized use and to encourage you to purchase your favorite images.

  I enjoy seeing you share my images. I know, you know, where and how to find them. It shows me how much you enjoy the photos I take. Just sharing those images doesn't help me pay for my expenses and bills though. 

  Here's where I need you to do to help me out. I do my best to try and keep the cost of purchasing images at a reasonable price. You know where to find the photos. There's a blog post on how to purchase them. Take a minute or two and purchase your favorite images. It's a pretty simple process and photos are printed at my pro lab WITHOUT the watermark and shipped straight to you. 

   Please continue to share your favorite images on social media, if you could give that s/o or tag me or my page when you do it's always appreciated. I don't want to discourage you from sharing your favorite photos. Please purchase and have those memories printed.

    Speaking of printing.... Did you know the only media that hasn't become extinct for photos is the printed photo? That's why I encourage EVERYONE to PRINT WHAT'S IMPORTANT! Even if that important image isn't one I've taken, even if it's only just a cell phone photo, PRINT IT!

  My grandmother has a 100 year old print of my great grandmother when she was an infant. It's a large framed print, something you know was special to spend that much way back then. It's something she's said she'd always grab off the wall in an emergency, after her purse and dog of course, to hit the "hiddie hole" during a tornado or in any other event she had to leave the house. 

   In 100 years we've had:

   SLIDES - Anyone have one of those round slide projector thingies that work?

    FLOPPY DISK DRIVES - Anyone have a computer that will read those anymore? I have photos on floppy drives in my closet I should have moved over to other medias and printed a few as well.   

     CELL PHONES - I saw a post on facebook just a few weeks ago as someone was freaking out because their phone had to be reset and they'd lost years of photos! Change phones? Break your phone? Dunked your phone? same thing. PRINT WHAT IS IMPORTANT!

    HARD DRIVES/COMPUTERS/CDs/USB - What is the technology today may not be the technology in three years, five years or more. Hard drive's fail. I know, I lost my son's birthday photos one year because my hard drive crashed. It was less than a month after his birthday and I just hadn't gotten around to printing them yet. CD's scratch and age. After several years it gets harder and harder to retrieve that information off the disc. USB's are typically what I use for my digital customers these days. I read recently questioning if that technology was soon to be fading as well. What happens if the USB because a part of the past like the floppy drive?

  Even posting ONLINE isn't full proof! Anyone still have a Myspace? Did you post your photos there? Can you still get them? There are many other sites that have gone away as well. Getting photos from a failing online storage provider can be difficult as well. 

  I will continue to do what I love for as long as I can and the fans of Mayes County support me to continue. I do love what I do.