For the next few months, as I continue to build my portfolio, I am offering everyone a one time free sitting (a one hour sitting will be $75.00 in the future). Please pass this onto anyone that you know that is looking for a photographer. Pricing will be as follows:
4x6 = $10
5x7 = $15
8x10 = $20
8 wallets = $20
We do have packages available as well. For further pricing please call me for details. Also, if you order within the first two weeks of your session, you will get 20% off of your order. I do require that when booking a session that you pay a $50 fee to insure your sitting time, but this goes directly back into your picture order. For questions please call me at 336-366-3780 or email me at jen@kleinheksel.com.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Preschool Photographs
Oh how I loved last week. I got to work with the cutest little people on the planet. I was lucky enough to be asked by FUMC here in Elkin to do their preschool pictures. I had so much fun and was so excited with the images that I was able to capture. Here are a few shots from the day. These kids are just too cute!
Monday, April 12, 2010
A Visit
My sister was nice enough to come out for a visit for a few days. We had a very nice visit and Ella absolutely LOVED the new playmate. She has dubbed our third bedroom, Lindsay's room, and awaits her next arrival.
Fortunately or unfortunately for my sister I wrangled her into posing for some photographs for me. Here are my favorites from the day...
Fortunately or unfortunately for my sister I wrangled her into posing for some photographs for me. Here are my favorites from the day...
Monday, February 22, 2010
Valentine's Day
Before too many more days have passed, I wanted to post a few pictures from Valentine's Day. Ella still doesn't understand holidays. She received the usual little cards and some candy from her classmates. She could have cared less for the cards but continuously wanted her trick or treat candy. She is obviously still stuck on Halloween! Anyway, in her class they made a few Valentine crafts. They are cute and since they are her very first I can't help but put them in a box to keep.
Brent and I celebrated by going to Winston Salem and eating at Noble's. Our meal was very good and we enjoyed ourselves very much. After dinner we headed to a local community theatre and saw Forever Plaid. Minus having to drive back in snow, it was a perfect night. I would love to celebrate every Valentine's this way.
Brent and I celebrated by going to Winston Salem and eating at Noble's. Our meal was very good and we enjoyed ourselves very much. After dinner we headed to a local community theatre and saw Forever Plaid. Minus having to drive back in snow, it was a perfect night. I would love to celebrate every Valentine's this way.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Snow in North Carolina!
I can't believe how much snow we have gotten her this year. I almost feel like I could be back home in Minnesota! Today is the warmest day that we have had so far. It is almost 50 degrees. Brent was even out washing the cars today. Anyway, here is picture from one of the snowy days. I'm hoping it is the last one we will see for the year.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Ella's 2nd Birthday
I am a bit delinquent. So far I have failed miserably not only at writing in my blog on a more frequent basis, but I am also posting things that have happened almost a month ago. Ah well, time seems to tick on so fast.
Ella had her second birthday on January 30th. Two years is such a brief span of time and yet it seems amazing to me that I already have a two year old. Me!! Someone who could hardly fathom the thought of even having a child, much less caring for them and having them survive to be a year old. For some reason, it just seemed so foreign and impossible and yet here we are, two years later, alive and well. So, every year on her birthday, not only do I celebrate her, but I also celebrate myself (inwardly of course). Seeing her grow and thrive gives me a great sense of accomplishment! Ah yes, and grow she has. It amazes me how someone can go from being incapable of doing anything to being a completely functioning little person that can walk, talk, use the potty and feed themselves within such a short span of time. She is wonderful though!
Due to some problems with the weather, we had two parties for Ella. The first was with my parents and the second was with two of her little friends. We did a Yo Gabba Gabba theme which seemed to suite her well.
Ella had her second birthday on January 30th. Two years is such a brief span of time and yet it seems amazing to me that I already have a two year old. Me!! Someone who could hardly fathom the thought of even having a child, much less caring for them and having them survive to be a year old. For some reason, it just seemed so foreign and impossible and yet here we are, two years later, alive and well. So, every year on her birthday, not only do I celebrate her, but I also celebrate myself (inwardly of course). Seeing her grow and thrive gives me a great sense of accomplishment! Ah yes, and grow she has. It amazes me how someone can go from being incapable of doing anything to being a completely functioning little person that can walk, talk, use the potty and feed themselves within such a short span of time. She is wonderful though!
Due to some problems with the weather, we had two parties for Ella. The first was with my parents and the second was with two of her little friends. We did a Yo Gabba Gabba theme which seemed to suite her well.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?
Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?
(This article has been very well received by the photography community, and is now referred to by countless Photography websites, blogs and forums (such as LDPT, ILP and DWF)around the world).
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.
Shawn, Pamela & Gavin Richter Caught on Film Photography
(This article has been very well received by the photography community, and is now referred to by countless Photography websites, blogs and forums (such as LDPT, ILP and DWF)around the world).
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.
Shawn, Pamela & Gavin Richter Caught on Film Photography
Playing house
Although she truly hates to have her picture taken, I was able to get a couple of shots of Ella while playing house. Her imagination as well as her vocabulary is getting better everyday. I love how she tries to tell me exactly what I need to do when sitting at "her" table. I'm grateful that her cupcakes are fake, otherwise I think I might put on about 20 pounds every week with how many I am forced to eat at every sitting!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Story boards are here!
For quite some time now I have been wanting to learn how to do story boards. I am happy to say that I have finally managed to complete one! I will be offering this one as well as many others this year so check back to see some of my others in the months to come.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Happy 2010!
My resolution this year is to become a better blogger. I think this last year I managed to post about once every two months which is pretty bad. So, starting today I am going to try to do it at least once a week.
To wrap up 2009 I wanted to post some of my favorite pics from the end of the year. I am hoping to do much more with photography this year and am very excited to see what the new year holds. I joined PPNC (Professional Photographers of North Carolina) a few months ago and am going to be attending my first Seminar next weekend, and then am hoping to join everyone for a week long event in Durham that is being held at the end of February. Hopefully I will come back from these events with an a lot more knowledge about photography as well as how to get a business up and running. I would like to begin a true business by 2011 or 2012 at the latest. So, I guess I have a resolution and a goal for 2010. Here's to the new year!
To wrap up 2009 I wanted to post some of my favorite pics from the end of the year. I am hoping to do much more with photography this year and am very excited to see what the new year holds. I joined PPNC (Professional Photographers of North Carolina) a few months ago and am going to be attending my first Seminar next weekend, and then am hoping to join everyone for a week long event in Durham that is being held at the end of February. Hopefully I will come back from these events with an a lot more knowledge about photography as well as how to get a business up and running. I would like to begin a true business by 2011 or 2012 at the latest. So, I guess I have a resolution and a goal for 2010. Here's to the new year!
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