Brownwood Reunion

Last weekend was the Brownwood Reunion and the Brownwood Art Association held a photography contest in conjunction. I entered a triptych of photos I took around town encased in one of my custom frames. I ended up wining Honorable Mention and the People's Choice Award! Thank you to all the people who voted for me, it is always nice to know people genuinely like your work. So for anyone who didn't get to see it in the show here is my piece "Each Touch Belongs To Each New Sound".

Family Portraits: The Martins

I sat down with the Martins last week and got some portraits worked out for Christmas gifts. So here it is folks, proof positive that family portraits need not be boring. You can have great pictures without stiff shoulders, say cheese smiles, and matching sweaters. Billy and Vanessa were a joy to work with and their kids, Will and Kinley are very energetic and creative. The baseball shot was Will and Kinley's idea.

Portrait Session: Andrew

I had a chance to do a shoot with Andrew this week. We did some non traditional fun stuff. My personal favorites are the images using the Guitar Hero guitar as a prop. Andrew has two real guitars that he loves to play so I thought using a plastic video game controller to rock out would be cool.

The Digital Negitives

Yes, dear readers it is time for a controversial post. A DVD OF FULL RESOLUTION FILES IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE WITH ALL OF MY SESSIONS. I have had some questions about what exactly that means and why I would I do something like that so here we go. The following is an explanation of what the images are (and are not) along with eight great reasons why I do what I do. That's right people I can rhyme.

1. I Refuse To Hold My Client's Images Hostage
Back in the olden days (like the 1990's) photographers would charge a relatively small sitting fee for portraits or weddings. They would do their best to take pictures that people would then in turn want to purchase. After the shoot was over, they switched hats and became a salesman. Their livelihood was dependent upon how many 8x10's or 5x7's they sold. They would sell frames at a huge mark up and employ high pressure sales tactics to up sell the wedding albums. They needed you to pay for physical prints, frames, or albums in order to make a profit and stay in business. They wouldn't even consider giving the negatives away since the negatives were the means of reproduction. Most never let you keep the proofs and they would even stamp the word "PROOF" really big on the front of the print so if you tried to illegally copy it everyone would know. If you didn't want to pay $50 for 1 8x10 or 8 wallets you were out of luck with no pictures. I do things a bit differently. I charge a higher fee up front for my time and talent and make my living by taking wonderful photographs in a relaxed,comfortable fashion. I also pride myself on providing excellent customer service while delivering our amazing artwork and albums. Now, I don't want to sound like I am bragging, but that is simply the goal we strive for with each and every client.

2. I Don't Want To Turn My Clients Into Criminals
Many people don't know about or understand U.S. copyright law and how it applies to the photographs they have purchased from a professional photographer. If you take the wallet size photo from your child's yearbook scan it and email it to your aunt you are infringing on the photographer's copyright and breaking the law. The photographer knows this and that is why they stamp their logo on the bottom corner, so that copyright infringement can be proven in court. I don't want to force my clients to break the law in order to have a nice photo on myspace. That is why I include a print and web release with all my DVDs allowing my clients to share their photos with friends and family.

3. It Keeps My Pricing Simple
I have a confession to make : complicated pricing structures give me a headache. Reading things like"Sessions include 2 units, 1 unit = 2 4x5's + 4 wallets / 1 8x10 * tennie tiny print" gives me unpleasant flash backs to high school algebra. I am not in the business of confusing or misleading people. I want my clients to rest assured that they will not be hit with surprise costs after the shoot. If you want fancy Photoshop stuff you can order Artist Signature prints from me. They are priced according to size and type of paper and a price list is available by email or at the studio.

4. It Gives My Clients A Choice
Most of our clients can see and appreciate the job we do in Photoshop and are willing to pay a premium for the quality that we deliver. Some of our clients and their relatives do not want to pay the premium and prefer to have the images printed themselves at a lab of their choice. I think it should be your choice whether or not to order prints from me. I don't pretend to know what every single person wants to do with the photographs I take. If my clients want to load their images into digital photo frames and NEVER print them, cool they can do that. If they want the VIP TLC we offer in Photoshop on a 24x36 gallery wrapped canvas print we will be happy to oblige them. The bottom line is I leave the final decision of what best suits my clients needs up to my client. (A comparison of Digital Negatives and Artist Signatures is at the top of this post)

5. It Gives My Clients Piece Of Mind
Family photos are pretty important to most people, so important in fact they will run back into burning homes to get them! After all when the wedding is over, the cake is gone and the flowers are dead, the kids grow up and are off to college what is left are your memories and a few dozen photos. I hope my clients take their DVDs and make 12 copies. Give one to their mother, put one in a safe deposit box, up load them to an online back up service, bury one in the backyard in a time capsule, I don't mind! I hope they do whatever makes feel better about the safe keeping of their memories. And I hope they don't run back into burning buildings.

6. I Choose Not To Sell My Clients A Commodity
My primary aim is for each and every client to have an awesome and enjoyable experience being photographed by me. I don't want to nickel and dime my clients over the little things like 4x6's and 5x7's. I would rather a client pay me a fair wage for my art, my passion and my heart while taking the images, and be a cool girl by delivering the images as part of our service, in an effort to get tons of referrals from each client because they liked me and I was fair.

7. It Makes My Clients Happy
I have yet to have a client tell me they didn't want copies of all their images on a DVD to do with what they pleased. My clients are not ignorant, they know with today's technology I can give them copies of the images and still keep copies for myself. It is a win-win situation, my clients get what they want (the files) and I get what I want (happy clients).

8. I Am Selfish
I don't like being a salesman. I sold cars once and now I am a photographer. If I still wanted to be a salesman I would hang up my camera tomorrow and work at a car lot. Giving my clients the Digital Negatives allows to spend more time taking pictures (which I LOVE), and spend less time being a salesman (which I explained before I do not like).

The bottom line is I like being fair and flexible and I like giving my clients the option to choose what is best for them in their unique situation. I like to think that makes my services very attractive because it gives them a lot of value.