Why Professional Photographers are Worth it!

Being in the photography business almost 3 years has been an amazing journey and a great accomplishment for me. I truly believe that the people I meet are the best clients anyone could ask for.

For the most part, someone will look at my work, book an appointment, complete their session, then purchase their chosen prints, and they go home a happy camper. Once in a while, though, a new client will express concerns about what they perceive to be the high cost of professional photography, and they wonder if it is really worth it.

And that’s when I say to them, “Maybe I can help you to better understand why professional photography really is ‘worth it’.”

Now, I don’t launch into a list of expenses that pro photographers have to cover just to stay in business. I don’t mention things like insurance, licensing fees, business taxes, equipment cost, software upgrades, photo lab costs, assistants, travel costs, equipment upgrades, editing and retouching time, continuing education, and advertising costs.

No, I don’t mention any of those things! But, I do tell them about September 16, 2004.

September 16, 2004 is the day that an emergency declaration was issued for the Florida panhandle, our home place. Schools, bridges, and airports were closed. The orders were given to evacuate immediately. A huge “cyclone” storm named Ivan was headed directly for us and expected to be devastating!

This was a weather event so severe that even calling it a mere hurricane wasn’t sufficient to describe it. The power it held was beyond any hurricane we had ever seen in our area. The beautiful Gulf Coast is surrounded by water, and we realized that nothing good could come from this.

As Ivan approached, we were not prepared for what was about to happen. Our lives would be forever changed.

A lot was going on the afternoon before this hurricane was due to make its grand entrance. We took the mandatory evacuation notice seriously. Our neighborhood was filled  with anxiety and a sense of necessary evacuation. As I packed my vehicle, I looked around and noticed all my neighbors were doing the same thing at the same time. PACKING!

As I watched my neighbors bring their valuables out of their homes and into their vehicles, not knowing if there would still be a house standing when we were allowed back, I saw something I will never forget. We all brought the same things out of our homes! I didn’t see anyone taking gaming systems, stereos or furniture with them. I did not see any flat screen TVs or kitchen appliances being loaded. 

What I did see was that everyone was loading their vehicles with the framed family photos that they took off the walls and photo albums they had collected from previous years. I walked down the street curious about what everyone’s plans were, where they were going, what they were taking. They had their wedding and family albums and framed wall portraits ready to travel with them for safekeeping.

I walked over to my neighbor to see if I could help with anything. I said something about how we all seemed to be packing photos first. I noticed she had a couple photo albums on the hood of their car, waiting to be packed into a box. I said something to her about it and, and she picked one up. It was an album that was literally bursting at the seams. She opened it up carefully to show me it was filled with years of school pictures and kids in Halloween costumes, her kids taking their first steps and posing proudly on their first bicycle. And also, on the hood, there were shoe boxes full of photos from years of assorted family occasions. There was an old wooden frame with the last picture of her Grandma before she passed.

These were the items she was packing first, and then I understood.