5 Reasons NOT to Invest in a Personal Portrait Session for Your Child (and why you should rethink them)
Reason Number 1: My child is so misbehaved, I'm afraid I won't get good photos.
A few things scare me, I'll admit. I'm afraid of bees, bad drivers, DIY home renovations, hurricanes and snakes . One thing that does NOT scare me is children. Of course, ask any photographer and they'll tell you that one of the hardest subjects to photograph is a young child. So I guess it's safe to say that kids do scare a lot of photographers. Not me. I love the challenge. So please don't think that I mind, or can't good photos if your child is a little "spirited" shall we say. :) As long as you help me, we'll get good shots.
Reason Number 2: I'm so busy! I'll get to it one of these days.
I can't tell you how many times I've photographed an younger sibling and heard, "I wish I had done this when my oldest was young". You can't get that time back. I recently read an article about time management that gave this tip for prioritizing your life. Any time you think you don't have time to do something, add this sentence on the end of the thought: "it's just not important to me". For example, "I wish I had time to hire a custom portrait photographer to document my son's first months...but it's just not that important to me." The idea is to make you fully aware of what you are making time for at the expense of other things in your life. If you have time for a trip to the movies, you have time for meaningful photos of your children. Booking with me is easy. All you need to do is email me and we'll discuss a date and a time and we'll get the paperwork started. Easy, easy.
Reason Number 3: Professional photographers are expensive.
Simply put, artistic photographs of your child, taken by a professional, are priceless. Sure, you can get lower quality shots at the mall or through a department store but they are not the same thing as a custom portrait session. Rather than spend 15 minutes with you and hope that your child is in a good mood for photos, I spend hours with you to ensure we get truly unique, wonderful photos that will hang on your walls for years to come. Sure, the school photos with the fake backgrounds are a rite of passage. But if you really want to cherish your the memory of your child's first years, it pays to invest in custom portraiture--beautiful black and whites or classic, crisp color shots. It's the difference between just capturing your child's likeness, and capturing your child's essence.
Reason Number 4: I already have so many photos of my kids. I just bought a really expensive camera.
It's wonderful that you are so active in documenting your child's life in photos. That said, no matter how expensive your camera is, it can't replace the experience of a pro. In fact, lately it's not unusual for a client to finish a session with me and then hand me their DSLR camera for a "lesson" because they bought too much camera for their experience. A professional not only knows how to use pro equipment, they know how to light a subject and bring out personality-- they do it and get consistent results.
Another difference is the final product. Prints printed out on your home computer or at your local discount store, unfortunately, are not high quality. They will fade and change color in a relatively short amount of time. That is, if you get the photos off your computer in the first place. Studies have show that up to Prints from a professional lab are hand inspected for color balance and quality and are archival quality. This means they will look beautiful for many, many years to come.
Reason Number 5: I want to get into the photos with my kids, but (insert excuse) I need to lose weight, get my hair done, I'm just not photogenic. etc.
You are not alone. The prospect of having a photograph taken, especially if you are a tired mom or have just had a child, is enough to scare any person. But consider this: there is a huge difference between the snapshots you take with your point and shoot, and a professional photographer who knows how to bring out your natural beautiful and flatter your body type. Oh, and did I mention Photoshop? Check out this "before and after" photo of a model. Nobody looks like the women in magazines. They are all Photoshopped beyond belief. I believe in a little Photoshop freshening up here and there (if it's good enough for Brittany Spears, it's good enough for US!) so expect that I'll be making you look your best. I think it's important for parents to take photos with their children, if only for their legacy. If the Photoshop fairies aren't an incentive, I don't know what is. :)
To schedule an appointment, please feel free to email me at: Annmarieyoung@msn.com
www.annmarieyoungphoto.com
