Cattlehearding in Photography....

If you have grown up around the agriculture industry like myself you will fully understand my analogy between the "portrait studio in a box" and herding cattle.  Let me explain what I mean to the rest of ya'll!  Last night I allowed my children and my nieces and nephews to go and get their pictures taken together at a little place called Portrait Innovations, you have probably heard of it since it is the nation's largest portrait chain.  Gasp, you say if you are a photographer or if you are a lover of fine photography which of course I am, but I must say photographing your own family is right up there with the most "gag me with a spoon" thing a photographer can do, not all the time,  but when there are kids of certain ages in the family.  My oldest nephew is at the age where he is too cool for school and Aunt Landi knows nothing, and my older daughter along with her cousin of a same age smile like dorks, or not at all for their mother, so I gave in and said let's just let them have their picture at the photo in a box for my sanity and their's.

I haven't been in to one of those places lately and I have wondered why they have been taking so much business from us perfectionist photographers this year, so what better way than to go find out.  I must point out though that I did work at Family Photo in Amarillo while I was studying photography at Amarillo College a couple of years ago.  I will say that I know for a fact that if you want to be a photographer you can "get your chops" at a photo in a box.  I was one of the oldest photographers at Family Photo when I was there, with the lovely 18 year old's that really enjoyed putting me in my place...God Bless them.....but never the less I stuck it out and by golly I learned something.....how to pose large families quickly, how to pose really well if I have to, and customer service.  I don't regret for a minute my time there, I worked my butt off, and so do the little fly by night photographers there, especially during the holiday season.  When I was there they were scrambling to try to compete with Portrait Innovations, the national chain, and of course they took a hit, but they are all still in business, and this year probably doing really well, for one reason...everyone is broke. 

Unfortunately, I think people are forgoing professional photography and opting for the cheap quick version because this year everyone is feeling the pain of money spent in the past, and the first thing to go is luxury items such as photography.  Which in turn makes us professionals broke because we aren't working as much.  Many professional photographers are trying to figure out how to compete, and really I must say we can't.  We just paid $100.00 for a million pounds of photos and the disk for them, I can't compete with that.  For their $9.99 special I can't even pay my shipping and handling fees and then get all the prints they include, no way.  But one thing that you forgo when you choose a place such as that....quality.  They do not edit photos, so if you don't get what you want you can try again with another photographer, but there will be no art about it.  The cheese factor, you will get all of that and then some.  Quantity, you will get that, but who in the heck needs a million photos of the same image, some of you, but if you are my clients, I know it isn't you.  I will honestly say that my clients do not ever go for packages, they always want the control to choose what they want, and professionals give you that option.  Also, passion, I will say that when you work in a "photo in a box" that you are tired by the end of the night and you are shooting someone new every 15 minutes or so, so you are not really caring about making it look like art at the end of the day.  Sorry that is the hard truth, and some of the photographers are just there because it is a job, not their passion, so if you must, ask for a senior photographer specifically...oh great how I am giving you insight into the inner workings of the cheap photo place....stupid me, but if you are gonna go there you will, I can't stop you, I didn't even stop myself.  Here are some more hints....don't go when your baby needs a nap and expect the poor photographer to make the kid smile.  Don't threaten to spank or beat your children before they are photographed, don't even glare at them, leave the room if you are a control freak parent.  Oh did I say that, yes I did and most of that applies to professional photography as well.  If you want the great smiles just leave the room when your toddler is playing control freak with you, they will smile perfectly for us strangers most all the time.  Okay no more tips on that, but I must say one thing that never changes about the cheap photo places....feeling like you are being ran through a shoot like a bunch of cattle.  There is nothing personal about it.  Please remember that professional photographers strive to keep you as clients forever, and we not only want to give you art, we want you to feel like you are important to us, and you are, we do this for a living.  I wish I could just give it away to everyone, but I am guessing you wouldn't go to work everyday for free either.  Yes it is a job for us, but it is also our passion, and you won't find that in a cattle shoot!  Long live the professional photographer!!!!