It has come to my attention that my contact form wasn’t working for several days—I was not getting some contact information at all, and so I didn’t know that some of you were trying to get a hold of me.  Additionally, some of the forms came through incomplete.  For instance, I know that one of the nice ladies who I asked about having her daughter model for me, sent me an email, but it wouldn’t open–it only had a simple subject line.  Please, if you see this post, and you tried to reach me, but didn’t get a response, try again.  I do my best to respond to all client inquiries and other questions within 24hrs.  The problem should be fixed now, so drop me a line and let’s try this again!  Thank you so much for your understanding and patience.

–Sincerely,

Your frazzled photographer. 

Here is the scoop.  I love the holiday season.  I mean I absolutely love it.  I love bundling up against the cold, and coming home to a warm house that smells of a hearty dinner or of goodies from my husbands latest baking bend.  I enjoy the music, the fun, and the focus on giving to other people and appreciating those in your life.  I love that in spite of all the commercialism, the season still reminds people to count their blessings, and to think of how they can give back to others.

I had originally planned on offering a simple package that was the same for everyone.  Then I got to thinking that everyone is different and has different desires and needs from their portraits and so I changed it up.  In the spirit of the season, I have dropped the base package to an all time low price and given some generous options to customize from there.  So, What am I offering, well,  Here is the basic offer (on the left) and the options to customize and upgrade too (on the right).

Let me give you some of the details.

The base package is meant to cover your, well, basic holiday needs .  There is enough in there for you to update your family portrait, send holiday cards to your loved ones, and give the perfect gift to Grandma and Grandpa with some pictures of their favorite kids to spoil–yours.    You get a selection of 10-15 images from your session to choose your one portrait image from.

What, one image you say!  But what if I want more variety?  Well, that is where the Options come into play.  Each Option (A., B., and C.) clearly states the number of additional images that you get to take home.  You still get to choose from the same great selection of 10-15 images from your session, but now, instead of taking home one image for your portraits and cards, with the addition of a single Option, you get to take home up to 3 or 4 images on a whole bunch of different items that are perfect for the holidays.  Still want more? Purchase as many Options, or as many of the same Option as you want!

On top of all that, if you purchase an Option, you get the added flexibility of mixing and matching how you use those images between all of the products that you are getting any way you want.   The only limitation is that each set of 8 wallets must be the same pose–other than that, feel free to play!

What is this that I see about getting to take home digital files???  Simply put, I’m trying to reward my best customers and I chose to do this by offering an amazing deal.  Every client that chooses to pre-purchase any of the options, becomes qualified for the right to purchase ONE digital image as an additional Option (Option D.).   This one digital file is available  as an add-on Option for $130 and you get to keep ALL the products in the base package and other Options that you purchase.

My VIP option is by far the Best Deal.

V.I.P. Option
You must pre-purchase this option. For $498, you get to make a huge upgrade from the normal mini session and options and take home 5 digital images from your session instead. You will also get an additional 10-15 minutes of shooting time in your session. On top of that, I will still gift you with 24 custom holiday cards and allow you to get a second set of 24 cards, or 50 gift tags, for $36.

This is a great value and a great opportunity.  Usually digital files aren’t even available to purchase until my clients have already invested $712 (session fee and min $500 purchase) and then they price at $250 a la carte.  Here you are getting the images with no session fee, and for less than $100 an image–and you’re still getting custom cards to go with it!  The normal value of this is more than $1300.   I would love it if you took advantage of this opportunity because while next year I will still run a holiday special, I doubt it will be this generous.

Giving Back:

In the true spirit of the season I am doing a food drive for a local battered women and children shelter.  For every can of food that you bring in, I will give you $2 credit towards your mini session.  The maximum credit I am able offer regular customers is $20, however V.I.P. customers can get a maximum credit of $36.  Please, though, even though I can’t offer any more off than that, don’t let that put a cap on what you donate.  If you want to make a difference in the lives of some women and children who desperately need it, please bring as many cans of food as you feel you can donate.

Additionally, they always need books and toys for the children as well as blankets and bed linens.  Even if you don’t choose to do a Holiday Mini Session with me, you can still make it easy on yourself and let me do the work of organizing, transporting, and the like by using me as your donation drop off point.  If you are doing a session with me–talk to your neighbors and friends and see if they have a donation they are willing to give.  Remember the whole reason for our holiday season and jump in to make a difference—if not with me, then find someone, or someway to give back and make someone else’s life better.  You will never regret that you did.

