I had the honor of photographing the Elias Family this fall at Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC. After finishing their traditional photos, we headed to the baseball field to celebrate their love of the game… they are a family after my own heart!

 

Family pictures are my memories, they are the artwork decorating our home, and they are the most treasured of my possession.  Still, we made the mistake of letting YEARS pass between times having our family portraits professionally done, and I can’t get that time back.  But now, as a photographer, I create incentives in the way I serve my customers to help them not to make the same mistake I did.  When my customers buy my collections, I include their next session at no additional cost, so that the next time I photograph them, the session fee is on me, along with all the perks that come free within it.

Family pictures are valuable, priceless… but they ARE an investment.  When my children were very young, we set aside budget to have pictures made often, because they changed so quickly.  But after we had a big session done when they were 9, 7, and 4, we decided to wait a while.  At first we waited for another professional session because I didn’t think the kids had really changed much since our last family portraits.

Life was happening at a fast and furious pace then.  We had things to do, places to go, people to see, games to play.

Then I blinked, and time got away from me.  TEN YEARS went by without us having family portraits done.  Just like that, my babies were 19, 17, and 14… and all of them were taller than me.

How did I MISS it?!?

Suddenly my babies were all taller than me.  I had photos I had taken of THEM… but I missed the transitions with me photographed beside them.  I missed them losing their baby cheeks, and changing into the beautiful young adults they would soon become.

My customers won’t have to do that.  Because once they purchase a collection, their next session fee is on me, they only have to worry about investing in the prints that will decorate their walls and elicit their happy memories.

They still get all the pampering of my Reveal Nights.  They still get the 4×6 proofs of their entire gallery.  They still get their personal gallery to show on their phones.

The second time, it just gets to be my treat.  That way, they won’t have to hesitate to have their photos done every year or so.  That way, they won’t be fooled into thinking their children haven’t really changed.  That way, even if they blink, they will have the way they were frozen in time for them to enjoy.

 Ahhhh, life is tricky like that.  The days are long, but years are short… and we don’t get those moments back… except in the pictures we make that trigger a floodgate of memories.

See the entire Elias Family Gallery Slide Show here.  To learn more about my Sessions and Reveal Nights, please click this link to my Client Guide.