Candid Photography Curiosity - a survey from an 'old guy'

[93pike]

Hello all,
I was a Pike about fifteen years ago and worked on my campus 'Flash Photo' (candid photography business that shot parties on film cameras...then a couple of days later dropped off "contact sheets" at Houses for fraternity and sorority members to order.) I worked almost full-time in addition to my classes and House involvement. My life revolved around the Greek social system. It was a blast and always interesting. The 4x6 glossy photo was a huge part of Greek life.

I caught up tonight with a few old brothers/coworkers and we recollected our days shooting pictures: from bid days to BSLSs to formals to functions. We're curious if the 'candid' business is still around (we're far from any large campus to drop by and find out.) We're guessing it is, but greatly changed and probably diminished... "In our day" things were still film-based. No one used digital images or cameras. We did a quick Google search and found this site. We were hoping you could give us a decent cross section of what 'candid photography' is like, now that things are all digital. We'd appreciate any stories, descriptions or opinions. Here are some questions (of course pick and choose if you want).

*Do you have a "professional" photographer shoot your events? And if so, at just a few events- or most events? [in our day, even small trivial events were shot...]

*Do the businesses charge for the photos just to be taken? [in our day it was free cause the biz sold so many prints that it covered all costs...]

*As I said, we were always collecting prints. But now I can't imagine college kids caring for them. Do students order physical prints much anymore or are they just for special occasions (e.g. to put into scrapbooks or sorority 'boards'?)

*If you use a candid photo business to shoot your parties, do they keep the digital images (enabling you only to order prints)? Or do they turn the images back over to the House(s) (presumably so you can share via Facebook or some other photosharing site)?

*Do Houses use a photo sharing site or do you just share photos here and there using email and/or Facebook?

*Free form question: how are you all documenting/archiving your experiences in your Houses? [In our time, Houses-esp. sororities- often had elected 'historian' positions...basically just kept scrapbooks.]

Thanks for helping us satisfying our curiosity...