A few months ago, I was out shopping, and I noticed a mom bringing her toddler in for portraits. For a second I thought I should swoop in, and pass a business card, but that is not my style. Then I looked at a sign and saw they do not charge for a sitting and let you pick from images to get prints all within minutes.

Neat, I thought. How do I compete ? My answer is I don’t. What I do is of a completely different nature.

I capture natural moments, let everyone go about being themselves, and I come to you (or we meet at your favorite location). I like to think my images show more about my subjects. I purposely limit the amount of clients I work with at a time. I consider myself fully booked at four portrait sessions per week, or one wedding and a portrait. This allows me to give you my full attention and for me to be in the best mental state possible. It also let’s me see you and your loved ones for who you are instead of a number.

I am a trained professional. I have a bachelor’s degree in art and photography. The piece of paper does not matter. What makes a difference is that I understand photography technically, historically, and have spent countless hours discussing and critiquing photography. Though my business is yet to turn one, I have been shooting for years. I love what I do, and photograph all the time whether paid for it by a client or not.

Back to the topic, what else do I do besides snap pictures for an hour or so?

Behind the scenes tasks:

• Consult with clients via email or phone about all the details (what type of package, location, date, and more)
• Charge 2-3 camera batteries, and flash batteries
• Clean lenses and check equipment
• Check to make sure memory cards are empty
• Pack up my gear (bringing along a spare equipment just in case)
• Travel typically an hour round trip
• After the session, I dump images to my computer
• Backup RAW images to my external drive
• Backup RAW images to dvd
• Clean memory cards and put away gear
• File paperwork
• Record payments and expenses (gas, mileage, ect)
• Do an initial sort through 100-200 images flagging the ones to keep
• Process flagged images in Lightroom adjusting exposure, color, and other minor tweaks
• Selecting images that I want to edit further
• Creatively editing 25-35 images in Photoshop
• Blog a sneak peak of 2-4 images
• Make a dvd backup of the final images
• Upload final images to client website
• Consult with client on any questions regarding ordering print and albums
• Coordinate ordering of prints
• Design, order and ship album (if applicable)

To my surprise, I spend much more time doing other tasks then I do actually photographing!