Hey Everyone!  I am sorry it has been a little bit quiet around here at LiLo Photography.  I have been busy re-doing my website and blog and doing all sorts of behind the scenes workflow and education things.  I have been working really hard to make sure that things are running smoothly over here and that when busy season comes I am ready and I can turn around photos more quickly and give better service to everyone.  Yay!!!

One of things I have been working on and thinking about is service.

We had our family photos done last fall.  It was right during my busy season and while I was happy with the photos I didn’t have time to do anything with them.  And I am embarrassed to say that my husband hasn’t even seen all of them.  I got to thinking….if I am a photographer and I don’t even put that much emphasis on my photos what about everyone else?  I was humbled and realized that I am not doing enough for my LiLo families.  I wonder how many of them get the online gallery, glance through them, feel overwhelmed and just leave them in their inbox only to be looked at again when they quickly have to make Christmas cards.  I don’t want that at all.  We all spend a lot of good money on getting photos done and then are guilty of just letting them live on our computer where no one sees them.

Like this fun photo.  How have I not shared this picture or printed it?  I love my silly boys!  Thanks @randyandashleystudios for this rare picture of me and my boyz.

Photo by Randy + Ashley, www.randyandashley.com

Just today I ran into one of my clients from the fall and she said “I really need your help picking out photos and figuring out what to do with our pictures.  I don’t even know where to start”.  I hear ya sister.  I used to feel the same way and I am a professional!!

I had another client tell me after our shoot in late December that a few days after our session she dropped her phone in the ocean and all of her pictures from the last year were GONE.  She was devastated but also so thankful that she had taken the time to get professional photos done so she at least had some pictures of her kids.

Another shocker was a recent letter I received from my local Costco saying that “Since the introduction of camera phones and social media the need for printing photos has steeply declined, even though the number of pictures taken continues to grow.  Therefore, we are no longer doing on-site printing”.  Can you believe that!?  There are more pictures than ever being taken but yet there are less and less photos being printed.

There is a staggering statistic out there that 99% of the photos taken will never be printed and will be lost forever.  99%.  What!?!  This generation is the most photographed generation in the world yet they say in 10 years they will have almost ZERO physical photos in their possession.  And that statistic is 3 years old.

Back when I had more time on my hands and I was a stay at home mom I used to love scrapbooking.  Remember those days?  I still do occasionally scrapbook as I try to keep up with the kids birthday books where I document their birthday parties each year.  The point is….my kids LOVE to look at their books.  They love to read what I wrote about them, what silly faces they made, the toys they loved and their friends when they were little.  It is tangible.  They can read it and look at it.  There is love in it.  They can see their Grandpa who passed away much too soon.  Those things are going away in our digital world and it makes me sad.

So I have decided to make a big shift in my business.  I want you to have books that your kids can look through and see your love in a tangible way.  I want you to have your family as artwork in your house.  Wouldn’t you much rather pay for artwork of your family than a painter or artist?

This shift is a little scary for me.  What if my clients don’t like it?  What if they just want the digital images?  What if I lose people (clients) that I dearly love because I am changing things?  All of these thoughts have been keeping me up at night.   Then I see my 9 year old pull out his baby book or birthday book and smile and laugh and we chat about him as a baby and I realize that I HAVE to do this.  I hope you will all be on board for this because it has become a passion of mine.  I want your family to see themselves in pictures around your house.  I want those to spark memories of love and fun and togetherness.  I have spent days and weeks becoming more educated about what products I can offer and how I can help people.  I don’t want you to not have any pictures of your children because your phone was run over by your car or because you dropped it in the toilet.

So here is the run-down.  My pricing is going down.  Yahoo!!  I will now be charging more like a “sitting fee” (see my website for specific pricing).  You still get a 45-60 minute session and 5 images (printable to size 8×10) and then also a post-session consultation.  We will get together a week or two after your session and I will show you your photos (and perhaps even serve you delicious cookies).  I will help you choose which photos are the “best” for your family and then help you decide what to do with those photos.  You will still have access to the digital files if you would like to purchase them but if you get what you need printed or in books or wall art then you don’t need the digitals.   Our parents and grandparents never had digitals because they didn’t need them.  They have the prints!  There has been such an emphasis on digitals that everyone has come to think they HAVE to have them.  It has become a Jedi Mind Trick because once you have those digitals that you HAD to have, you don’t do anything with them (I’m totally guilty too).

At our post-session consultation you will get to see a slideshow of your pictures in my cozy meeting space and get to see all of my products.  Then in about an hour you will have everything ordered and ready to display in your house.  No more paralysis by analysis and having a hard time choosing what you need.  I even have a program that allows me to show how canvases and sizes of wall art look on YOUR wall.  How cool is that??

The best news is that you can spend as little or as much as you want.  There is no set amount or limit that you HAVE to purchase.  I know that money can be tight but I also believe that everyone deserves beautiful pictures.  So purchase what you can afford and come back later if needed or save up and splurge or we can do a payment plan to help you get what you want.

I am here to serve you and help provide a tangible way for your kids to see their childhood for YEARS to come.

I am still working on narrowing down and ordering samples of all the beautiful products I will be ordering.   I have even met with a Colorado company that is going to make me some custom photo boxes and other custom products that you can’t buy anywhere else!  Once my product line is completely ready I will be doing another blog for you so you can see all of the beautiful things you can purchase.  I can’t wait!!!

Later this week on the blog I am going to show you the difference in ordering prints from a professional photo lab vs. 5 other local photo printers.  You aren’t going to believe the difference.  Stay tuned and thanks for reading all of the way to the end of this blog.

*As a reward for making it to the end…..there is still time to book your session in the “old pricing”.  You can book your $400 regular session (including all of the digital files on an online gallery and USB) until March 31 (requires a $50 deposit and MUST be scheduled by 3/31).  New pricing and structure goes into effect April 1st.

Thanks for being so loyal to me!!  And check out my Instagram stories later to see some of the fun books I have made for my kids.