Winner Announced! | Rhode Island Portrait Photographer

Are You Curious?!

Ok, so the giveaway has ended, and a winner has been chosen!

The winner of the Mega Dream Giveaway is.....

......

.......................

I'm hoping that this photo I posted on my page earlier as a clue...

...makes a lot more sense now! :) 

Congratulations Whitney Olson!  I hope that everything makes it's way to a loving home, and you enjoy all of it! 

To everyone else that entered, I wish you all could have won!  I hope to do more giveaways in the future, with even more winners selected!  So keep your heads up and eyes peeled, the next giveaway could be right around the corner! :) 

Best wishes to the winner from Sali Stout Photography, Morgan Burks Photography, and myself

Mega Dream Giveaway! | Rhode Island Portrait Photographer

It's Mega, It's a Dream... It's a Giveaway!!!

(and that was corny)

Are you new to newbies?  Just walking into the world of photographing tiny little wonders and realizing.... ohhh snap! These babes come with a whole lot of 'accessories'!  Yeah- I feel ya.  Starting up in newborn photography is silly crazy!  The amount of props and gear one needs to acquire is sort of ridiculous...annddd expensive!   And then.... just watch, you will become obsessed over newbie props... you will want more, and new.. all. the. time.  It's an addiction. I swear it. 

SO what would you do if I said you could WIN a start up collection of OVER 80 NEWBORN PROPS AND ACCESSORIES??!! All the props, posing fabric, headbands, hats, baskets, buckets (ok you get the idea) that myself and Sali Stout Photography started out with are all being 

given away!

You heard me right... we were going to have a collaborative de-stash sale.... but then we decided... oh hell why not! Let's give it away to a starting photographer! Because I sure wish that could have happened to me! lol  You can of course enter this giveaway if you aren't starting out... I won't rat on you :P

Then, I told my friend Morgan of Morgan Burks Photography - photoshop actions, textures and overlays about our idea... and she said, well Katie- I'll contribute a gift card to my shop if you want??

I WANT

So now- this giveaway includes over 80 (well over 80) props, fabrics and accessories valuing over $850... but ALSO a $25 gift card to Morgan's shop! 

SAAWEEET!!

TO ENTER:

http://bit.ly/10EnCJ2

To get more entries, Share this to your Facebook page (business preferably)

There are still a few days left to enter, and you can get extra entries daily for sharing about this giveaway!

Good luck to all of you!  

A grand adventure is about to begin; Winnie the Pooh | Rhode Island Maternity Photographer

A Grand Adventure is About to Begin:  

Have you ever known someone, and just known they were meant to be a mother?  Their very nature speaks to motherhood before it's even begun?  Well I know one such person with this very characteristic.  She's kind, and she's giving, she's funny and she's selfless, all the makings of a truly amazing mother.  She also knows how to shop her little a** off, so be it a girl or a boy, her baby is going to be one fly little nugget.  Who is this beautiful woman I speak of?  My sister's very best friend, Heather.

Here are the two amigos!  My sister's on the left, Heather is that super tall blond on the right 

Well flash forward a little over a year after this photo... and Heather let Alicia (my sister) and I in on a wee little secret, she was preggers!! yippie yippie!  Of course we had to announce this in style, this is Heather we are talking about, and everything is done in style, just another endearing quality of hers.  So Heather and I got our thinking caps on, and Heather simply informed Bill (her knight in shining armour  hubby, and le daddy) where and when to show up, and what to do... he is a good listener, excellent quality for a man about to brave 9 months of pregnancy hormones- God Speed Bill.

We took these photos right around Easter, so in fitting with that, here is the first announcement we came up with!

I mentioned earlier that Heather is a stylish gal... well she decided to glitz something up I'd never had thought would be glitz up in my life- but this is Heather and it's perfectly her!  I'm super impressed with her craftin' skills too, she got my stamp of approval here:

Lastly I simply had to do this:

Heather and Bill, I couldn't be happier for you, there are no two more deserving and more fitting for this job of parenting than you.  Your little nugget is the luckiest of nuggets in the world, you two will make amazing parents!    

A father's goodness is higher than the mountain, a mother's goodness deeper than the sea. -- Japanese Proverb 

Pricing: You're worth It, Girl! | Rhode Island Portrait Photographer

Pricing; You’re worth it, Girl!

Heyy there again! (Or well hi for the first time if you neglected my previous posts….sad face)  I’m here to voice my opinion on a dirty little word called “pricing” ack! I said it! …. This may come as a shocker ladies and gents but…. WE ARE WORTH MORE, PHOTOGRAPHERS!!  Shout it from the rooftops, pat yourself on the back, go turn photobooth on and high five yourself - sit back in your computer chair and get to working out your pricing… and pronto. 

