Getting memorable shots of your baby as he grows should not be such a hassling task. Really. You are a busy parent and you don't need this stress. Thus why Amkar Photography is enthusiastic about its brand of portrait photography. I like to think of it as the Naturalistic In-Home Hassle-Free Mentally Non-Taxing portrait session. There are quite a few perks to adopting this trend in professional portraiture and ditching the retail portrait studio altogether.
Secondly and most importantly, your child - the central focus and subject of this photographic event - is comfortable. Some parents don't realize that children can perceive such things, but there is a very significant aesthetic/mental connection that your child has with his own home. If you take him to a loud, busy studio with scary black curtains and huge spider-like tripods and that frightening squeaky clown some stranger is shoving into his face commanding him to smile, then you've got a few things to learn about the way a child's mind processes unfamiliarity. It's simply because he feels insecure in this space and has no idea what else to think. Your home is familiar and safe to him. If he doesn't feel right, he can toddle back to his room and play with his favorite toys... and I can get some authentic child-in-his-play-world shots. The retail portrait studios got nothing on childhood authenticity.
Thirdly, your client satisfaction experience. When everyone and their mother goes to the retail portrait studio, you get a photographer who is there working an hourly shift during which she has to satisfy a fairly large client base daily. She oftentimes doesn't have time to give you and your child the attention and direction you really deserve because she knows she has to fit you in before her next customer (and get you out quick cuz she's tired of your crabby kid). She may be a semi-seasoned photographer, but all she really has to work with in her time frame is pre-determined poses that look the same for every child. It's like a factory: come in, sit down, look here, face there, chin up, hand here *flash!* you're done. Come buy some prints and products. (Do you even want all those prints?)
This is all fine if you want the wham bam stereotype pose experience. But if you're the person I envision you to be... the cherishing mother who simply wants a memory of her child shaking hands with his invisible friend, or the fun loving father who will cry when he's 50 to stumble upon a photo of him and his 3 year old daughter having a tea party together... then you'll need to look somewhere else for someone who can read you as a being of emotion, not just a formulaic "family shape" sitting on the carpet hump in a retail studio. (Ever wonder if they clean those carpets?)
Lastly, don't shop for portraits based on price. Remember that what you pay for is what you get. Good photographers will not be super cheap, but you don't want them to be either. They know the value they can provide to you, and truly, that value is priceless. It comes down to Memories. Covering the growth of your child is in the same league as covering your wedding day. It only happens once and it happens quickly. Afterward, what will you have to remember it?
Also of note, most retail portrait studios offer you a low-resolution disc of your images which they disclaim is "for web use only". Ok... once you've slathered them all over your Facebook wall, then your newer updates keep pushing them down further and further into the "old post abyss", where do they go? They get sucked into Internet Oblivion, that's where they go. No sir! When you want memories, you want to be able to print them out and give them to people who will frame them and put them in books or on walls. You cannot print low-resolution images yourself. They will be a blurry, pixelated mess if you enlarge them. Sorry! And have you tried going back to a retail portrait studio years later to get a re-print of something? Umm, no. Sorry, they will not keep your stuff that long. And what if your child stands on top of your disc and pivots around on it with the data side facing down on a concrete floor? That is tough luck for you. Your Family on the Floor in the Mall Portrait Studio images are gone forever. Good thing I back up all my client photos indefinitely... specifically for those "My son boiled my disc to see how it would melt" moments. You know kids, they're scientists. Every one of them.
Amkar Photography offers maternity, baby, family and senior portraits for just $200 per session. That includes a 1 hour session, an in-home visit or outdoor location, no image limit, online gallery and high-resolution rights-released high quality DVD in a keepsake case. I also offer albums and canvas gallery wrap wall decor.
Check out my availability and schedule your session today!
