I often see big box stores still being suggested on Facebook and want to address the difference between what these "studios" offer versus what I offer. The reason I first got into photography was for my own kids. I needed to get better pictures of them. I would take them in for $9.95 specials to chain studios and leave spending $100+, 20 pictures of two poses, and totally unhappy with my experience. I hated having to make my kids wait while I picked the packages and images I wanted on the spot. Sure I'd still use the images because I love my kids and think they are cute no matter what, but I was getting what I paid for- cheap quality, fauxtographers with no experience, and cheesy backgrounds. In the past couple years, many of these big box stores have closed their studios. With social media driven sites like Pinterest, Etsy, and Facebook, no wonder the hype of custom photography. The decision to have beautiful pictures taken the way you like them done vs. picking out a background or cheesy vignette is quite simple. I love being able to deliver to my clients a variety of poses, edits, combinations of family members, and digital images without a limit of how many they print. I love going to parks with pretty backgrounds. I live capturing kodak moments of kids expressions vs sitting on a special table saying cheese. Maybe the $9.95 special is all someone wants, cool have at it. I'll continue to pour hours of hard work into each gallery knowing I'm providing my clients quality, custom images each time.
Your photographer,
Leanne
Olan mills
LFP 8/2014