Please read the following story before you proceed any further into our pricing page. PLEASE!
Destin photographer investment versus pricing, What’s the difference?
WHAT ARE THESE PICTURES GOING TO COST ME? I really want to change your mindset about professional photography pricing today and help you realize it isn’t about pricing, it is about an investment that you will be making for your family. I understand that we are all on budget and some of us don’t value professional portraits as much as others do. But let me tell you from experience that professional portraits are well worth the investment. Please stay with me as I explain this concept.
Photography is about capturing your memories so that you never forget them. It’s about documenting all those milestones in our children’s lives. It’s about those baby fat rolls and wrinkles. It’s about that first step. It’s about that first tee ball game. It’s about that first day of school and the last day of school. It’s about that high school and college graduation. It’s about her wedding day, your wedding day, that first grandchild. Photography is all about capturing life, the moments, the triumphs, the miracles. the blessings! But sometimes photography is not only about that moment in time. It’s about that moment in the future, that moment of loss. That moment when the photographs are all we have left. With a few life changing events in 2016, my perspective on what I do has changed. The value of what I do and offer has hit me so profoundly that I am driven to make you understand the importance of photography. The importance of your INVESTMENT in the photography of your family. I know this is long winded and at this point you are just wanting to jump straight to where I talk about “my prices!” Please don’t jump ahead, I promise that you will thank me latter! So please keep reading.
Professional portraits are an investment for your family. An investment in the emotional well being of everyone who loves and is loved. No one is ever promised a tomorrow and some times photographs are all we have left to keep that special someone near to our hearts and memories. I have had client’s call me a few months after their session to tell me how happy they were that they had their family documented when they did because one of the members passed away shortly after the session. People, this has happened many more times than I care to count. I detest death! But is is a part of life that we have no control over. But I am a control freak and I want to fight death with life in photographs! I promise, you will get my point if you just keep reading.
The newest reason for my fanatical push to make you understand how important of an investment portraits are for your family involves my husband. 2016 was not a happy year for my family. There were a lot of emotional roller coaster rides that I won’t bore you with but just point out that YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT TOMORROW WILL BRING! Memories are Priceless!
My story, it’s a sad one and the one that changed my mind set about how I will run my business in the preceding years and my goal to make a difference in how you think about your family photographs. I want you to understand the difference in price vs investment. Please keep reading, it’s important!
My husband is one of those men who complain, A LOT, about having family portraits made. He does them for me, but he complains. In April of 2016, my husbands dearly loved father received his angel wings. It was not expected and was a devastating shock and loss to all of us. While preparing for the memorial service my husband was helping his mother look for pictures to use in the memorial video. They could NOT find a single picture of my husband with his father after his teen years. Even though they were often together for visits, it seems no one took the time to take a single photograph. Not even me and for this I am so extremely sorry to have failed my husband and my family. I will never let this happen to those that I love again. I would also like to make sure that it never happens to anyone else. My husband was and still is devastated at not having this memory of his father. A man who once HATED, his word, not mine, to be photographed and complained every time, was devastated at not having a photograph, when that missing photograph FINALLY mattered to him.
We had our family portraits made in December, my husband did not complain, he was excited. He said he never wanted his children to feel the way he does about not having a photograph with his father in his older years. He made each one of his children take an individual picture with him. I cheered inside my head and my heart with each snap of the camera. Because my husband finally got it! He got that photographs are important! Maybe not to you at the time they are happening. It brought home to me that photographs are not always about the today moment. They will be about that tomorrow moment. THAT MOMENT when you think you have forgot the face, the smile, the eyes. That moment when you desperately need to remember! THAT MOMENT WHEN YOUR SOUL FEELS THAT LOSS SO EXTREMELY THAT YOU CAN’T BREATHE! That moment when you are desperate to reconnect with that loved one, if only for that moment. I cheered because I FIANLLY GOT IT TOO! I cheered because whether those children know it now or not, my husband blessed them with an amazing memory. I want all my client’s to have this. I want everyone in the world to have this! I can’t photograph everyone in the world, but if you are reading this, I CAN PHOTOGRAPH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!
I know that I have probably depressed you beyond belief with my story. I will admit that it took me several trys to get my emotions under control to write this. But I needed to tell you where I am coming from. Why at this moment, at this time in my life and maybe yours too, that the INVESTMENT of photography is so very important to me and I know that capturing that now moment is so important for those moments that you will have on a tomorrow. I know that everyone can not afford this investment. I know that some of you still won’t get the importance of photography as an investment. For this I am sorry. For those who get it and truly want it and just can’t manage it. I have a plan for you! READ ON!
I brainstormed and cried and prayed and tried to figure out a way that I can help more people make their family portrait sessions become a reality and never feel like my husband does right now. I know what living on a budget feels like. I do it every day, especially after some trails in 2016. I know that we have to save for those extravagant purchases that we want to make. But, what if you haven’t saved enough for your session and you might not get a tomorrow and you still can’t make it work. AND I came up with PAYMENT PLANS! While I would love to give my services away for free, I have a family to feed and my equipment costs, well we will not even discuss that. So, payment plans are what I can do for those of you who understand the importance of family portraits and preserving family memories! I will work with you on a payment plan that fits into your budget so that you get the portraits that you want and need and not settle for what you can afford at the time of proofing. If you would like more information on how a payment plan will work for you, I would love to talk to you.
I know this sounds like a sales pitch, IT IS ONE! It was meant to be the most heart felt sales pitch of my life! It is the biggest sales pitch I have ever written for my photography business. Because I want you to have professional portraits of your loved ones. It does come from the bottom of my heart, I promise you. I don’t care if you only purchase one single print of your family portrait or if you purchase 100 prints. I just want you to have a beautiful work of art of your family to hang on your wall for generations to come to enjoy! Although, lets get real, the 100 prints will help me to continue to contribute to my 15 year olds shoes and clothes addiction! (Who knew boys could love shoes too?) And we won’t even begin to discuss how much his baseball playing adds up over the year. Anyone have kids in sports? yeah, you know exactly what I’m talking about. By the way, I do some awesome sports composites too! Just keeping it real people! Now that was a sales pitch! I truly hope that you read my story. And I truly hope that you take it to heart. Even if you decide to go with another photographer, I’m fine with that too. It will hurt my heart, but I’ll still be happy to know that you did what I stressed that you do! Nike is famous for it’s phrase “JUST DO IT” so to copy Nike: People, life and death are real. Things happen that we can’t control, don’t expect and never plan for. GET THOSE FAMILY PORTRAITS MADE BY SOMEONE! JUST DO IT!
