Why should I invest in portrait photography?

I believe photography is one of the best things we can invest our money in.  We are all careful how we spend our money.  We work hard for it so why shouldn’t we? However, think about the investments you have made in the past and things you spend money on every day.  That daily cup of coffee.  What about that designer handbag and shoes?  What will we have to show for that in 5 or 10 years?  When you think about it, we get short term use out of many things we spend our money on.  Not the case with portraits!  When you invest in your family portraits, they give you a high return for many years, even generations!  The images you purchase through our photography studio are high quality and specially coated for longevity.  You invest in archival quality prints, canvas, and albums.  You will be able to pass them down to your children and their children.  What a special way to keep those memories alive!

People also don't understand why I am not big fan of selling digital images that everyone seems to want so badly and I will explain why.  In this digital world, a disc for example, is already becoming obsolete.  I have a computer now that doesn’t even have a place to insert a disc.  Will we even be using USB drives in 10 to 20 years or will we have moved onto the next greatest, biggest thing?  I surely don’t know.  That’s why prints and products are so important to me.  Number one, I know the quality that is being printed through my professional labs which adequately represents my work the way that was intended and I am confident that they will last many generations as previously mentioned. I doubt those one hour prints that are so readily available can live up to that.  Number two, they are tangible!  You can see and touch them.  Most importantly you can know you are hanging up quality on your walls.  You can pass those on to your great or great great grandchildren to enjoy and cherish.  I’m not sure that they would be able to enjoy a disc or USB drive years down the road.  Those devices may become obsolete and will more than likely sit in storage somewhere and become lost and forgotten!  Think about how wonderful it is to come across those printed pictures of your grandmother or great grandmother.  What would we do if those photos were on a floppy disc?  That’s a sad thought! 

Custom portraiture is not for everyone.  It is definitely a luxury!  The price is sometimes shocking when you start looking into hiring a professional photographer.  Then you start thinking, it would be more cost effective to go to a one-hour super-mart or you remember that your friend has a nice camera.  Heck, I was that person when my child was first born.  I bought my nice camera and was going to just take my own!  Ha! I just smile and shake my head when I look back at my pictures when I first started out.  I quickly learned that the lens that came with that nice camera isn’t even a professional quality lens and those cost more than my camera itself!  There is so much more to it than just taking pictures.  Through the years, I have invested so much time and more money than I care to even think about into the art of photography.  You learn to see the light, the best compositions and develop an appreciation for the art.  Which is what professional portraiture is, AN ART!  You are not just paying for a print on piece of paper, which is what most people think of when they envision what the pricing should be for photography.  You are paying for the artist’s time and talent, training, thousands of dollars worth of equipment, insurance, taxes, supplies, travel, archival quality products, customization and consultation… That is just the beginning.  I take pride in my art and I am the biggest critic of my own work.  I constantly invest and learn to improve upon my skill as a photographer.  I strive to be greater than my previous session.  I want my clients to appreciate the art they have invested in and most of all, I want them to be proud of what they are hanging on their walls.  I spend an average of 10-20+ hours on each client through the consultations, session, editing, prepping, ordering and packaging etc.  All of these variables, combined with the one on one attention, make up the cost of a custom portrait session.  Some people still may not agree with the pricing and that is okay because like I said before, custom portraiture is not for everyone.  I just wanted to give some insight, so that people can understand and appreciate what goes into the art and see that it is truly a worthy investment!