Beginner First Experience With Pro Baby Photographer

[Sony Corleone]

My wife and I had an interesting experience today. We did a consultation with a professional baby photographer, for a month-late first birthday shoot.

So far, I have no problem with the rates. It was $250 for the consultation, and if I recall correctly, the actual shoot will be about the same. The PRINTS, though!

She showed us a three-foot-high sheet of steel with a photo printed on it. Indestructible. Shiny. The cost? Four thousand dollars. For one. We were both mystified by that. We thought it was tacky, and what you really need in a house with a toddler is a huge sheet of steel with sharp corners, hanging on a wall where he can bring it down.

For a book of matted and unframed prints, I think the price was about the same. These would be 7 x 10 with big mat borders around them. It would sit in a closet for the next 20 years.

For one such print framed, I believe the price was $190, which doesn't seem crazy, considering what it costs to have anything framed.

At first I thought we might get a couple of the 7 x 10 framed prints and take the rest in digital, but later, my wife and I both came to the same conclusion. We don't want any prints at all right now. I realized that if we bought 5 prints, we would be pretty close to the cost of a pigment printer for our house, and anyone can print a photo.

Our walls are filling up with photos we have shot. Some are technical messes but still perfect for the walls of a house. Others are technically and artistically pretty good. If you put a bunch of stiff, impersonal staged professional photos next to them, the professional photos will look awful; almost funny.

I was thinking we might print a couple out for our bedroom walls, since people are used to having that kind of thing in their bedrooms, but I wouldn't hang them where guests would see them.

Our current plan is to buy the best digital files the photographer shows us and leave it at that.

Our feeling is that everyone should have some pro family photos, because somehow they fill a need, but not very many. Interesting experience.

I noticed that she had very little equipment. One camera in the studio, and two lenses. I guess when you know what you're going to be doing every day, you can set up a studio for almost nothing. When you're a hobbyist who wants to shoot everything, you always seem to need a new camera or lens.

She has a good solution to the cataloguing problem. She deletes everything after a year.

This lady is the best one we could find near us. She is not a great photographer, but her photos are technically sound, so they will serve their purpose. I guess if we wanted someone really good, he would charge much more than we wanted to pay, and we would have to drive to a big city. I'm not sure anyone like that even works in this area of the state. I looked at the sites of some people who win prizes, and they don't look too good.

Compared to this woman, the people whose work I have seen on this board are on a much higher level. In no way comparable.

This is all very encouraging. It makes me glad I bought equipment and started to learn how to use it. I wish I had done it before I married my wife.

 

[swanseamale47]

So it was $250 just to see the photographer? Personally I'd be going somewhere else. Most studios here dont charge for you to come in and see samples or book.
The delete everything is a pressure selling trick, it's to pressure you to buy more images before they are gone. Again a decent studio will keep the images for years.

 

[LeeRatters]

^^^ That. I wouldn't be paying a fee just to see examples of their work and costs - that should be on a website imo

And as soon as she mentioned £4k for the book and 3 foot steel print I'd be walking out

 

[Sangoma]

Did you roll up in a Bentley?

Prices here are very high to me, but it looks like it would pay you to fly here and have the photos taken.

Photos of kids and family are usually for memories, after all they can see the child, and in a few months won't look like the photos anyway.

Spend the money on new gear, and a decent compact for the mother

 

[Sony Corleone]

I really appreciate the input. I thought maybe pros on this board would be furious at me for questioning a photographer's right to make a living, which I am not. I know all the stories about tightwads who seriously expect people to photograph weddings in exchange for a free meal.

I should add that the money we paid was not just to see samples. We discussed what kind of shoot we would do and what we would wear and so on. She put in a good deal of time.

The last time my family engaged a pro was in about 1970. My mother walked me into an Olan Mills shop in a mall next to a grocery store. We got one shot, we had it framed, and I'm pretty sure it was not $4000.

We have decided to get the "digital package," which means we'll pick out maybe 20 shots we like, and we'll get JPG's. Then we'll put them in the drawer we reserve for pro shots we think are necessary for reasons we can't actually articulate.

