I received an email today that is very similar to several emails I’ve received in the past. I thought maybe it would be a good idea to blog about it so that other people could (hopefully) benefit from it. It is NOT meant to be discouraging. In fact, if I can do it, so can…
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“hello i was looking through some of your photography, and im amazed at how clear your pictures are. i love your work, and i was wondering if you could give me some tips? thank you! ” I get asked this question frequently and decided to just respond via blog post in order to share the…
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Great job!… for just a girl with a camera trying her best 
Love how you made the point about piknik and picasa without being rude or arrogant as I have read others!! Thought it was great how you offered info about the trial download of LR, very thoughtful and caring! I <3 LR. Very well written, not arrogant or boss…but friendly and informative!
Great post! Thank you for sharing. It’s good to hear that someone who I think is amazing is still practicing. It gives me hope! 
Thank you so much for commenting Erin. I think it’s important to remember, we are ALL still learning. No one is exempt from that rule. <3
Heather, I’m so grateful you took the time to comment. Seriously. I honestly believe that we are all just trying to do the best we can with what we have and if what we have can offer some insight, we should share. That’s all I’m trying to do. Maybe some people are on a different path and my help doesn’t mean much, but I firmly believe that there’s someone out there that might be on the same path as me. So I hope that the info I share, can help them. <3
If you didn’t run as soon as you saw the mention of the dreaded WHITE BALANCE, good. Stick around and we’ll try to get through this together. I promise to make it as quick and as painless as possible. I used to get super frustrated with completely inconsistent results until a friend taught me more…
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If you’re one of my brides, you’ve probably heard me say this. If you’re another professional, you’ve probably heard me say this. If you live in my house, you’ve probably heard me say this. THE #1 question ALL clients/brides MUST ask all potential photographers is this: “Can you show me several weddings from beginning to…
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I agree with most of this, but I don’t necessarily think price should be the #1 consideration. (I’m assuming you’re saying it’s #1 since it’s listed as that in your post.) When I got married over a year ago I hired Ever After Photography out of Peoria (everafterlove.com) and when I initially emailed them just looking for a price I was shocked that package that would work the best for us was $4,000 (there were other packages more and less expensive than that) 4 grand?! I could practically buy a car with that! Or go on a dream vacation! But once I got over the initial sticker shock I realized 4,000 was actually an ‘investment’ because there are no re-do’s for our wedding photos and never another day to ‘reschedule’ it. I also felt comfortable just knowing I had contacted her in Jan 2009 for our wedding in Oct. 2010 and she was already booked on the initial day we were thinking of, so we made our set plans based on when she was available. I was in love with her work and felt another photographer’s wouldn’t be as good so I ‘sucked it up’ and paid $4000 but I (we) couldn’t be happier! I truly agree when you say you get what you pay for- and we paid a lot (in my opinion) but we also got a lot- a lifetime worth of beautiful photos! In my opinion if any couple is going to splurge, splurge on the photographer, and if they’re going to budget- budget a lot for the photographer and cut in other places!
Thanks for the info!
Hi Rachael. Thank you so much for stopping by. I agree with what you said 100%. I don’t recall why “Price” ended up being number one, but it wasn’t because I think it is the most important qualification. In fact, I certainly don’t. However, I can absolutely see why it would seem that way since I did list it first. I think the four important qualifications are all important in their own way. Honestly, I can’t really say which one of the should be #1 in regards to importance. I think that’s up the client.
Again, thank you SO much for sharing your story.
I always share my story because I never want a bride to turn down a photographer based solely on price. I’ve known too many people who didn’t go with a photographer they wanted because it was ‘too expensive’ and ended up with a cheap photographer and weren’t happy with their photos! Hope you didn’t mind me including my photographer’s info. I just thought some people might want to see the work I thought warranted 4,000.
Rachael, I couldn’t be happier that you took the time to share. I’m being 100% sincere when I say how grateful I am that a bride expressed the same sentiments as so many professionals often express, but it means so much more coming from you. Potential clients expect me to say, although price is important, it should certainly not be the main factor. I obviously have a bias. However, for another bride to share the same sentiment, the impact is that much greater because it is coming from someone who isn’t necessarily in the industry.
For the record, you are always welcome to share your experiences here on my blog.
Hugs,
erica
I’ve been wanting to blog about this for some time now. My motivation for finally getting my butt in gear was my friend, Sarah. Sarah is a truly amazing photographer in her own right. *minor plug for my friend: find her on FB, here or her gorgeous blog, here.* Sarah focuses primarily on families and…
Okay, most of you who follow my blog, know that I’m not big into actions…at least not processing ones. I proudly use resizing actions and the like. However, this action set has changed me. I have yet to find an action set as yummy as Hope & Memory Photography’s. Sara Vasquez over at Hope &…
Okee doke. This is for those of you who are still learning your basic camera settings. You are going to love me for this. Seriously. It is a website with a built in camera simulator. That’s right, a camera simulator! Jim has created a website that has a virtual camera built in. This will help…
I always get emails like this right around Christmas time. I certainly don’t mind them, I just wanted to blog about it in order to avoid sending the same email several times each November. The emails usually look like this: Hello. I am planning to getting my wife a digital camera for Christmas and was…
I’ve been asked via Facebook, email, in person…”What’s in your bag/what kind of gear do you use/what brand do you prefer?” etc. etc. So, I decided to do a blog post in which I address what I use and why I use it. Let me preface the following post by saying, everyone has their own…
Great post! You are always such an inspiration to me as well as a TON of others! ?
This is a fantastic post, Erica! Thank you for writing it!
Love it! Thanks for sharing!