i still look at those pregnancy magazines when i am in line at the checkout. i will glance at Parenting Magazine a second (which is the one that is probably the most useful to me at this point), but i will actually read the pregnancy magazines. i have no desire to be pregnant ever again…ever…but there are such cool things for babies and i honestly love looking at pregnant bellies. those little cards always fly out of them….one for Sears, and one for JC Penny portrait studio. 130 photos for $9.99…something like that. and no, i’m not bitter about it. and yes, in my early mama years, i have even dabbled in photo coupon cutting a time or two (gasp). in fact, you know those photos you can buy of your kiddos at the beginning of ever school year? despite the fact that i have a million pictures of Katie and Mikki, i always buy the biggest package. i love them. they are my kids…despite that she may have a poor or unnatural expression or the fact that (total mommy confession) i forgot to have her wear a nice shirt that day…they are still special.

but why then, spend the extra money for custom photography, when you can get a ton of photos for $9.99 (yes, they are ALL the same pose, but you get 154 of them so more is better, right?)? well, a wonderful photographer and colleague, Marianne Drenthe of Marmalade Photography, wrote an amazing piece that really puts into words they types of photography there are out there and i wanted to share it with everyone to further an understanding . . .

Why Custom Photography?

Much like there are several levels of automobiles, from base to luxury.  In photography, as in the automobile market, there are different levels of services.  Photography-wise, at the entry level the first that comes to mind is the portrait studio that you might find at large discount retailers, the type of studio chain that offer 1,008 pictures (of one pose) for $4.88, I would liken that offering to be similar to getting a base price Yugo, cost of entry is cheap, but you get what you pay for.  The photography is done in the air of a studio with a painted backdrop, the  photographer may be a high school student with no knowledge of how to work with kids or even the camera outside of what the chain dictates they can do.  Set number of exposures is taken with a set of lighting standards that is almost a recipe.  Cut & paste, cut & paste is the process.  The experience is truly cookie cutter and is based on a set number of poses and backdrops.

Then there are mid-entry products, more like the Chevy Cavalier or perhaps one of Hyundai’s more mid-priced offerings.  The experience is more in depth (you may be offered a number of poses to choose from) however you are constricted by time limits and corporate policy (have you ever had one of those mall chain studios tell you your 1 1/2 year old cannot be shirtless in that cherub outfit for Valentine’s Day?  If so, you know what I mean.)    At this point, you are spending money on someone else’s vision for your photography needs.  Your input may mean little to nothing to them, cost of this level of photography is slightly higher and if you want custom products and large wall portraits you’ll pay nearly as much as you would with a custom photographer.

Then there are the “weekend warriors”, as they sometimes are affectionately called in the photography world.  These are the people who purchased a good to great camera (Nikon or Canon Digital SLRs are likely to be the tool used) and charge for services because they have been told they take a “pretty good picture”.  Oftentimes these are start up businesses who may have not found their stride in the realm of professional photography or perhaps they do not know their camera well enough yet and charge based on what they perceive their experience level to be worth.  You can occasionally find a photographer in the early stages of the business doing fabulous work but more often than not you can not determine if that photographer produces consistent work, often they may not.  Recently I had a client tell me about an experience where they commissioned a “weekend warrior” to take images for their one year old to memorialize this time in his life.  Needless to say I was commissioned to photograph that same child at 15 months of age because they were truly disappointed in the images and the experience.  More often than not, the experience may be good but the final end product, what you are ultimately paying for—the precious images of your family, your children, is lackluster or perhaps not consistent with what the photographer showed as their best work.

Finally you have several levels of custom photography at its’ finest.  What does a custom photographer offer that no other type of photographer mentioned does?

• A custom photographer takes the time out to do a pre-session consult with a client to obtain information about their clients thoughts and ideas for their session.  What are their expectations?  Will they be concentrating on one member of the family vs. the entire family?  Will there be relationship based art or is the session intended to be more traditional?  Clothing options and selections?  Is there a favorite location (or backdrop) that they have in mind?

• A custom photographer will invest time before and during the photography session to ensure that the clients’ thoughts and ideas, their vision, is achieved.  Sessions are given extra time, they do not feel “hurried” or rushed.  Sessions tend to be custom made for each client, focus is on their family members, their relationships or a portrait study of the child being photographed.  The goal is to to really focus and explore those subjects’ and their personalities.

•  A custom photographer is willing to take time out to consult on clothing choices during and before the session.  Stressing the importance of highlighting a clients’ lifestyle and fashion sense is more important than stressing out about colors (or lack of).  Every session will take on its’ own personality through clothing selections and a custom photographer will focus on this instead of choosing to tell clients to wear khaki pants and white polo shirts.

•  A custom photographer is concerned with working personally with their clients to ensure that they experience a high level of satisfaction with their services.  Unlike the chain studios and entry level studios mentioned above, you are an individual and your thoughts and ideas are a major priority as is customer service pre session, during the session and after you take delivery.

•  A custom photographer will consult with clients on image selections and making final image choices for purchase of their photographic art.  Because you are treated individually so is the final end product, a custom photographer holds a certain degree of pride of having their work displayed in your home and most likely will be more than willing to help you design a custom wall display for your space.   Typically the higher end custom photographer will have a working knowledge of design principles and aesthetics and may even have a trick or two up their sleeves to assist you with wall art displays of your photographic artwork.

As you can see, custom photography is more of a luxury than your entry level cookie cutter chain experience.  Custom photography truly is not for everyone, however clients who enjoy taking a more active role in the creation of their families’ memories as well as have the desire to have portrait art that is truly personalized will budget and allot time and investment for it.  It is not in everyone’s budget but it is something that most families save for to splurge on from time to time to memorialize their children as they really are  (not posed and primped in the cookie cutter studio setting).  There is a great deal of time involved in creating high end custom photography sessions for a client and you pay for great service and a superb end product in the quality, heirloom quality images you purchase.    Custom photography can be likened to fine dining (as a fellow photographer once said to a group of us): when you are looking for only a meal to fill you up and squelch the hunger then perhaps that going to Charlie Trotter’s downtown may not be the place to go to just “fill up”.  However when you are looking for something truly special, to satisfy the desire for exceptional service and a fantastic experience to talk about to all your friends and family, then you would completely opt to go there.  Custom photography is much the same beast, the Volvo/Mercedes/BMW/Lexus of the photography world, where the intangibles make the experience truly wonderful and the images themselves make the investment of money and time truly worthwhile.