I Googled around, and apparently, a session with a competent photographer who doesn't use an Iphone runs $300-$700 here, so we will end up in the middle of the pack. I don't think we will ever hire a pro again, not because I resent the cost, but because I don't see the point.

FYI, Olan Mills is the name of an American photography chain. Long gone now.

Out of curiosity, I tried to find "high-end" photographers in Orlando, the nearest big city. Because the film and TV industries are big there now, I thought it was a good place to look. I have to be honest. The sites I found were full of stuff that was no better than what we expect to get here, and a lot of it was tacky. I saw words like "award-winning" and so on. "International." Whatever. I saw no signs of actual talent or good taste, although the shots were technically great.

I was disappointed in the shots we got in the hospital when a probably-contracted photographer came around and shot my son as a newborn, and I thought that was just our luck for getting a journeyman, but I now think trite, uninspiring shots are the industry standard.

It is just me, or do a whole lot of people mistakenly think basic technical competence is somehow the same thing as artistic merit? I mean, a photocopier is much more accurate than Vincent Van Gogh was on his best day.

 

[f/1.2]

My wife and I had an interesting experience today. We did a consultation with a professional baby photographer, for a month-late first birthday shoot.

So far, I have no problem with the rates. It was $250 for the consultation, and if I recall correctly, the actual shoot will be about the same. The PRINTS, though!

She showed us a three-foot-high sheet of steel with a photo printed on it. Indestructible. Shiny. The cost? Four thousand dollars. For one. We were both mystified by that. We thought it was tacky, and what you really need in a house with a toddler is a huge sheet of steel with sharp corners, hanging on a wall where he can bring it down.

For a book of matted and unframed prints, I think the price was about the same. These would be 7 x 10 with big mat borders around them. It would sit in a closet for the next 20 years.

For one such print framed, I believe the price was $190, which doesn't seem crazy, considering what it costs to have anything framed.

At first I thought we might get a couple of the 7 x 10 framed prints and take the rest in digital, but later, my wife and I both came to the same conclusion. We don't want any prints at all right now. I realized that if we bought 5 prints, we would be pretty close to the cost of a pigment printer for our house, and anyone can print a photo.

Our walls are filling up with photos we have shot. Some are technical messes but still perfect for the walls of a house. Others are technically and artistically pretty good. If you put a bunch of stiff, impersonal staged professional photos next to them, the professional photos will look awful; almost funny.

I was thinking we might print a couple out for our bedroom walls, since people are used to having that kind of thing in their bedrooms, but I wouldn't hang them where guests would see them.

Our current plan is to buy the best digital files the photographer shows us and leave it at that.

Our feeling is that everyone should have some pro family photos, because somehow they fill a need, but not very many. Interesting experience.

I noticed that she had very little equipment. One camera in the studio, and two lenses. I guess when you know what you're going to be doing every day, you can set up a studio for almost nothing. When you're a hobbyist who wants to shoot everything, you always seem to need a new camera or lens.

She has a good solution to the cataloguing problem. She deletes everything after a year.

This lady is the best one we could find near us. She is not a great photographer, but her photos are technically sound, so they will serve their purpose. I guess if we wanted someone really good, he would charge much more than we wanted to pay, and we would have to drive to a big city. I'm not sure anyone like that even works in this area of the state. I looked at the sites of some people who win prizes, and they don't look too good.

Compared to this woman, the people whose work I have seen on this board are on a much higher level. In no way comparable.

This is all very encouraging. It makes me glad I bought equipment and started to learn how to use it. I wish I had done it before I married my wife.

Those are pretty common rates for that type of photography in the states. Get them in cheap then sell lots of high margin product.

The Megan DiPiero sales model which is just copied from David Campbell’s original sales approach. She must be a newbie to the program as her print prices are a lot lower than average unless that is her lead in product.

You will get a lot of silly comments here from people that don’t know how that type of business works. There has already been a couple. They are selling an experience not photos.

The whole approach is designed to hit a target of a 20k sale, then average 20k per sale. It is very common, some photographers in the U.K follow the same approach as well.

Usually the digitals are priced at a much higher cost than the printed products and they will offer to gift you a digital with each printed product you purchase.

