FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Weddings usually start at $1800, but average around $2800 with an engagement shoot and some extra options. General event coverage starts at $80/hr Portrait sessions start at $180 Remember, I'm flexible. If you have a question, go ahead and ask! ***Shoot me if you want, but I give my clients their images however they want them, digitally. If you want to print through me, go for it. If you want to print somewhere else, go for it. But I ALWAYS recommend getting images professionally printed. That doesn't mean Walgreens -- sorry. It just makes the world of a difference, and many people simply don't understand that printing beautiful images through a cheap process is like putting loads of extra Hershey's chocolate sauce on that $1000 sundae that they have a Serendipity III in New York, so all you taste is the Hershey's. Go compare two prints sometime -- I guarantee you'll see the difference. But hey: with me, it's up to you. I won't tell you how to eat your sundae.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I used to write for Fstoppers.com, a very well-respected photography blog that covers everything in our industry with an emphasis on sharing behind-the-scenes features from which other photographers and hobbyists could learn. I stayed up on photography gear news before, during, and after writing for them and probably always will. I'd say it's pretty important for a doctor to know how to use the latest tools. My job doesn't [always] involve life or death, but I think it's similarly important for my tools to feel like an extension of my own body. And it's also important to know what's worth investing in and what simply doesn't and/or won't ever matter.
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
When I picked up my first camera and started shooting, everything just clicked. At first, I thought landscapes were the thing to shoot. I wanted to be Ansel Adams. But after shooting that for a while, I realized it was boring. The light changed, but rarely did the scenes ever (maybe if I'd waited until I was 80). So I decided to start shooting people. And boy was I wrong about what I thought I wanted. People are all different. They have different wrinkles, different smiles, different eyes and personalities. Believe it or not, I even have fun when I shoot someone for my newspaper job and then go to ask his name and he says, "No, I'd rather not be in the paper," and shoves me off. That's always an interesting reaction to me. I usually show the photograph of that person with his daughter, playing in the cutest way. And he still doesn't want it in the paper (or anywhere). "How interesting," I always think to myself... Every day is different. I knew it would be. I knew I'd have to work odd hours and odd jobs, but that's half of the funâ¦