It’s no surprise that this post was fueled in part due to the two largest “fast food chain” of photographers calling it quits and realizing even their billions in recourses were not enough to make their undercutting worth it…. I give you the demise of Wal-Mart and Sears photo studios…

I’m not going to get into the costs of running a business… you know, how much equipment costs (a lot), website hosting, advertising, packaging- etc. etc. etc…. because this post is not for clients!  And it shouldn’t be!  You should not need to educate your client on why you charge what you do!  And yet I see posts on Facebook constantly about ‘why we charge what we charge’, and blog posts on what it really costs to be a photographer.  If we all, collectively joined together as an industry and began charging what we are WORTH, even this playing field out a little… there would be no need for these explanations!!  Which quite frankly- I have always found to be rather offensive to your clients, and tacky. 

Clients do not need to know how much your D700 costs, or how much that website of yours costs to keep per month- every career comes with costs, we chose this one, let’s suck it up…. I don’t go to a hotel for a night and get an itemized list of how much it costs them to run their business, therefor legitimizing my $175/night stay… the idea is that the service and quality will speak for itself- that, and their industry has a standard!

That it what I want to speak about- creating a standard.

It’s not your clients undervaluing you, or being uneducated about what goes into your pricing that has them straying…. It’s that photographer down the road giving sessions out for next to nothing.  It’s the lack of an industry standard.

I get it- you’re just starting out, and you are “portfolio building”… you don’t want to charge an arm and a leg straight out of the gate.  Here is my response:  too many beginning photographers consider the learning process to be the portfolio building process… these two things need to be separated.  If you are still learning how to use your camera, and understand the art of photography, that is perfectly fine, and bravo to you for taking this on, if I could high five you right now I totally would

- however that is not portfolio building- yet.  This is the time to practice on your family, close friends, even some still life displays!  This is the nitty gritty learning process- and it is unpaid.  Charging for a job you don’t yet know how to accurately accomplish isn’t only unfair to your client, but it’s unfair to your future colleagues.

  When a potential client is browsing the web for a photographer, and they see session fees ranging from $25 to $200… that has got to confuse ever loving sh*t out of them. 

 Of course they will see that the photographer charging $200 is a superior photographer (fingers crossed that’s the case!)… But what of that $25 session fee?  How can the difference be so drastic they will ask themselves?  The 87% (87.5 for those of you doing the math) difference in price will astound them… and it’s not the $200 photographer’s fault!  It’s the $25 session fee, a number that was given little to no thought that pollutes the industry and makes that perfectly reasonable $200 session fee look outlandish!  Like I said earlier, I’m not here to educate clients about the cost of doing business… but I will throw a small bit in here… that $25 for one hour of session time, and then 2-3 hours of editing time… you are now making  $6.26/hr.- go ahead and pay off your D700, website fees, taxes, license and insurance with that bad ass salary.  You can’t.  However a client would never assume that you would foolishly offer a price for a session that could never possibly support you, so, they are naturally left believing that $25 for a session fee is simply “on the low end”.

You may think to yourself, this is just a hobby for me so far, $25 is sweet!  All this does is undercut the future you.  Because I do believe you (yeah you girl) will one day be successful, and you will want to slap the ‘you’ from a year ago straight across the face… why do I know this?  Because I wish I could sucker punch Katie circa 2012.   I did not charge AT ALL- I made another big mistake… I did “free portfolio building”… awe fudgenuggets! What did this do?  It put a value on my work… that value was $0.00  

Portfolio building is just that- you are building a body of quality work to show to future clients.   Its OK TO CHARGE whilst truly portfolio building!  Now I was personally lucky and the majority of people I did sessions for while portfolio building saw the value in my work even though I did not.  That’s not usually the case.  Have you ever gotten something for free and then happily paid full price for it later?  Probably not.

So what do I suggest?

  What do you want to make a year?  How many sessions would you like to do a week?  What are your expenses?  Sit down and figure that out to find what your session fee needs to be.  Whether your prices are all inclusive, or you have your prints/digitals separate.. you need to figure out what your bottom line- your average sale NEEDS TO BE.  I can guarantee it’s nowhere near $25, it’s not near $50 either.  Keep goin sistah.  If you sit down, and figure out what you truly need to be charging and you are still uncomfortable… CHARGE IT ANYWAYS and offer discounts.  At least clients will have an idea of what your work is valued at, and when you finally put on your big girl pants (or your big boy boots) and decide you are ready to make that leap and ask for what you are truly worth… it’s not going to come as a surprise- and most of all… you will not be contributing to the over saturation of lowball session fees, that alone would be enough for me to raise a toast in your honor! 