Sometimes they will offer a bundle price of 5 digitals. A sort of 5 for the price of 3 type thing. I haven’t looked at in a long time but from memory you are supposed to sell the digitals for $1500 each.

To be fair if she is in a small town she might be doing a watered down version.

 

[Sony Corleone]

What kind of lunatic pays $20K for a photo session?

 

[f/1.2]

What kind of lunatic pays $20K for a photo session?

Plenty of people. Your not paying for a photo session you are paying for an experience and all the amazing products.

When David was running his business he was averaging 32k a sale and that is in pounds not dollars and when things were a lot cheaper. That’s what the Level Up program Megan runs is based on. It’s probably the most sold sales program for portrait photographers in the world.

When it comes to photos of kids it’s an emotional thing. Get the people in by offering a silly price for a session $99 dollars used to be mentioned a lot but think it’s about $250 now. Gift them a very small print included in the price, usually the photographer picks the one gifted. Then it’s just a matter of showing all the better images you could have. Don’t have the budget, that’s okay let us show you the finance options.

It also works very well for pet photography as well. My brothers girlfriend took his dog for have its photo taken a couple of years ago was only £99 and included a print. They went back down to see the photos and he walked away as wouldn’t pay and he is absolutely loaded. His girlfriend at the time went back a couple of days later and spent 12k on finance.

Running a successful studio has a lot of costs I hated the stress of it when I had mine.

Just as an example and this was 12/13 years ago so costs will be higher now:

Ideally you need a studio space near the town centre I couldn’t afford the town centre costs I was about 5 minutes out. Rent and rates were 24k a year.

You can’t run a successful studio as a one man band it’s impossible due to the amount of shoots you need to do to make a profit. As a bare minimum you need someone to deal with all of the admin and ideally you need a full time editor. If your doing headshots etc you may also need someone for make up and hair although they can be self employed. In an ideal world you also need someone specifically just for sales.

Add the cost of equipment, insurance, tax, national insurance.

Then there is the marketing cost which is huge compared to say wedding photography. I averaged around 15k a year on marketing and that was really the minimum I could spend. You would probably need to spend more than double that now.

Realistically to keep the doors open I needed a minimum of 150k turnover before I made a penny.

I hated it. I hated the work as well very boring.

That’s why I only do weddings now.

To be successful as a studio you need to make huge profit in every sale.

 

[Sony Corleone]

Yeah, that's the funeral director dynamic. Your mom dies, everyone is upset, and while you're crying, the funeral director shows you a bronze coffin with white gold handles, because you want to do your very best for the cold, dead, oblivious body your mom no longer occupies. You say, "I want the best for mommy!", and then the funeral director hands you a little piece of paper that has "$25,000" printed on it. You pay because you don't want to look like a jerk.

My dad paid $7,000 for a cherry coffin for my mother in 1997, so $14,000 today, and of course, she is not enjoying it where she is now. I had him cremated for $900 and put him in a $42 box from Amazon. He insisted on cremation in his will. I didn't have to go through the paperwork or expense of flying a coffin to another state. I just put it in the car and drove.

Anyway, I do understand the shameless, subtle pressure game, but I am amazed that anyone falls for it.

My wife and I did two weeks in Singapore, and I think the cost of everything, including flights, was about half of that $20,000 figure. You could get a couple of Hasselblads for $20,000.

 

[Sony Corleone]

I found the "Investment Guide" she gave us, so here are the correct prices. I was off by a thousand on the giant steel plate, so it's actually really cheap at about $3K.

 

[f/1.2]

I found the "Investment Guide" she gave us, so here are the correct prices. I was off by a thousand on the giant steel plate, so it's actually really cheap at about $3K.

View attachment 474312

Those are very cheap prices.

She is either a Mom business (she doesn’t need to make a profit) or will be out of business in a year.

Try her with just digitals and see what she says. A lot of them though won’t allow you to buy them. You can only have them as a gift with a purchased product. Just bear in mind the digital that is provided with each product is usually only 1500 pixels on the long end hence only being able to print at small sizes as mentioned in her investment guide.

