Contract Changes.....

Hey Everyone.

  I will be re-writing my Contract this week.  Also, My Events By Veronica contracts are in the works.  Before, only Wedding Clients had to sign a contact.  Now, any client that schedules a shoot will need to at least sign a release.  Also, Payments are ONLY accepted in Cash, Cashiers Checks, Money Orders or though Paypal.  I will no longer be accepting personal checks.  If special arrangements need to be made, please contact me.  This change does not effect current contracted clients.  I will however be contacting those clients to be discussing a possible payment amendment to your contract.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Referral Special....

....To anyone who refers a new client to me......

Refer a New Client who books a Wedding Package with me of $1200 or more and Both you and the new Client get a Free Portrait Session including CD.  ($150 value)

..OR..

Refer a New Client and if both of you book any session except a Wedding and you both receive a Free CD of that sessions photos. ($50 value)

New Prices....

New Prices have been posted.  Please make sure you check the Prices Page out.  :)

To all my Clients.....

I will be sending out Satisfaction Surveys through email and regular mail to all my Clients.  I'd really appreciate honest feedback.  Also, If you've had a session with me in the last 3-4 months, I'd really appreciate it if you would stop by the Comments page and leave some Luv and Raves~!  Thanks Everyone~!!

Please Click Here to leave a Comment~!  Thanks.

LOTS of New Photos~!!!

Tons and Tons of new photos have been posted to my Portfolio.  Check out the Following New Galleries.....

Under Portfolio.....

Weddings... Engagements... Formal Events: Alexis's Bridals 

Weddings... Engagements... Formal Events: Alan & Caitlin's Wedding

Portraits... Families & Friends: Collins Family

Portraits... Families & Friends: Collins Family #2

Portraits... Families & Friends: Townsend Family

Portraits... Families & Friends: Howard, Alexis & Caleb

Portraits... Families & Friends: Charles, Jade & Family

Portraits... Engagements & Couples: Howard & Alexia

Portraits... Engagements & Couples: Charles & Jade

Portraits... Individuals: David

Infants... Toddlers... Children: Lauryn 2mths

Infants... Toddlers... Childres: Caleb 2.5yrs

Coming Soon...... Jonathan & Chrissy's Wedding and Wedding Portraits, Howard & Alexis's Wedding and Wedding Portraits~!

So, It's been a While.....

So, it's been a while since I've had the time to stop at the computer and Blog.  Here's what's been going on.

Vacation was Fabulous.  The Wedding I went to help photograph was terrific.  Some sample photos can be seen in my Slideshow on Smugmug.  A portfolio gallery of the Wedding and Wedding Portraits will be available in the coming week or so after I get Alan and Caitlin their disk.  Visiting family was wonderful.  Everything was perfect.

Since we've been home, life has been hectic. (to say the least)

I met with a bunch of Clients and booked a few weddings the week we got home.  I also went to  a Bridal Expo in Virginia Beach.  I will be having a Display Table at the next one in September hopefully.  I also am now doing Wedding Planning for some of my Brides, so I've been doing a TON of running around meeting with Caterers and DJ's and checking out Venues. 

I also had to have Surgery on the 9th of July and have had to take it easy since then.  My mother-in-law has been here for the last week helping me and helping to take c are of the boys and will be here for 1-2 weeks more while I continue to recover.

Since my surgery, I've had 5 photo shoots and photographed and coordinated a Wedding.  This last weekend, the 19th, was the 1st wedding I've been the Wedding Planner for here in VA.  I LOVED it.  It was sooo much fun and things turned out better than i would have ever thought.  The Bride was beautiful.  The location was beautiful.  Everything went swimmingly.  Including the Bride and Groom who decided to Jump into the Ocean in their Wedding Attire towards the end of the evening.  I can't wait to go through those photos.  

Anyway, I've got a few meetings this week and another wedding coming up soon.  Keep your eyes on my portfolio for Updated galleries containing all the new photos.  :)

Why are Professional Photographers So Expensive.....

A good explanation for all those people who ask and complain about why professionals charge what they do for photos:

Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?

In this digital age where everyone has digital cameras, scanners and home "photo printers", when people upload their photos to a local drug store website and pick them up a few hours later, we hear this all the time - How in the world do Professional Photographers charge $55 for an 8x10 when they cost just $1.50 at the drug store? 

Here's why.

Simply put, you're not just paying for the actual photograph, you're paying for time and expertise. First, let's look at the actual time involved. If you don't read this entire page, at least read this first part.

For a two hour portrait session:
- one hour of travel to and from the session
- two hours of shooting
- 30 minutes of setup, preparation, talking to the client etc.
- 30 minutes to load the photos onto a computer (2 - 4 Gb of data)
- 30 minutes to back up the files on an external drive
- 3 - 4 hours of Photoshop time including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, saving a copy for print and a copy for the internet and backing up the edited photographs
- 2 - 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive their order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment and drop package off at Fed Ex.
- For local customers, we also print a set of all of their photos, and meet them at our studio to review the photos and place their order. Meeting and travel time averages 2 hours.
You can see how one two hour session easily turns into more than ten hours of work from start to finish. So when you see a Photographer charging a $200 session fee for a two hour photo shoot, you are not paying them $100 / hour.

For an eight hour wedding:
- I won't bore you with the details, but an eight hour wedding typically amounts to at least two to three full 40 hour work weeks worth of time. Again, if they are charging you $4,000 for an eight hour wedding, you are not paying them $500 / hour.

Now for the expertise.

Shooting professional photography is a skill, acquired through years of experience. Even though a quality camera now costs under $2,000 taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.

Most Professional Photographers take years to go from buying their first decent camera to making money with their photography. In addition to learning how to use the camera itself, there is a mountain of other equipment involved, as well as numerous software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website etc.

And let's not forget that you actually have to have people skills, be able to communicate, make people comfortable in front of the camera - and posing people to make them look their best in a photograph is a skill all by itself.

Think of it this way - the next time you pay $X to get your hair done, a pair of scissors only costs $1.50. But you gladly pay a lot more to hire a Professional.

What about the cheap studios at the mall? 

Please don't compare us to the chain store studios. But if you must, consider all of the time and work that we put into our photographs, compared to what they do. Good luck getting a two hour photo shoot at a chain store. Not to mention they won't come to the beach! And of course, look at our work compared to theirs. You get what you pay for.

The truth is, most of the mall and chain store studios lose money. In fact, in 2007 Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios because of the financial drain they were putting on the company. What the chain stores bet on is that you'll come in for some quick and cheap photos, and while you're there, you'll also spend $200 on other things. They don't have to make money, they are just there to get you in the door.

Conclusion
We hope that those who have taken the time to read this page will have a better understanding of why professional photographs cost so much more than the ones that you get from your local drug store.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

copied here from : http://www.caughtonfilmphoto.com/costofphotography.html and http://www.myspace.com/eolphotography