So please.  Sit down and figure out what you are worth… I bet it’s more than you think.

It’s your time, it’s your talent… be compensated for it.

The Low-Down On Digitals | Rhode Island Portrait Photographer

The Low-Down on Digitals

So, you are sitting on your couch, ipad (ok maybe it’s a kindle) in hand, family gathered to view your gallery from your recent photo session- let’s pretend you’re one of my clients for this scenario, mkay?  You’re looking fresh to death in all your photos, and the urge is there to share ALL of these on Facebook…. Let’s face it, when you look good, you want everyone to see just how good, ya feel me?  I hadn’t had photos taken of myself by an actual photographer since my senior pictures (insert awkward tree hug here, because that’s how that session went-ps I also bleached the front two sections of my hair with actual cream bleach the night before said photos…anywho), so when I had my photo taken by several fantabulous photogs’ recently during a workshop… trust me, ‘share. tag. repeat’ was all that was on my mind…. Clearly everyone needed to see katie2.0 (also known as photoshopped Katie)-come on now, that’s one of the best parts of hiring a professional!  When done right, it’s a little gift from the God’s-little nip here, tuck that in there, smooth that out etc etc etc all little fixes to make the beauty within you even more spectacular!! 

All of a sudden it hits you… you can’t share ALL of these photos to Facebook yet!  This gallery has no social media share option, and you have to first pick your package…OMG NO!?! 

Take a deep breath, regroup.  There is hope. 

It’s decision time… do you want a print package, full of wonderful, professionally developed and packaged prints, guaranteed to be spot on in color (this is very important, your skin looks flawless in your previews, print this photo anywhere but a professional lab and all of a sudden your baby soft skin will start to look baby jaundice), specially coated to be certain to last a lifetime- heirlooms you can pass on to your children…. So they someday can bask in your hawtness too ;)  These print packages are nothing to overlook, some pretty fly products are offered, your photographer took great lengths to make sure these packages would impress (I really did, spent weeks deciding on products to offer- spreadsheets were made, I kid you not.)  So, this sounds like the perfect option… print package it is right?! 

Not that fast… you’ve realized something… while you will be receiving top of the line, amazing prints- and you WILL be more than satisfied… you will also have to part with some of those photos that you looked smoking hot in…. or well if this is a newborn photoshoot we’re talking about- they are photos where your wee little wonder looked impossibly adorable, so adorable your heart melted when you first saw it.  Maybe that’s ok with you and you would prefer to go the route of prints… that is perfectly fine, and wonderful- I love prints, I love canvases even more- and I love being able to control the quality of the products my clients receive.  But this post is about the digis of the photo world. 

With a digital package, you get to OWN your entire photo session experience.  Not one moment do you need to part with, every photo edited from that session is yours… forever. 

If you are my client (and for the sake of this post I’ve already told you, you are!) you will be set up with an account at a top of the line, consumer grade printing lab… is this lab the same as a professional grade lab?  No, not quite, but I have chosen it for good reason, the printers are calibrated, and I feel confident you will be happy with your products!  You can print that amazing photo of yourself as many times as you’d like- You my friend, have a print release.  What’s more?  You can post all of those snazzy photos to Facebook now, you have been provided with web resolution (watermarked) files of all edited photos from your session… crisis averted-now go tag the hell out of yourself!  

With a print package, you can only share photos which have been posted by the photographer (hi there).  What’s more still… with a digital package you can print these photos again next year!  Oh, it’s Christmas time,? your session was 6mo. ago and you’d like to use a photo for your holiday card?  Well, go do it girlfriend! You have printing rights to those photos forever! 

Your family wants copies of these photos too? - have no fear, print some extras for Aunty sue, uncle George and cousin fanny (sorry side note here- I actually have an aunt fanny and uncle heiny… true. Story.)  Was this session a newborn?  Well, all the more reason… I see birth announcements, photos printed for collages at babies first year… every. Single. Relative. Wants copies…  Oh, how about this- 18 years from now, that little baby of yours is graduating high school… you want to make a slide show- guess what?  You still have your USB, you’ve even made a backup (go ahead back that baby up!)… you can use your professional photos from your little rug rats newborn session in your slide show (watermarked version here ladies and gents!).  You need ANOTHER slideshow when your little prince/princess gets ready to say “I do”, whelp- you’re covered!! 

I think you see the point so far.  You can print forever.  You can use your web files, f.o.r.e.v.e.r.  These digital files don’t seem so expensive anymore do they?  A lifetime of printing, a lifetime of enjoyment is being sold- it’s not just a USB with some files… it’s your session, your memories, your photographers time… forever.

  Sometimes, these future events where you would love to have access to print your photos again, can go over looked.  Don’t overlook them, you might one day regret it.