She is sort of doing the sales program but doing it badly. You are not supposed to allow clients to have a copy of the investment guide that’s a big no no.

What she should be doing is targeting your wife. Don’t be surprised if she asks your wife for another meeting. Also don’t be surprised if she refuses to discuss with you by phone and email etc. She needs you far to face so she can read out the sales script and overcome your objections.

She will also tell you that’s okay if you don’t want anything but unfortunately the images will be deleted in X amount of time.

 

[Sangoma]

Anyway, I do understand the shameless, subtle pressure game, but I am amazed that anyone falls for it.

"game" is a much politer term than I would have used to describe it
I can't understand how people would fall for it.

On the other end of the scale you get this in some places (I have blanked out the contact details, and converted the price to pounds)

 

[f/1.2]

"game" is a much politer term than I would have used to describe it
I can't understand how people would fall for it.

On the other end of the scale you get this in some places (I have blanked out the contact details, and converted the price to pounds)

View attachment 474340

Look at the state of the photos though.

Not worth £20.

Also as it has been called a model call it’s very likely the exact same sales system is being used.

A common way to find clients for this sales system is to advertise very inexpensive “model calls”. Another way is to give free session vouchers out in schools etc and via business networking groups.

 

[cuthbert]

I think this is quite an interesting market - it exploits a vulnerability parents have with their own child - but most maternity and baby shots I've seen are pretty much the baby wrapped in towels / basket on a backdrop shot with a massive soft box. Nice enough, but not worth any more than a few hundred quid at most. I imagine such work is actually pretty mundane - there isn't too far you can push it because parents are kind of expecting the same thing.

I do remember Anne Geddes getting a sneered and mocked at the time she released her book - at the time, I thought the pictures were pretty naff as well, but I now recognise they were awesome - and we still remember them 30 years later - and nobody is going to be doing that with the boring brown backdrop and log basket pics you get from most shooters.

If you're paying that sort of cash for somebody visionary to make some truly unique art, it might be worth it for you- but if it's just the trite stuff everyone else is churning out, that seems like madness.

 

[StephenM]

So it was $250 just to see the photographer? Personally I'd be going somewhere else. Most studios here dont charge for you to come in and see samples or book.
The delete everything is a pressure selling trick, it's to pressure you to buy more images before they are gone. Again a decent studio will keep the images for years.

A local photographic studio make a point of keeping the negatives and digital files.

I've seen the archive room, which goes back to glass plates.

Archive — Edward Reeves Photography

www.edwardreeves.com

 

[Sony Corleone]

Those are very cheap prices.

She is either a Mom business (she doesn’t need to make a profit) or will be out of business in a year.

Try her with just digitals and see what she says. A lot of them though won’t allow you to buy them. You can only have them as a gift with a purchased product. Just bear in mind the digital that is provided with each product is usually only 1500 pixels on the long end hence only being able to print at small sizes as mentioned in her investment guide.

She is sort of doing the sales program but doing it badly. You are not supposed to allow clients to have a copy of the investment guide that’s a big no no.

What she should be doing is targeting your wife. Don’t be surprised if she asks your wife for another meeting. Also don’t be surprised if she refuses to discuss with you by phone and email etc. She needs you far to face so she can read out the sales script and overcome your objections.

She will also tell you that’s okay if you don’t want anything but unfortunately the images will be deleted in X amount of time.

This lady should be able to gross $1,000 per 8-hour workday if she makes any effort at all, without selling a single print, and her total equipment cost appears to be maybe $6,000, so I would think she could manage to survive on that alone, and prints would surely jack it up. A lot of people get by with a business that grosses $230K+ per year. The web thinks she has been around for at least 9 years.

She does have a mom business. Her studio is in a small building next to her house. She must be getting an enormous tax deduction on construction, furnishing, and equipping, and when it's over, she and her husband will have a very desirable property with a mother-in-law cottage. Effectively or factually, she is paying rent to herself, so she is a lot better off than a mall photographer.

She told us we could just buy digital, and she assured me they were good enough to blow up to large sizes. I specifically mentioned 36".

