A Photo by Ashley: September 2008

Monday, September 29, 2008

It's Fall!!!

It is Fall and my favorite time of year! Here is a lovely family from Mount Airy - they were a joy to shoot!

c/o 2009

Here is Chelsea Spainhour, senior pictures c/o 2009!!! I absolutely loved doing this session!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

This was a hit - last day... Perfect weather! Let's not forget to mention although there were hazy days (I learned that they call it "grey" out there) the light was AWESOME! Even though the sun wasn't out I had great light! I cannot wait to go back and shoot there again! Thank you to everyone who allowed me to squeeze me into your schedules!!!

This is a lovely, soon to be mommy... I loved shooting this session not only because it was great weather, I loved that yellow dress on her!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Trying to catch up before the busy schedule in October!!!

Here is my first beautiful family I had the privilege to shoot out in Washington. Katerie, Tabitha and Aiden.

We were able to meet up with a High School friend of Austin's who has a little cutie! Mommy, Nikki met up with us for a awhile and in the mean time I was able to get a few shots of baby Austin and his big beautiful eyes!

Here is a really fun family, boys Cameron and Logan. We ventured down the road from their house to a really neat area, it reminded me of home.

Here is Aaron, a little cutie - he made my job very easy that morning. He was a natural!

Here is a cute picture of Cannon & Luke. I shot this fun family before I left for our trip. So there will be more pictures to come. This family are also friends of ours, Matt, Ashley, Cannon and Luke.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Happy Birthday Ayden!

Today is Ayden's "real" birthday. We are celebrating it tonight at Red Robin!!!

Happy Birthday Ayden!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

3 Months for Ava

Here is Little Precious Ava!

It's been awhile...

Well I thought it was about time to update. I have been busy with a little of this and that. I have began keeping a precious 3 month old during the day, along with keeping up with my sessions and photos, my other part time job, and my other mommy job, and my other wifey job... oh yeah and I clean too - LOL I try to balance things out - so far I think I'm doing a pretty good job! Below are some photos that I have lacked to post.

Here is the entire Mitchell Family - I love this family... such great and beautiful people!

Finally here is Mrs Teryl H Smith!!! Beautiful Southern Bride!!!!

Stay tuned for more...

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

Monday, September 29, 2008

It's Fall!!!

c/o 2009

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Last Session in Washington

Monday, September 22, 2008

Trying to catch up before the busy schedule in October!!!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Happy Birthday Ayden!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

3 Months for Ava

It's been awhile...

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Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?