Marriage is a Piece of Cake!

I've been waiting 1 WHOLE year for this shoot!  I had the priviledge and honor of seeing these two get married on June 18, 2011.  One year later, we met up in a field.  Breezy, hot, and humid,  June night in Texas.  Whew! 
They dug out their wedding cake top layer from the freezer, thawed it out, and we set up this AHH-Mazing shoot!

Now when my hubby and I celebrated on the 1st anniversary, we thawed out the cake, took a bite and said "yea, ok.  We did this tradition."  Cake went in the trash and I was left with an empy feeling and not much joy of how we celebrated.... Especially after seeing that thing in my freezer for a whole year!  

Trust me!!! This is the way to do it!!!

Now part of the tradition of celebrating your 1st anniversary is celebrating with Paper.  Ya know, like your 50th is the Golden, whatever, whatever... Well the 1st anniversary is Paper.  Why you ask??? Well let me tell ya!  The tradition has been around forever, but it was very prevalent in the 40's - 50's when by the 1st anniversary, the newlyweds had purchased their own home and the tradtion dictated that the husband put the house in the wife's name!  waaa-la!  Paper!  So here's my silly take on the tradition.  After all this whole shoot is about tradition.  :)  (newspaper and paper roses.)

Our Bride and Groom had a wonderful time enjoying their outdoor picnic! 

Lance was so good to serve his beautiful wife a piece of cake.

Yum!!! Enjoy!

Just like 1 year earlier!!!

These 2 are so much in love!

Happy 1st Anniversary Lance and Marlen!

No more cake in their freezer!!!  :)

Happy 1st Anniversary Lance and Marlen - May you have many, many more wonderful years together!

*** 1st Anniversary Graphics Framed Art by Courtney Wilkins.  Cake by Chia's Creations in Mt. Pleasant, Texas.   

Paper decorations, photo set up by me at GB Photography!  :) *****

North East Tx Photog Babes, What Are You Charging??

I recently came across this amazing break down of what it costs to be a photographer.  I had to share...
This is from PureActions from Photographers.  Woot Woot!  Full Props to them for this amazing article.



Ok... putting together the info for our workshop and wrote this up... and seriously.... please value your time!!!!!

This is merely an example and just some rough numbers, but more put together as an example!!!

Say you do a session for $100 with a cd of all the images. AWESOME right??? You just made $100 bucks right??!! Score!!!!
Lets break down that $100. Say you shoot 4 of these sessions in one month.

$100 received for session
$30 off the top put aside for taxes
leaves $70.
The cost for your website is $16 a month (Through portfoliositez). If you shot 4 sessions that month that is on average $4 a session to pay for it.
You are down to $66.
If you get insurance (to protect yourself and your clients) at an average of $40 a month over 4 sessions That is $10 a session.
You are down to $56
The cost for the CD and case $1.00
You are down to $55
10% towards new gear savings and replacements like batteries and such $10.00
You are down to $45
$4 for gas to and from your session
You are down to $41.00
Ok so there are more expenses, (say if you have to hire a babysitter to watch your kids or if your spouse has to leave work so you can shoot, and other things.. the cost to get a business license, Photoshop.. those kind of goodies.) but let us leave it here for simplicity. You have now made $41.00 from that session. Great!!
Lets break this down by the time you invested into the session

1.5 hours in emails and session prep. Contract signing and emailing back and forth with the client in regards to pricing and location and answering questions. Prepping your gear and getting everything ready.
1 hour in travel round trip. (30 minutes each way) (my sessions are on an average 25 to 30 minutes from my house)
2 hours shooting your session.
.5 hours downloading your images and organizing them and putting your gear away.
3 hours editing your session.
.5 hours prepping your cd and packaging it and mailing it.
1 hour sharing and posting your session on facebook and marketing the session in hopes to get new clients.

You have now spent at least 9.5 hours into your session.
If you take $41 and divide it by 9.5 hours you are making $4.31 an hour for the session. If you count the cost for a babysitter for your kids or if your session is farther or if you take longer to edit or if you shoot longer, or if your insurance costs more (mine is nearly $75 a month), or if you only shoot 1 or 2 sessions that month, you are making even less money.

Is that $4.31 worth being away from your kids? Worth the time and trouble?!! Now.... I am not saying you can start a business and charge hundreds and thousands of dollars. Everyone has to "pay their dues". That is why the government allows you to claim a loss for the first 3 years! But please be a business woman/man. Know that it is a real business, and that you are not actually making $100 from that shoot.

Please understand that photography is a real job.... and not a quick way to make a quick buck. Please please please value your time, and your families time!!! :) If you don’t, who will?!!!

There were LOTS of comments after this blog.  PureActions later elaborated and said the point they were trying to get across was this....  If you are a newbie, charge what you should be charging, then offer "portfolio building discounts" to your clients.  You can easily do this in your contracts.  You are giving a contract to each and every photo session aren't you???   :)   From what I can tell, in the North East Texas area, our basic charge for session plus disc should be anywhere from $250-$300.  DON'T FREAK!  That's a lot of money... I know.  I can hardly swollow that pricing myself... BUT... We are cheating ourselves. ... Let's stop... How do you build your confidence to get to this price easily?????    

GIVE DISCOUNTS SISTA!!! ... Referral discounts, portfolio building discounts, return client discounts... This way your customers won't expect you to always be cheaper.    You're getting better every time you shoot and every time you buy new equipment!   Stay strong, take this advice to heart, sit down, and figure out your pricing structure.  Good Luck NETX Photog Babes!