As for targeting my wife, you are not telling me anything I don't know. I have been disgusted by this tactic for decades. For example, a lot of wealthy men like fishing yachts in the 35-60-foot range. They're not exactly cheap. When you have a boat like this, the last things you want are carpeting, wood paneling, and frilly throw pillows, but go to a boat show, and the saloons look like Rupaul's boudoir. "Look, honey, it's the vacation home you always wanted!"

Actually, they are getting away from this now. These days, they put the galley upstairs so the wives won't be down in a hole making sandwiches. Same basic strategy, though.

I mentioned a Singapore trip, above. While we were there, we were walking in a mall, and a guy who had a girl assistant sicced her on my wife as though I weren't even there. Totally ignored me. Tried to sell her miracle skin care products for astronomical prices. I said I would never give them a penny, because they had tried to pit my wife against me. I don't put up with sleazy strangers making direct attacks on my marriage, and neither should anyone else.

My wife is very intelligent, and she thinks the photographer's print prices are nuts.

 

[Sony Corleone]

I think this is quite an interesting market - it exploits a vulnerability parents have with their own child - but most maternity and baby shots I've seen are pretty much the baby wrapped in towels / basket on a backdrop shot with a massive soft box. Nice enough, but not worth any more than a few hundred quid at most. I imagine such work is actually pretty mundane - there isn't too far you can push it because parents are kind of expecting the same thing.

I suppose it is hard to make a living taking really excellent baby shots, because it would be difficult for most people to do in a little studio.

I do remember Anne Geddes getting a sneered and mocked at the time she released her book - at the time, I thought the pictures were pretty naff as well, but I now recognise they were awesome - and we still remember them 30 years later - and nobody is going to be doing that with the boring brown backdrop and log basket pics you get from most shooters.

I just checked out her photos. She is doing very creative work. I wouldn't want it on my walls because it looks creepy, impersonal, and artificial to me, but then I don't particularly like Fan Ho, either, and he was certainly talented.

If you're paying that sort of cash for somebody visionary to make some truly unique art, it might be worth it for you- but if it's just the trite stuff everyone else is churning out, that seems like madness.

I have seen truly wonderful street photos and other candids on this site. I would rather have someone from the forum follow us around for half a day than have my son sit on a cake in someone's spare room. But if a steel plate with a shiny picture on it costs $3,000, I can't even guess what 4 hours with a photographer on location would cost. I would never pay it, even though charging a lot would be understandable. I just don't want it badly enough.

 

[f/1.2]

This lady should be able to gross $1,000 per 8-hour workday if she makes any effort at all, without selling a single print, and her total equipment cost appears to be maybe $6,000, so I would think she could manage to survive on that alone, and prints would surely jack it up. A lot of people get by with a business that grosses $230K+ per year. The web thinks she has been around for at least 9 years.

She does have a mom business. Her studio is in a small building next to her house. She must be getting an enormous tax deduction on construction, furnishing, and equipping, and when it's over, she and her husband will have a very desirable property with a mother-in-law cottage. Effectively or factually, she is paying rent to herself, so she is a lot better off than a mall photographer.

She told us we could just buy digital, and she assured me they were good enough to blow up to large sizes. I specifically mentioned 36".

As for targeting my wife, you are not telling me anything I don't know. I have been disgusted by this tactic for decades. For example, a lot of wealthy men like fishing yachts in the 35-60-foot range. They're not exactly cheap. When you have a boat like this, the last things you want are carpeting, wood paneling, and frilly throw pillows, but go to a boat show, and the saloons look like Rupaul's boudoir. "Look, honey, it's the vacation home you always wanted!"

Actually, they are getting away from this now. These days, they put the galley upstairs so the wives won't be down in a hole making sandwiches. Same basic strategy, though.

I mentioned a Singapore trip, above. While we were there, we were walking in a mall, and a guy who had a girl assistant sicced her on my wife as though I weren't even there. Totally ignored me. Tried to sell her miracle skin care products for astronomical prices. I said I would never give them a penny, because they had tried to pit my wife against me. I don't put up with sleazy strangers making direct attacks on my marriage, and neither should anyone else.

