I love the light and the clouds! I'll hopefully be back later today with their slideshow. I had to cull twice and I still ended up with 50 images I adored.
I've been working my beeehinds off to try and work through all my sessions and I"m starting to get caught up. I'll probably be sharing more soon. My blog is a small break from my typical work so when I'm busy I tend to post more ,sometimes I post less during the busy season also just depends on if I'm on the computer processing or doing lots of shooting.
I can get so tired when I'm doing lots of shooting. Anyone who has done one of my sessions knows exactly why LOL! Last week I laid my head down for just a few more mins of sleep and woke hours later. I was so out of it I didn't even realize I had slept that long and was shocked when Nadia told me the time. I've been getting up so early(processing) and working late(processing and shooting).
I"m not complaining I love my work but it's a long day when your working from 5ish to 10ish. I know sometimes people think pros just show up to the beach shoot and cha ching!!!! There is so much more involved then that which is why I'm considering changing around a few more things for 2009. It's all good trust me not higher pricing or anything like that in fact it's more favorable towards the client. I"m thinking of offering cd of images no prints.
I've always had a ton of requests for cd and I've resisted but the idea is starting to look really really good to me after the mess this month of dealing with my lab and some images with flaws. Ugh!!!! I still do not have it straightened out it's so fustrating (A number of my prints arrived with gunk on them and one print was underexposed dispite sending in a test print before I printed the larger print.) This lab is fabulous normally so I'm shocked really,maybe it's growth pains I know they are expanding.
It was funny on one of my pro forums someone posted this article todaywhich perfectly fits what I"m talking about. I emailed the author and with permission I share it.
Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?
(This article has been very well received by the photography community, and is now referred to by countless Photography websites, blogs and forums around the world).
In this digital age where everyone has digital cameras, scanners and home "photo printers", when people upload their photos to a local drug store website and pick them up a few hours later, we hear this all the time - How in the world do Professional Photographers charge $55 for an 8x10 when they cost just $1.50 at the drug store?
Here's why.
Simply put, you're not just paying for the actual photograph, you're paying for time and expertise. First, let's look at the actual time involved. If you don't read this entire page, at least read this first part.
For a two hour portrait session:
- one hour of travel to and from the session
- two hours of shooting
- 30 minutes of setup, preparation, talking to the client etc.
- 30 minutes to load the photos onto a computer (2 - 4 Gb of data)
- 30 minutes to back up the files on an external drive
- 4 - 5 (I"m typically longer because I'm perfectionist and I ususally show double or triple what other photographers show) hours of Photoshop time including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, saving a copy for print and a copy for the internet and backing up the edited photographs
- 2 - 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive their order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment and drop package off at Fed Ex.
- For local customers, we also print a set of all of their photos, and meet them at our studio to review the photos and place their order. Meeting and travel time averages 2 hours.
You can see how one two hour session easily turns into more than ten hours of work from start to finish. So when you see a Photographer charging a $200 session fee for a two hour photo shoot, you are not paying them $100 / hour.
For an eight hour wedding:
- I won't bore you with the details, but an eight hour wedding typically amounts to at least two to three full 40 hour work weeks worth of time. Again, if they are charging you $4,000 for an eight hour wedding, you are not paying them $500 / hour.
Now for the expertise.
Shooting professional photography is a skill, acquired through years of experience. Even though a quality camera now costs under $2,000 taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.
Most Professional Photographers take years to go from buying their first decent camera to making money with their photography. In addition to learning how to use the camera itself, there is a mountain of other equipment involved, as well as numerous software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website etc.
And let's not forget that you actually have to have people skills, be able to communicate, make people comfortable in front of the camera - and posing people to make them look their best in a photograph is a skill all by itself.
Think of it this way - the next time you pay $X to get your hair done, a pair of scissors only costs $1.50. But you gladly pay a lot more to hire a Professional.
What about the cheap studios at the mall?
Please don't compare us to the chain store studios. But if you must, consider all of the time and work that we put into our photographs, compared to what they do. Good luck getting a two hour photo shoot at a chain store. Not to mention they won't come to the beach! And of course, look at our work compared to theirs. You get what you pay for.
The truth is, most of the mall and chain store studios lose money. In fact, in 2007 Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios because of the financial drain they were putting on the company. What the chain stores bet on is that you'll come in for some quick and cheap photos, and while you're there, you'll also spend $200 on other things. They don't have to make money, they are just there to get you in the door.
Conclusion
We hope that those who have taken the time to read this page will have a better understanding of why professional photographs cost so much more than the ones that you get from your local drug store.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Shawn, Pamela & Gavin Richter
Caught on Film Photography
omg, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this session. So beautiful. If this was my family I'd have 20x30 canvas of each image all over my whole house! Fab job.
Posted by: Desiree Hayes | August 27, 2008 at 07:33 PM