A Photo by Ashley: July 2008

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Cute Cute Cute

I'll be seeing a lot of this little lady. We are doing each month sessions... watching her grow until her First Birthday! Little Miss Ava!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Well, I have to say this was one of my favorite sessions. I drove up to Cana a few days ago to spend a little time with a wonderful family... Walker, Amanda, and Quint Leonard. It was so beautiful up there! It was quite warm, but so worth it. What I loved the most was the scenery and the natural setting. I love the country, and I have been itching to take some shots like these! There are more on the site.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Ethan Davis is here!

I had the privilege to take a few photos of this little 3 week old, Ethan Davis, what a cutie!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

TINY PRINTS!

I am super excited to finally offer Tiny Prints to my Clients!

There is a link through my website and to the side and bottom of my blog.

Tiny Prints are unique photo birth announcements, baby shower invitations, birthday Invitations and other fine stationery are festive and thoughtful ways to convey special occasions to family, friends and loved ones.

Stylish Tiny Prints themed birthday party invitations, moving announcements, summer party invitations and thank you cards are an increasingly popular way to express your personalized, festive cheer. With digital communication all around us, mailing beautiful, photo holiday greeting cards and modern party invitations has more meaning than ever. We take pride in offering a unique selection of exclusive designs for those seeking social stationery that is contemporary and distinctly different. Tiny Prints finds great joy in helping our customers, whether you are shopping for your family or shopping for corporate Christmas cards, discover the perfect card that will leave a lasting impression.

Perfect for the upcoming Holidays!!!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Beautiful Family

Here are a few photos of the Frenette Family - just beautiful! Little Miss Emma was on her feet this session and was walking and running everywhere! She is adorable!!! We took these shots out at Wake Forest - it was pretty neat.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

FREE SESSIONS!

YES! That's right, FREE Sessions! I know it's not Christmas yet... It's only the 4th of July!!! But... Christmas will be here before we know it!!!
I am loving these cool mornings we are having too!!!

Hope everyone has a safe and fun July 4th!!!
Loved this Photo - Had to Share
(Not my work copyright © 2008 susanna celso)

Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?

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 (such as LDPT, ILP and DWF)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
- 3 - 4 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 RichterCaught on Film Photography

A Photo by Ashley

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Cute Cute Cute

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Cana, Virginia

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Ethan Davis is here!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

TINY PRINTS!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Beautiful Family

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

FREE SESSIONS!

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Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?