Consolidating

OK, I've decided to "move" the portraits portion of my business over here. That means expect more portrait work, I suppose. Although I'm noticing a stellar job of posting recent images, so, you know, expect any work at all. (:

I've also decided to simplify my life with regards to portrait pricing. My current session fee is $100 for an hour session, which does not include any digital files or prints. You can order those extras and while it's optional, for my business to thrive survive, it's kind of counted on that people order prints. Not to mention it's also a bit of an ego-boost when people order prints. (; (The session fee is pretty low considering all the work that goes into it: customer service ground-work with clients, time to get to the shoot, actual photography work, post-processing, and the questions that follow afterwards. I'd estimate - and I'm being conservative here - that it adds up to 5 hours total. So if I made no print sales, all that work evens out to $20 an hour. That's not bad, if I were constantly getting that income flow, i.e. 40 hours a week instead of here and there. Oh, and if I didn't have to worry about costs like transportation, business resources like Internet connectivity and maintenance of my rather expensive equipment. OK, long-story short, at that price-range, it would be easier for me to work for a corporation. AND my health care would be taken care of. No, as I learned this past year, it's definitely not easy running your own business. It sure is fun, though.) I was motivated to do the prints-cost-extra pricing structure because from everything I've read online (sample advice), it's more profitable to sell prints. The thing is: IT IS! In theory, you're able to do the session for $100 but be able to sell, like, $700-billion (har har) worth of prints! A high-end portrait photographer that I listened to discussed her income and her session fees were around $300 but she would sell approximately $4,000 to $5,000 worth of prints (specifically wall prints, not just the measley $50 5x7). The potential is there. (I know what you're wondering: who's buying these expensive prints. People. People who appreciate fine photography and love the idea of using portraits as fine art. Yes, there's a market there. No, I'm not the type to necessarily pursue that market. Not right now, anyway.)

I've tried the whole prints thing, but I really just want to simplify my life with some, umm, simplicity. So, going forward, I am offering packages that, hopefully, will do the following:

1. Pay me enough for the time and effort I put into it;
2. Offer the client the best bang for the buck for the highest quality images I can provide them.

My only main concern is that people will get the images on DVD, look at them, AND NEVER GET PRINTS THEMSELVES. Call me old-school but, there's nothing quite like a print hanging on your wall to really, really celebrate the moment in time. Or maybe an album. I mean, it's great to have the images and all, but to be able to incorporate it into your everyday lives would be the best use of it. I'll figure what to do with this aspect as it comes. In the meantime, portrait sessions with Chung means you'll get a DVD with all the full-sized, edited images. Book on, folks!

And in an effort to post more photos, enjoy this little storyboard from a shoot last month: