"But Uncle Ernie has a camera, he'll shoot the wedding/senior portrait/kids. Why should I PAY someone to do it?"

I hear that all the time. All I can tell you is that when you get your photos from Uncle Ernie, you may realize why most people pay for photographic services.

Think about it: when all the food and drink is gone, the flowers wilted, the hall is empty, the guests have departed and the tuxes are returned, What do you have remaining? Right. The photographs - they are often the most treasured of memories, passed down from generation to generation.

"But hiring a photographer seems like a lot of money to me."

I want you to have the best photos you can get for the price you pay. Besides, the photo shoot doesn't end when the camera stops snapping. There is a lot of post-production work like cropping, color-correcting, hiding blemishes, making composites and collages, adding textures - all the things that set your photos apart from those taken by good ol' Uncle Ernie. He means well, he really does, but the last wedding Uncle Ernie attended, he passed out face down in a plate of garbonzo beans and missed the garter toss completely.

Your wedding photos will arrive within two to three weeks on a CD with a high-resolution folder for printing, and a low-resolution folder for email, MySpace, FaceBook, or other web use, along with a signed release for you to print your photos anywhere. Portraits and Senior Portraits won't have as long to wait.

What? No prints? Are you crazy?

Many photographers cringe at the idea of giving up the production rights of their photos - because a major part of a photographer's profit comes from printing!! In reality, many people scan the first set of proofs and print them anyway - with that in mind, I think my clients should have the right to print any photos they receive from me whenever and wherever they wish. Have you seen the prices some photographers get just for an 8x10? Wow.

This is why, after careful consideration, I no longer offer physical prints in my packages unless the client requests them. It's easier and more convenient to choose the prints you want at your leisure and upload them to the lab of your choice, thus saving you, my valued client, a substantial amount of money.