The work you don't see...

I often see posts on "the biggest facebook group I'm in" of members dismayed by the price of professional photography. "How much????? For 30 minutes???" they'll type, when they see a photographer quote. Or "that's a ridiculous amount for one picture" or "why are photographers so greedy?". And then you get the "Does anyone know of a photoshoot not for stupid money? I only want one pic, will only take 10 minutes" requests. And as a photographer it's triggering!

People often think that the fee that you pay on the day for a shoot is for the time you spend with the photographer on that day, and if it was, then yes, it totally would seem overpriced. I get it.

But you're not just paying for that face to face time. Like any professional, luxury service, there's a lot more that goes in to it, and that's not even covering the expertise and experience of the person you are hiring.

Consider a newborn shoot with me. I'll have messaged with you explaining the service, offered advice and spent time scheduling the session with you. I'll have sent you a booking link, a prep guide and answered any questions. I'll have planned your session to be appropriate for all those involved depending on age and any additional requirements.

On the day of the shoot I'll make sure the studio is clean, set it up specifically for your session, moving furniture, lighting, equipment, backdrops. I'll have made sure all my kit is charged and ready to go. I'll have sent you a styling questionnaire and used this to style the session, pulling props and outfits and having all ready to use. I'll have heated the studio so it's toasty and cosy for your little one (or on the rare occasion in the summer when it's too hot I'll have fans on the blow).

We'll then have our time together- for a newborn shoot this can be anything from 1 to 3 hours depending on how settled your baby is. We often need to stop for feeds, nappy changes, settling and soothing and then of course posing baby safely takes time and simply can't be rushed. Toddlers can be difficult to engage and it often takes a fair amount of time and misdirection to get them to do what I need, and all this time adds up.

After the session it's back to cleaning, steaming, washing, disinfecting and packing away props and fabrics and backdrops until they are next needed. Packing away equipment, emptying bins, cleaning the bathroom, this is all part of my working day.

Then it's time to go digital! After every session I produce a personal online viewing gallery. I don't fully edit my images for the viewing gallery- if I did no one would ever get anything from me, I'd have no time for shooting! To produce the gallery I'll upload the images from my camera to my Mac, then back them up on two drives and online storage. I shoot the images in a format called RAW which allows for the maximum amount of digital information to be recorded. These then need to be converted to jpegs and I'll often sharpen them a little bit, maybe straighten them and crop some in a little. If I've taken group shots I'll often composite a few together to get an image where everyone is looking and engaged with pleasing expressions at the same time (extremely common when shooting younger siblings). For every hour in the studio I'm at least another hour producing the gallery. Yet more time.

Now it's time to choose! Clients often have questions about the selection process, extra purchases or setting up payment plans, and I'm here to help with it all, giving you my time to make sure you make the choices that are right for you. Every piece of correspondence you receive from me is written by me, sent by me. Every invoice, confirmation and query answered. It might seem like one little thing to you, but imagine the time it takes to do this for say, 40 clients every month? It's all time time time.

Editing is another big chunk that happens behind the scenes that you don't get to see. Smoothing non-permanent marks on almost everyones skin is time-consuming- nearly everyone who comes to me has a little pimple, a scratch, a bruise, a bogey up their nose, and these distractions take time to remove. There's also sharpening, curves, white balance, black and white conversions, cloning out distractions, extending backgrounds etc. to do. This is hours of work most people think just takes a click of a button, but nothing I do is automated.

Ordering prints, uploading your final images ready for download, or ordering your USB and transferring files and physically delivering this to your home address... even more of the hidden service most people don't even think about. And once it's all delivered? My work still isn't done- I'll check in with you that all is ok and hopefully get a lovely review from you too1 I constantly have to hustle to find new clients, keep in touch with existing ones, create social media content. keep on top of my website and SEO wiritng blogs like this that cover all the keywords so that beautiful people like you can find me for all of their photography needs.

You need to know I'm here for maternity photoshoots, newborn baby photoshoots, Family photoshoots, children's photoshoots, first birthday photoshoots, headshots, branding shoots, weddings photography, event photography, even pets, in Widnes, Cheshire, St Helens, Warrington, Frodsham, Runcorn, Prescott, Liverpool, Greater Manchester and all of the North West of England (if you know SEO you get this!).

Plus, I have business costs I have to pay no matter now much I work:

Insurance

Equipment

Website

CRM system

Online Storage

Photoshop subscription

Heating

Lighting

Petrol and travel

Cakes

Props

Postage

Bank charges

Card payment charges

Oh, and about 25% of everything paid to me goes off to the tax man/national insurance too.

So when you look at it like that, it's not just an hour, it's not just a quick click of a button, it's a full service, full time monster of a thing to deliver consistent work with friendly and personal customer service too! So for all of you who do get it and do value me and my time, thank you! I promise you I'm not asking "stupid money" I'm earning a living and running a business which has been ticking over nicely for over ten years!

Becca x