I’ve decided to dedicate the next 2 posts to answering some commonly asked questions about custom photography and exactly what you can expect from a session. I hope these help answer any questions — if you still have a question (or questions!) after these posts, feel free to leave it in a comment, email or call me.
Custom photography is more of a luxury than your entry level cookie cutter chain experience. Custom photography is truly not for everyone, it requires a level of commitment, investment in time and money, forethought and planning on the part of the subject/client and requires a larger time commitment for the photographer as well.
Clients who enjoy taking a more active role in the creation of their family’s memories have the desire to have portrait art that is truly personalized. These more discerning clients have been known to budget and allot time for a custom photography session. Many clients opt for it to be a once-a-year special experience, some opt to have custom photography sessions done to record their child’s stages in life. Having said this, it is clear that custom photography is not in everyone’s budget, it is something that most families save for or 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. The luxury of great service, better choices, and superb end product. The result of all this are heirloom quality images. The time invested at the session is only a small portion of the time involved. Custom photography has been likened to purchasing a fine vehicle. To get from point B to point A let’s face it, even a bus ride would get the job done. However, if you want to luxuriate in a finely appointed vehicle, customizing your own experience by listening to classical music while sitting in a climate controlled setting adjusted purely for your comfort in a body hugging leather interior, perhaps that luxury car you desire is your cup of tea. Custom photography is much the same. It is the luxury car of the photography world. Custom photography is where the intangibles make the experience truly wonderful and the images themselves make the investment of money and time truly worthwhile.
Custom photography can be broken down into even more levels. There are on location, studio, mixed studio/on location, and destination type photographers. The beauty of custom photography is in the choices and in the luxury of those options. The customized service level you are sure to experience will be amazing. The knowledge that your final images are the result of someone caring about those moments so much that they take the extra time to ensure that the artwork you receive is quality enough to put their name on it. That level of quality and commitment is all but lost in the age of “mass produced”, “mass marketed”, corporate “everyone is a number”. Custom photography is based on being unique to you. How great an experience would be, to be able to sit back and allow a photographer to do this highly custom work for images that you will most likely cherish for a lifetime?
What custom photography ultimately is all about is choice and experience (as in THE experience). Custom photography is about finding someone who will photograph your family, give you devoted 1:1 attention without worry of the next ‘in line’ or the feeling of a crowded portrait studio. A custom photographer will typically show you a fairly extensive gallery culled to only show the good images that meet the photographers’ creative sensibilities.
Custom photography should have you, the client and your experience in mind.
Why does custom photography cost more?
There is a great deal of time involved in creating high end custom photography sessions for a client. The luxury of great service, better choices and a superb end product. The result of all this are heirloom quality images. The time invested at the session is only a small portion of time involved in this process. Furthermore, I don’t hand over unedited images to clients whether printed or in digital format. What each client receives involves hours of post-session creative editing to provide a one of a kind work of art to display in their homes and offices.
* Used with permission from Professional Child Photographer — note: the site is temporarily down for maintenance.
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