Did I mention that they are a completely stunning couple and belong on the cover of a magazine, and not just my little blogsite?

Photographing them was a ton of fun.  They seemed to have fun no matter what we were doing.  It was like watching a  couple of little kids play—of course that could be because they really did spend a lot of time playing.

See?

….more playing.    Of course, they kept sneaking moments to smooch.

I know I am posting it small here (because I wanted to show the series of interaction between them) BUT..the bottom picture of this set is one I would blow up big on my wall if it were an image of my husband and me.  I LOVE it.  Why?  I love story it tells.  Just look at everything they are communicating right there–to each other, to us.  It was a truly beautiful moment and I am ssssoooo happy I was able to capture it for them to keep.

I think that S must feel very loved indeed.  J would often just stop her in what she was doing to gently cup her face and gaze at her.  I saw a range of looks on his face as he did this on and off through their session–everything from fun teasing looks before he would harass her in some way to protective and cherishing.  And sometimes passionate looks would find their way in there too, which gave me some great opportunities……

to get some images of them sharing kisses that were a bit more deeply felt than the sweet smooch on the swing earlier.  Their wedding is going to be a simple outdoor beach wedding, so I think it is appropriate that nature provided them a natural arching cathedral complete with backlit trees for their engagement pictures too.

S, J, you are great people and from as much as I can tell, perfectly suited for each other.  S, I look forward to getting to know you better.  J,  I’ve known you for enough years now to be able to tell she makes you genuinely happy.  I’m glad you’ve found such a wonderful partner.

Thanks for spending the afternoon with me and I hope your date at the opera was wonderful.

Sonny was getting ready to deploy to the other side of the world for a year, and I was privilaged enough to be able to take their pictures before he left so that they both have some beautiful images to look at while they are separated to help them remember how great their other half is.   They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder and I am sure that this is exactly the truth for these two.

Thank you both for trusting me with taking pictures that capture such an important time in your lives.  I loved working with you both, and Sonny, you stay safe and get home as soon as you can.

I love that it is so obvious they enjoy simply being around each other.

Are they sweet or what?

It was such a nice day and I’m pretty sure there were at least a couple of times where they completely forgot I was there they were so wrapped up in each other.

See what I mean?

I loved seeing the quiet little moments between them.

This was followed shortly by a little bit some serious goofing off but they were great about sharing some of their smiles with me too.

See, great smiles–and can you just see the pride in her face?  I swear she was thinking “Yup, I caught me a good one!” although I freely admit she probably phrased it better than I just did ;^D

And another sweet moment as even when she was caught in thought, you can tell she is loving being in his arms.

Thanks again you two for letting me spend part of your day with you.  I hope you love your pictures.

]]> http://www.momentsrememberedphotography.com/2009/10/goodbye-kisses-bowie-couples-photography/feed/ 10 http://www.momentsrememberedphotography.com/2009/10/holiday-mini-sessions-coming-soon/ http://www.momentsrememberedphotography.com/2009/10/holiday-mini-sessions-coming-soon/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:11:39 +0000 Melissa http://96.30.18.20/~momentsr/?p=59 Keep an eye out for our Holiday Mini Sessions:  I will have a great deal put together for you so you can get some family portraits, holiday cards to send everyone this year and show your family off as well as several GREAT gift ideas for everyone on your shopping list!  We will be offering several dates and a couple of different locations that will be perfect and absolutely beautiful–especially with the fall colors starting to show!

Holiday Mini Session information will be posted by the end of this week.   Start looking at your calendars and thinking about when to schedule your session now.

Also, I have had several inquiries about prices for our packages, prints, and even about digital files for purchase. I am in the middle of restructuring prices and products and am working very hard to get it all done.  I will have all my prices posted on or before October 15th but don’t hesitate to contact me in the meantime as I will be happy to answer your questions before then too.  And just to make it easy, I’ll add my contact info here so you don’t have to go looking for it

Melissa Richardson
808.990.4088
(Texts Welcome!)
or
MelissaRichardson@momentsrememberedphotography.com