WHAT’S MY WORTH AS YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER?
What’s my worth as your photographer?
Defined from Oxford Languages: “Having or showing the qualities or abilities that merit recognition in a specific way.” Value is what something is worth. As a Honolulu based photographer, photographing someone is my service & most importantly, my vision or style. This also spills over to customer service & being able to connect with whoever is in front of my lens on one of my photo sessions here on Oahu.
There is a distinct difference between the cost of an item or the cost of a service for a photographer, as opposed to what my services are worth to you. So, let’s break this down. As in anything in life, if you do it for a long time, you are supposed to get better at what you do, so having 20 years of experience, and I’m still learning to capture beautiful images but also to see & capture intimate moments as they unfold in front of my lens.
Pricing is the cost of the service I provide to capture these moments with you. First, I want to set this straight: when you hire me for a photo session, you’re not paying for my camera, lens, computer, or any other gear. You’re paying for the knowledge I’ve learned over the past 20 years to capture your special moments. The past 20 years are all the mistakes I’ve made & learned not to repeat the same mistake today! It’s also taught me to see a moment happen as it unfolds, watching and anticipating how each couple will react to a prompt & also, when the couple thinks the camera is not pointed at them & they let their guard down for just a split second. These unprompted moments are my very favorite to capture!
With the new generation of fast-paced social media & getting “content” for Instagram, Facebook & other social media sites, many engagement, wedding, and elopement couples are asking friends to take pictures with their iPhones and Android phones & I cannot stress how bad of an idea this is. These friends are not photographers trained to see intimate moments happening & if they do happen to see it, they usually see it too late as the moment has passed. At especially weddings & elopement, you cannot ask the bride, groom, or priest to redo the “you may now kiss the bride” moment or even a small but simple coy glance between the couple.
Having a photographer who knows what moments are critical to the bride and groom is essential to capturing and documenting that special day for my clients. The old adage “You get what you pay for” holds true in hiring a professional photographer.
What happens in the background when you hire me as your photographer? These are the things you don’t see or hear about. You get someone who knows how to capture a good image with a mood that will fit what you want, to be able to see intimate moments and guide you in posing to flatter your look.
My camera has 2 SD card slots that automatically write to the 2nd card simultaneously as a backup, so if 1 card goes bad, I have a backup of the entire photo shoot on the second card. As opposed to a smartphone that may get damaged, lost, or stolen, you’ll never be able to get those pictures back.
However, it doesn’t stop there. Once I return to my office, I’ll immediately back up the entire photo shoot to my main pictures hard drive and then make another two backups to the second & third external backup drives. In the meantime, my computer will begin to clone an exact copy to the cloud.
That’s four copies of your photo shoot. As you know, computer files can get corrupt if there’s a system crash, but with four copies of your shoot plus the 2 SD cards I keep, until I make the final delivery to you, I have you covered to keep your memories safe. I’ll archive your memories for up to 2 years just in case something happens to your computer or mobile device. These services are included in my photo package pricing at no extra charge.
So this is my worth as opposed to a friend shooting your memories on their iPhone who probably won’t have your pictures a year from now if they lose or break or, worse yet, have their phone stolen. Not all professional photographers do what I do on backing up to multiple hard drives & archiving your photo session. This is the workflow that I follow in all of my photo sessions & this is my worth when you hire me as your photographer….Aloha
