Should You Delete Client Photos After Delivery?

Maya asks: "After you have shared the photos with your client, do you guys delete them completely off your computer?"

Short answer: No — not if you understand the value of what you’re keeping.

Once images are delivered, many photographers feel pressure to delete files to save space or reduce responsibility. That instinct is understandable — but it’s also short-sighted.

Your Images Are Intellectual Property

Every image you create is intellectual property. Even after delivery, those files still have value. They can be reused, relicensed, reedited, or repurposed in ways that generate future income or opportunity.

Deleting them removes options you may not even realize you’ll want later.

Delivery ≠ Disposal

Delivering a gallery doesn’t mean the work is finished forever. It just means the client has received what they paid for.

The smarter move is to move files out of your working environment, not erase them entirely. External hard drives, cloud storage, or — ideally — both let you protect the work without clogging your primary system.

Storage Is Cheaper Than Regret

Hard drives fail. Clients lose files. People come back years later asking for reprints, reexports, or updates — often happy to pay for retrieval.

Keeping your archives turns those moments from stress into easy wins.

The Real Boundary Is Policy, Not Deletion

You’re not obligated to store files forever — but you should decide intentionally:

• What you keep

• Where you keep it

• How long you keep it

• What retrieval costs (if anything)

That clarity protects both you and your clients.

Deleting images should be a conscious business decision — not an anxiety response.