Old school pricing is a rip off!I uncovered the rip off operation you have been subjected to for the past few years and blowing the whistle on it Here are the details. Want to know where your senior photos were printed... Yup, the camera store down the street, I know cause I have seen and met many of the photographers in town go there to print claiming to be slaving in a dark room. I set out to change it and it's working cause the old school photographers are pissed off at me for not playing in their good 'old boy club and blowing the whistle on their big scam they have been pulling on the public for years. They use to be justified charging so much back in the days of film and dark rooms. That cost money and took a lot of time and skill to make a 8x10 print. Then you get tiny proofs to make a decision based on for a poster size print. how silly. Digital you see the shot and can blow it up instantly to check quality before you take the next shot. in the past you needed years of school or training to take a quality photo because it had to be right the first time and you were shooting blind because you had to develop which took time. so higher prices were justified because of the skill needed to get it right the first time. that is what you paid for too, the experience they had. Well not any more. Since you can see results after every shot you now have the ability to make changes before the next shot, move the light, change the pose, etc. then take another shot and make adjustments. so it takes a few test shots to get the setting right but then you can take that final shot or series of shots and not worry about how they will turn out when developed. it's all right there at that time of the shoot. the photographer does need an eye for what a good photo looks like, lighting, shading, backgrounds, and how to make people look their best but you don't have to get it right the first time, you can experiment and change things as you go not shoot and pray it was right. Digital photo processing on the PC has matured too. the automatic adjusting features are accurate and actually improve many photos instead of a few years ago they did not work well. again, no messing around in a dark room and trial and error as to how long to leave the print in chemical A or B to get the exposure right. click a button and that's a done deal. Then there is printing. Photo processing labs are not only in the pro camera shops but they are also in every department store and grocery store these days too. they are machine prints with 4 color printing just like if you send you roll into be developed. the quality is comparable with that of the pro shops for all but the most pickiest of people but the prices are half that of the pros. some times you may want pro and pay for it but many times you don't need that so why be stuck doing pro all the time. And who gave them the right to hold your photos that you paid for hostage and force you buy huge packages from them for reprints. Unacceptable! They are your pictures! I think if grandma needs another copy, you should be able to make her one while you do your grocery shopping and have it in the mail to her the next day for less than $10 bucks. Do you think grandma really cares if you spent 10 dollars or 50 dollars on a reprint. No, she wants a print to show off her Grand kid to all of her friends, that's it. If grandma is picky about top notch quality then take the CD to Wolf camera or any other pro shop, they are a little better than department or grocery stores and you pay a lot more for the little difference. but that is where the pros get theirs done but they will never tell you that. The prices and packages for prints have not changed to match this technology. It's just as easy now to print any number of poses instead of being stuck with one pose cause that is the one that was developed and do develop another one will cost big bucks. you can get 10 poses done just as easy as a click on the pc. So you had a choice, You either paid those prices or did not get your pictures done because you had no where else to go. Cause they all stick together on pricing. Did you ever take a professional photo to the store to have a copy made. they said no, because the studio owns the copyright to your photo that you paid for and the labs will not reprint a photo taken by a professional photographer. How absurd! they take your picture of your face and they own the rights to that not you. you find this acceptable? I don't so I want you to challenge them on pricing and print packages,
If after you asked them pointed questions and they gave you the run around answers and ended up convincing you to use them and had no reasons to say no, typical sales ploy, send me their answers to those questions at Photo@JeffFaist.net and I will be happy to shoot it to pieces with hard facts about processes and prices and quality. They think you will be back and have no other option but to pay them or someone else, either way they stick to their guns and high prices cause they think they can continue to get away with it. I tell you to refuse to pay high prices for long lead time and limited prints. but your stuck, where else can you go? they are all the same prices. Bull!. That is where I come in. the world it changing faster than they think and I am leading the wave of change in the photography business. They refer to me as a "lose cannon" in the professional photography circles here in town and they are right. I am rocking the boat and braking it up by offering realistic prices that that the average single parent can afford. When I got into this business a few years ago and started digital. I tried to understand how they justified charging so much but never could. I joined the club and charged the same way but found it hard to sleep at night knowing what my costs were and how it affected the people. I remember one single mom who needed senior photos but could not afford anything at that time and asked if I could take payments. the daughter was an A student with college grants but would not be able to pay her half so those grants would never be used and she would not be able to live up to her potential. well I cant send everyone to college but at least I could give her a nice photo as a memory of her last year in school for free. I still I think about them every time I quote a price to someone and wonder what happened to them. but it changed my life and the way I do business I began to change my business model to be more fair to the customers and still provide the same quality photographs which will appeal to most people yet still make some extra for me. just not as much so I work harder than they do, and do they move slow. watch them, how they milk every minute. I think it's wrong and have a policy that you pay me for my time and the photos are yours to keep. I will not hold them hostage, you get them, you own them, you print them, any time, as many as you want, for as long as you want. they are yours to keep and use for ever. I had enough, and I am blowing the whistle on this scan and offering you the same quality at half if not more of what they charge and a money back guarantee. Editing and Printing costs extra typically same hourly rate or paid by the print, depends on the job. but no matter how you slice it I just cant seem to charge enough to be competitive with the others and still sleep at night. so what you got to lose? what you got to win and save.? what are you waiting for? you think with a business model and prices like this with school starting that my time does not get booked and double booked quickly. I am not a volume type photography shop, I am still one on one take your time and get it right operation but I do hustle and take on a lot of gigs. I also do some production gigs where I can shoot several people a the same location for a group discount. reserved for special setting like the botanic gardens or butterfly pavilion, farms etc.
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