2011 Digital Baby Portrait Plan

In keeping with my digital packages for 2011 the baby plan comes with digital files too.

What is a baby plan, you ask. A baby plan is when you get a package deal that includes multiple sessions across the year to mark the baby’s milestones. Mine is pretty simple:

The 2011 Baby Plan – $1,950

• 3 Sessions during your child’s first 18 months of life. (I recommend newborn, 6 months and 1 year but you can space them out however you like.)
• 10 full resolution digital files from each session as well as 5X7 reference prints of each of those images.
• 50% of package fee due before first session, balance due before second session.

AND if you book (and pay for) this before the end of March, 2011 you will get 1 16X20 canvas – a $575 value – of any image from any of the three sessions at the end of your plan.

2011 Pricing

So, I’m going to all digital packages in 2011.

This may be confusing. Shooting film, going digital. This is not quite as confusing as it sounds. The medium of creation is film, the medium of delivery is digital.

Why?

Why create in film or why deliver in digital?

Well, I’m creating in film because I like the way it looks. I like the way it makes me work. I like my pictures better when they started their life on film rather than in bits. I don’t really care so much how they end up – bits are fine – but the process of creating on film is a totally different final look.

I’m delivering in digital because people want pictures, not to have to get a separate usage license to make cards or share on Facebook*. Clients – my clients (hi guys!) – want to put pictures in digital frames, email them to Grandma and make one of them a screen-saver at work. And, frankly, consumer labs are really good now for regular prints. I include printing recommendations and reference prints with each digital order so if you print at some cheap place, well, you at least know what the final regular prints SHOULD look like.

I’ll still offer regular prints in case you know you want the quality control of a professional lab or the ease of having me take care of it. I’ll offer the gorgeous fine art prints because I swoon over gicleés and silver gelatin and you should too and you aren’t going to get those at Costco and you must have one or more or lots in your home if you love photography. I’ll offer albums because putting together a book is a service I like offering and I know perfectly well you’ll MEAN to do it but never actually get around to it because that’s what life is like.

I am expecting to get some “photographer hate mail” over this change telling me I am a fool and a blackguard and that I should be strung up from the nearest tree. In custom photographer circles this business model is heresy and only an itty bitty step removed from shoot and burn photographers who hand you an unedited disk of 300 underexposed, slightly out of focus pictures after 45 minutes in the park for $50.

AT ANY RATE every session now includes a disk and a set of reference prints. To wit:

Mini Sessions – $350
* 20 – 25 minute session. These are available on selected dates only and those dates tend to book up quickly.
* 5 5X7 regular reference prints
* 5 full resolution session images (Negatives) on CD
* Online viewing gallery for 2 weeks to share with friends and family

Regular Sessions – $1,050
* 1-2 hour session (please allow up to 4 hours for a newborn session)
* 10 5X7 regular reference prints presented in a storage box
* 10 full resolution session images (Negatives) on CD with a Custom Photo Cover
* Online viewing gallery for 2 weeks to share with friends and family

Platinum Sessions – $1,950
* 1-2 hour session (please allow up to 4 hours for a newborn session)
* At least 25 5X7 regular reference prints presented in a Custom Photo Box
* At least 25 full resolution session images (Negatives) on CD with a Custom Photo Cover
* Online viewing gallery for 2 weeks to share with friends and family

(What does “at least” mean? It means they’ll be at least 25 images but really there will be all the ones I put in your gallery. My average is probably about 35 but I’ve had galleries with over 60 images. Some kids are very cooperative. Don’t count on 60. Count on 25 and be pleasantly surprised by extras.)

A non-refundable deposit of $200 is required to reserve your date and time for all the sessions. The balance will be due at the time of the session.

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* This only counts for personal usage, by the way. People who want to use my images on their non-profit or business web site have to pay going commercial rates. Making 2,835 copies for all your cousins or sharing on your personal blog is a whole different animal than using an image to promote your business.