My wife is very intelligent, and she thinks the photographer's print prices are nuts.

Read the bottom lines on the investment guide you posted. It clearly explains what size the digitals are and that they can only be purchased with product.

 

[Sony Corleone]

At the session, she told us she was selling digital-only packages that were not yet listed in the menu of horrors.

 

[Sangoma]

Look at the state of the photos though.

Not worth £20.

Also as it has been called a model call it’s very likely the exact same sales system is being used.

A common way to find clients for this sales system is to advertise very inexpensive “model calls”. Another way is to give free session vouchers out in schools etc and via business networking groups.

It is a bit cheaper than the "average" which looking at a few is £34 for 15 edited shots.

I very much doubt there are any tricks involved, or emotional bribery, ans they would quickly be called out and wouldn't survive.

Very few have a permanent studio, temporary locations are not expensive.

There used to be two "professional" photographers in the town, neither exist today, tells you what the public want. There are some "modern professionals" which are popular with certain sectors of the population, who charge a lot more, but they are not hideously expensive.

They all seem to make a living, the cheap not good ones, the cheap good ones, and the not cheap good ones.

It's an active market, people have choices, and that makes it sustainable, healthy and pleasant, some one as in the OP wouldn’t last five minutes.

 

[f/1.2]

It is a bit cheaper than the "average" which looking at a few is £34 for 15 edited shots.

I very much doubt there are any tricks involved, or emotional bribery, ans they would quickly be called out and wouldn't survive.

Very few have a permanent studio, temporary locations are not expensive.

There used to be two "professional" photographers in the town, neither exist today, tells you what the public want. There are some "modern professionals" which are popular with certain sectors of the population, who charge a lot more, but they are not hideously expensive.

They all seem to make a living, the cheap not good ones, the cheap good ones, and the not cheap good ones.

It's an active market, people have choices, and that makes it sustainable, healthy and pleasant, some one as in the OP wouldn’t last five minutes.

Nobody is running any sort of photography business and staying in business charging on average £34 for 15 edited photos.

Your profile says you are based in Coventry. As you mentioned it being cheap to use a temporary location. According to Google the average cost of hiring a studio in Coventry is £100 per hour. Most newborn shoots are a minimum of 2 hours as they need the baby to be sleeping and relaxed.

A quick look on Google seems to suggest that this is more inline with the average costs of newborn photography in Coventry. Which while cheaper than it would be in the states is a far cry from £34 on average.

That’s for an average photographer, those that are good don’t display their prices so would expect to be more expensive.

 

[Sangoma]

My location says Coventry, which is correct. I also said I had converted the price to pounds

 

[LeeRatters]

@Sony Corleone

Buy your wife a good performing, easy to use camera and teach her how to use it well. You have a few thousand budget from not using this expensive photographer to do that and it will be an ongoing thing for the future (and maybe more future children) too. That will bring you much more pleasure and enjoyment than a single photo session reminding you how you child looks this month

 

[Sony Corleone]

I decided to check out the company that did our newborn shots. For about $240, they will have someone meet us at a location they use a lot, like a park, shoot the family, and email the photos. The work is exactly the same quality as what we saw at our meeting.

I emailed the lady we met with and asked for a quote for digital-only. Haven't heard back yet. As I recall, the price was okay, but I don't remember the figure.

If I don't like the number, we will write off the cost of the meeting and use the other company. These outfits are fungible.

 

[Sangoma]

I decided to check out the company that did our newborn shots. For about $240, they will have someone meet us at a location they use a lot, like a park, shoot the family, and email the photos. The work is exactly the same quality as what we saw at our meeting.

I emailed the lady we met with and asked for a quote for digital-only. Haven't heard back yet. As I recall, the price was okay, but I don't remember the figure.

If I don't like the number, we will write off the cost of the meeting and use the other company. These outfits are fungible.

That sound reasonable, and more realistic

 

[Barney]

I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone with the slightest interest in photography would pay someone else to photograph their child.

 

[Sony Corleone]

I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone with the slightest interest in photography would pay someone else to photograph their child.

