I’m curious if I’m the only photographer who feels a bit frustrated about this.
I’ll spend a few hours shooting an event and then another few hours editing. Let’s say I deliver a gallery of 220 solid photos featuring 70+ guests. The client is happy, they pick 12–15 favorites for their social media… and that’s it. The full album almost never gets shared with the actual attendees.
Most guests aren't aware that the photos exist, and they don’t know the client or me well enough to ask for the link. So hundreds of great photos of real people just sit there unseen.
I understand my role is to make the client happy. But it still feels wasteful. All that time and effort, and the people who were actually there never get to see the memories.
Is this just part of the job, and I should get over it? Or do other event photographers feel the same way?
(For context, I know there are photo-matching / face-tagging solutions out there, but I’m more interested in whether other shooters actually care about this issue or if I’m overthinking it.)