What do You do with Old Sample Albums

I've got some sample albums that I don't use anymore. Sometimes it's because of changes in the product line, sometimes they're just no longer reflective of my photography or album design work.

So they're just sitting in a box somewhere and it seems a shame. Do you gift them to the bride? Or do you maybe offer them to her at a deeply discounted price? Or do you hang onto them anyway?

I have heard of people doing all three.I think for me, if I am no longer going to keep them, I would give them to the bride if they are worn. If they are still pristine, Id probably do a big discount.

framed prints and albums I give to the couples after shows - really surprises them when they hear from me a year or 2 after their wedding...
my wife insists I have no room to keep that stuff, and as long as I only do 1 show per year (at most), she has a point

Give them to me. I need new sample albums and am too lazy to design my own.

(I kid, I kid!)

My main sample/portfolio album is 4 years old this year, no intention of retiring it any time soon though as it's still one of my fave weddings and is still in very good condition.

I am designing a couple of new albums for this years wedding show and at least one of the albums will be a wedding from a local venue so that I can put the album into the venue after the show.

That's my plan for new albums, make them with a view to placing them at a venue afterwards which I think is very worthwhile.

I gift them to the bride.

jonwhite wrote in post #13782280
That's my plan for new albums, make them with a view to placing them at a venue afterwards which I think is very worthwhile.

This is an excellent idea!

If a couple already has an album I doubt they'd buy another. I'd gift them, personally.

jonwhite wrote in post #13782280
I am designing a couple of new albums for this years wedding show and at least one of the albums will be a wedding from a local venue so that I can put the album into the venue after the show.

That's my plan for new albums, make them with a view to placing them at a venue afterwards which I think is very worthwhile.

Wow Jon...that's a really great idea.

Cheers peeps, certainly hoping its worthwhile anyway.

Queensberry had an offer on for 50% off sample albums (usually they are 25% off) so I am doing a couple through that which we will use at the national wedding show here in March and then place at the venues.

I normally give them to the bride but giving them to the venue is an excellent idea!

We do our sample albums a little different so we dont have this problem. Something for you to think about because its worked for us.

We make up a sample album every year. We take the best spreads from all of the albums we make during the year and we use the spread from each album to show clients. My Picto 10x10 had 16 different wedding spreads in the album. You would be surprised how often i hear, hey theres Jake, or hey there's Sarah when they are looking through the albums, especially at bridal shows.

It immediately makes a connection with those people, and it lets them see different ideas for their weddings. It also keeps me from having albums that I have to toss in the trash. Ive got 4 10x10's from the past 4 yrs with different covers and cover options. My next sample album is going to be a different size and Im having a heck of a time deciding with our price points in the mid west what size to make it. Im absoluly in love with these Picto albums because of the options brides get. My client like that as well. So with picto, I also take all my album swatches (50+) and hand them to the girls and say, your going to have a lot of options with these albums...they love it.

umphotography wrote in post #13800568
We do our sample albums a little different so we dont have this problem. Something for you to think about because its worked for us.

We make up a sample album every year. We take the best spreads from all of the albums we make during the year and we use the spread from each album to show clients. My Picto 10x10 had 16 different wedding spreads in the album. You would be surprised how often i hear, hey theres Jake, or hey there's Sarah when they are looking through the albums, especially at bridal shows.

It immediately makes a connection with those people, and it lets them see different ideas for their weddings. It also keeps me from having albums that I have to toss in the trash. Ive got 4 10x10's from the past 4 yrs with different covers and cover options. My next sample album is going to be a different size and Im having a heck of a time deciding with our price points in the mid west what size to make it. Im absoluly in love with these Picto albums because of the options brides get. My client like that as well. So with picto, I also take all my album swatches (50+) and hand them to the girls and say, your going to have a lot of options with these albums...they love it.

We do a yearbook for similar reasons.

I choose 10-25 images from each wedding we have photographed in the year and make a one page collage of them and we assemble this into a book ... its a nice way of showing clients a whole years worth of weddings in one book. The pictures are quite small but in a 12" by 12" book they are still big enough for people to look through.

Not sure whether we will keep doing them now we have iPads that hold photos from every wedding we have ever photographed but they worked well before we had iPads.

I have shared the layouts for my latest physical album that will be placed in a venue after the next wedding show in this thread here > https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1143814

Would be interested in any feedback.

jonwhite wrote in post #13804580
I have shared the layouts for my latest physical album that will be placed in a venue after the next wedding show in this thread here > https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1143814

Would be interested in any feedback.

Beautiful imagery and I can see how the venue would find it desirable and want to display it in the future.

Maybe it's a cultural/national thing, but I see very little interest in matted albums; everyone wants the collage approach. At least that's been my experience.