I feel the same way in my heart, but we need some shots with me in them. I don't want to play around with a tripod and try to turn part of my house into a third-rate setting. I have taken thousands of shots of my son during his first year.

Of course, if I knew a real artist who wanted to photograph him, I would be all over it.

 

[Barney]

Self timer or wireless remote, or even frame the shot and give the wife the remote if you needed one of yourself on your back holding him giggling up in the air.

 

[ancient_mariner]

I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone with the slightest interest in photography would pay someone else to photograph their child.

Because they want the job done in a way that they cannot do themselves.

 

[benc98]

I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone with the slightest interest in photography would pay someone else to photograph their child.

I definitely would. Anyone with interest in photography has skin in the game and has taste imo, I’d relish in choosing a photographer. I wouldn’t be looking to for a high street photographer though

 

[Barney]

Because they want the job done in a way that they cannot do themselves.

Like what?

 

[ancient_mariner]

Like what?

Like an Anne Geddes style shot, for example, or using props they might not have access to, or having someone exercise creative imagination in a way they couldn't because they were too close to the mother and child. There might be a host of reasons. Maybe they would just like someone else to do the work.

 

[Barney]

I had never heard of that photographer. Interesting images focusing more on the creativity rather than the child though I think. I would expect most people to prefer more traditional style baby shots.
I am not knocking anyone's choices, its up to them,

I just do not understand it, I would rather pick the photo types I like and try and learn how to reproduce them, it would A) improve my photography B) give the satisfaction of knowing you created the image yourself and C) when the child grows up would be able to look back with pride that his father was a photographer and had the time, trouble and creativity.

 

[ancient_mariner]

I did a bit of baby photography for others in the late 80s when mine were small, but it was more mono pictures with a bit of careful printing for a softer focus look than anything on her level. Done for friends and neighbours really.

 

[Barney]

I did a bit of baby photography for others in the late 80s when mine were small, but it was more mono pictures with a bit of careful printing for a softer focus look than anything on her level. Done for friends and neighbours really.

Would make a nice thread that, "show us your baby shots" of course most would be unidentifiable, and therfore unlikely to introduce any cringe...

 

[Sony Corleone]

My wife and I were talking about this today, and it occurred to us that for very little, we could turn a spare bedroom into a studio. You don’t need a lot of equipment or props for baby shots. We have some rooms we don’t use.

 

[Phil V]

I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone with the slightest interest in photography would pay someone else to photograph their child.

I’m gonna jump in with my size 9’s.

Most people who would describe themselves as ‘keen photographers’ have little interest in photographing people.

It’s a hobby mostly enjoyed by people who like to get out into the open (mostly alone) and aren’t particularly ‘people’ types.

Photographing babies and children takes extraordinary people skills.

 

[Brentor]

I’m gonna jump in with my size 9’s.

Most people who would describe themselves as ‘keen photographers’ have little interest in photographing people.

It’s a hobby mostly enjoyed by people who like to get out into the open (mostly alone) and aren’t particularly ‘people’ types.

Photographing babies and children takes extraordinary people skills.

That’s me. Landscape and bird photography are my favourites. I take very few people photos I just do not have the vision/skills. Sometimes I get it right but more luck than judgement.

 

[Sony Corleone]

Well, I was mistaken about the price of the digital package. Here is the list. I took the liberty of editing her JPG. Hope I don't get sued for copyright infringement. I think it's time to cut the cord and move on.

 

[Sony Corleone]

Seriously, anyone can do this kind of work. I'm not giving this lady $1357 to continue upselling me. It's not like she's Henri Cartier-Bresson.

I sent a message to the portrait factory that did our newborn shoot, and in the meantime, I am looking into setting up a shoot here. I have a Sigma 105mm Art lens and a place to shoot. I'm sure I can manage to shoot 10 competent staged photos of a baby.

In the meantime, I have continued to get candids I like a lot. Still pretty bad with bright sunlight, though.

IMG_1326 DxO FS TIFF by Cosmo Bogus, on Flickr

IMG_1313 DxO FS TIFF by Cosmo Bogus, on Flickr

A6701061 DxO FS TIFF by Cosmo Bogus, on Flickr