I was recently asked by a mother of a bride about my albums durability.
I use Finao ONE and love their product. I have never had any problems.
Since I have only owned my sample wedding albums for about 6 months, I can not really give an answer from experience.
The reason she is asking is because they had a fire a while back and lost some photos. Now obviously an album cannot withstand fire, but what happens in heat and smoke?
And the last questions is... how long will the album last in time? I order the creased pages by Finao ONE and they look great, will they start to get discolored or wear?

What would you tell the mother of the bride?

I guess I just don't know how to back up my albums unless I have some real answers for myself.


Thanks in advance for opinions.

bump.

just speaking from someone who ha witnessed more house fires than i care to admit the smoke is the worst part. It will destroy everything.

I had the cool experience going into a real burning house with firefighters one time. The smoke is so thick it can block all light from outside. You can not see the hand in front of your face and will drop all the way to the floor.

An album won't survive. I have heard of photographers that in that situation will design couples new albums or if they saved the album to print a new one at a much reduced rate.

the #1 enemy is UV light. albums are closed and the pages are costed - so images are pretty safe.

professional books are hand crafted with profession warrantees. if anything happens to it, and it's a defect, they should replace it. this is part of what you are paying for when you pay for a professional album.

that said, a wedding album... a photographic album is an art book. it should be treated as such. if it's left out on a table to be spilled on and dropped and destroyed by thoughtless handling, then the client may be the problem, not the album. it is a work of art and should be treated with care.



consider the components of the book. primarily paper and leathers. these items are affected by heat and humidity. in that regard they will respond to changes by slightly warping or shifting (normally) because this keeps them from cracking. as far as the folded page, with care, the album should last a life-time - or several.

edit... (this is what i would tell her, since this is how we handle repairs/replacements)

dear mother of the bride,

i am sorry to hear of the fire - what a terrible experience. i hope that you never fall victim to such a situation again.

the professional wedding albums that i offer will withstand a lifetime of enjoyment. they do need to be treated with care, as they are works of art. unfortunately, i do not know of any album that would stand up to the damage of fire or smoke.

all our books are warranteed by the manufacturers against defects, and should your album need to be replaced, we keep all our files archived indefinitely, so that it could be reprinted. we have not had to do this for anyone, however, should the need arise, the replacement album would be created at a substantially discounted rate.

should your book need to be repaired, we will work with you and the album company to have repairs made at a very reasonable cost, as well.

warmest regards,
photog

This must be a hot-topic and bridal forums as lately I've had an up-tick in the number of people inquire about album durability. I tell them to treat the album like anything else they've spent several thousand dollars on (with the exception of 4x4's)...

Album durability is one of those age old questions. I have worked for Leather Craftsmen for almost 10 years now. Even though now I work in sales, I still keep my hand in the production of the books most days of the week. I know you use Finao, and if you are happy with them, that is awesome!! The one thing I tell photographers when they ask about the longevity of a LC album is they are going to get what they pay for. That is something that applies to almost anything.

As for the folding of your prints in the album, photographic prints were never made to be folded. They will discolor, crack, and eventually split. Now, before people jump on me, most album companies have improved (LC included) the way they FOLD their prints. Over the life of a non-sample book, I wouldn't worry about your folded prints cracking and splitting. Just know that it can happen.

As for your client with the fire, I have seen books come back to us with fire/smoke damage. Some work out and some don't. If the book gets wet, it is toast. The pages will absorb the water and warp, the glue will become moist and the book will pretty much fall apart. I have seen books come in where the binding is toast, but the prints are ok. All we have to do is remake the book using the same prints. However, it goes on a case-by-case basis.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this helps somewhat....in a general sense.

Joseph Fiore Jr.

Much has already been said that I agree with. I just wanted to add that it's my policy to replace albums free of charge if they are destroyed by fire, flood, etc. I don't tell clients that off the bat unless they ask specifically (there's always the chance someone will try to take advantage) but I think considering circumstances like that, the least I can do for them is order a replacement album for free...I figure that in with my business costs and hey, what couple would NOT rave about their photographer who did that for them?

Thanks everyone. You have been VERY helpful.
I have another meeting with the bride and her mother tonight. Now I know what to say.