How my process differs from other photographers you may have worked with:

 

Whether you are commissioning me for a family session, your child's senior portraits, your engagement session, or anything else, I know that getting photos taken is a special eventl- you will be investing in works of art that will be passed on from generation to generation, and the subject matter is you!  I will custom design your photo shoot to suit your personal style and interests.  We will talk at length about your interests, hobbies, and personal style, and I will offer up a number of ideas for locations and outfits.  We will also talk about how you envision your final products.  Are you interested in a fine art heirloom album, hand made in Italy?  I've got you covered.  Do you have big empty walls that are calling to be filled?  I've got you covered with choices from framed fine art wall prints, to archival quality canvases, modern and bold metal prints, or shabby chic wood prints.  Has Grandma been begging for some new pictures?  I've got you covered with mini accordion albums and layflat Grandparent albums.  

 

Once your session is over, I will take your images into my digital darkroom and choose the finest photos for you to proof.  4x6 hardcopy proofs will be ordered from the lab, and about 2 weeks after your photo session, I will come to your house with your proofs, a digital slideshow, and a variety of samples for you to look at.  In the comfort of your own home, we will review your images and I will help you choose products that suit your personal taste and home.  A month later or less, I will return with your products.  Easy!  

 

 

But Rebecca, I hate having my picture taken, my husband is an introvert, my kids are young and rowdy, I'm feeling anxious!

 

With over 400 photoshoots under my belt, I have worked with every combination of people you can imagine.  From the most precocious 3 year old to Type A New York lawyers, to children with autism, to flamboyantly extroverted Broadway actors.  My job is to capture what is best about you.  I trained as an actor for many years, and I will put on a song and dance show if that is what it takes.  

 

 

 

The most common inquiry I get looks like this:  How much do you charge for a cd of all the pictures from my session?

 

 

 

Okay, let's talk about digital files.  While I do offer digital packages,  I truly discourage them, and this is why:  As a professional photographer, I have access to professional labs- these are high end exclusive photographic labs which use only archival quality paper and ink.  I know you're thinking, "That's great Rebecca, but so what."  This is why these professional labs are so important:

 

• Archival quality means that your images will look exactly the same the day you hang them on your wall, as they will the day baby Billy leaves for college- they are printed on archival paper, using archival ink, which means that they will not crack or fade.  If you think about what your own childhood photos look like now, you'll know what I mean.

 

• I am able to guarantee 100% that your keepsake prints will look exactly as I intended, with the proper sharpness, color, and crop.  If you do a google comparison of photos between consumer and professional and professional labs, you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about.  Yes, Walgreen's and Walmart will sell you an 8x10 print for $3.99.  But I promise you, that print will look nothing like the photo I took. These labs do not have properly calibrated printers, which means your beautiful face may look purple, red,  or green.

 

• In providing the prints, I am able to assist my clients with their framing choices.  This is important because the glass in non professional frames is not archival quality, meaning that in 5 or 10 years when you decide to switch out the images in the non professional frame, you run the risk of the ink from the print actually sticking to the glass, thereby ruining the print.  You also run the risk of the paper actually warping inside the frame.

 

• Technology changes quickly and is easily lost- I recently had a client contact me four years after she purchased digital files from me- she had misplaced the flash drive, and her computer had since failed.  Unfortunately, because I do not have the storage capacity to hold on to digital files for  long, it meant that her son's newborn photos were lost forever.  Remember floppy drives?  Remember cds, and how easily they get scratched and ruined?  My Apple laptop doesn't even have a cd drive anymore!  

 

• The canvases I provide are also from professional labs only which is important because they are wrapped around actual hard wood, not the cardboard substrate that consumer labs (like something you would find on Groupon) are made of.  This hardwood provides a stable and tight base for the wrap of the canvas, this is crucial if you want to be sure that the canvas doesn't start to sag over the years.  They are also printed using only archival materials, so they will be perfect for 100 years.  

 

• I collaborate with a brilliant graphic designer who insures that your albums are hand-crafted works of art.  My albums are hand made in Italy, archival quality of course, and come in a variety of sizes and materials.  

 

• By providing digital files only sized to 8x10 and smaller, I can guarantee the quality of my large format artistry.  A lot of time and care goes into preparing large files for print.  My graphic designer and I have both taken extensive training to gain the skills necessary for creating large format wall art that looks practically 3D in nature.