It costs how much????

Ick.....  Who wants to talk about pricing?  Am I right????  Sigh.......But alas, we must talk about it.  And I'll tell you why.....because it's important for you and important for me.

It's important for me, because well, I'm trying to make a living.  I'm trying to provide for my family.  I'm trying to buy my kids' clothes, their schooling (we homeschool), food.....the list goes on.  I'm just trying to do exactly the same thing you're doing for your family.  I'm not trying to get rich on a photographer's pay. ;)

Now, it's also important for you as well. It's important for you to fully understand what goes into a photo session.  Let's start with standard equipment....... If you have ever passed by the camera section at your local Best Buy or other tech store, you will see the price of new DSLRs....not cheap!  But there's more!  Once you have the camera, you then need a quality lens.....and let me tell you, those aren't cheap either.  

So you have the camera and lens.  Now what?  Well, there's registering your business and business insurance....at least if you're a legit business (which I hope y'all are choosing, for your own sake).

We have a camera, lens, legit business.  Great!  Here comes the props, wardrobes, etc.  Each of these things take time.  For example....I'm currently working on a gorgeous blue puffy gown (very excited BTW to be able to create for my photos!).  I currently have three hours in and probably another 2-3 hours to go on it to make it sensational for this coming session.  That's up to 6 hours alone for JUST creating the dress (remember, there's also the session itself and the time editing after).  Now some may ask, why not just buy a dress?  For one, because I like to be creative, and two, ready made dresses are EXPENSIVE!!!!!!  They are stunning, but they are pricey!   And that's a whole other thing.  There are other amazing photogs that will buy dresses.....because they want to do right by their clients, and produce beautiful work for you to enjoy.

You're ALSO paying for knowledge and experience.  Anyone can pick up a camera, aim it and take a photo....that doesn't mean you're going to end up with a quality photo.  Trust me, put my camera in my husband's hands and yikes......nothing comes out in focus (sorry love, but it's true).  So it's way more than just having a "good" camera.  

How about photographing a newborn?  Do you want just anyone handling your baby because they bought a camera?  Or would you feel 1000x better knowing you have someone with experience on how to handle a baby safely?

Between, the camera, lens, business, licensing, props, wardrobe, experience, etc.......you can see that there is a ton that goes into producing quality images that a client will enjoy for MANY years to come.

SOOOOOOO, when considering a photographer's pricing and automatically saying, "nope, too expensive", consider why they charge what they do.  Take a look at their images.  Are they quality?  Are they a professional?  What kind of experience do they have?  Ask them questions!

And if you love their work and want precious memories that will be cherished forever, then consider spending the extra for quality.

​Love y'all.