Behind enemy lines...my personal experience with chain store photography!

As a custom photographer, I am compelled to admit that I have stood behind enemy lines. Believe it or not, I have even fired a shot or two.

You may be wondering exactly what I’m talking about. No, I am not a soldier. I am also not in some crazy street gang. I, my friends, once took a job as a chain store photographer. You see, I was at a transitional phase. I had an eight month old baby boy, we had recently moved back to my hometown, AND I was four months pregnant. Being pregnant I knew I didn’t want to go back to a full time job just yet. I merely wanted to get out of the house a little and do some kind of job that I thought would be fun. This is how I started my job as a seasonal chain store photographer.

Now, to get to the point of my post, a lot of people question what the BIG difference is between a chain store photographer and a custom photographer? As someone who has been on both sides of the fence as both a photographer and a patron I wanted to let you all in on my perspective.

The biggest difference is not in price, but in value. The value of the customer, the value of the experience, and the value of the final product.

Let’s start with the value of the customer. When I worked at the chain store I usually worked a four hour shift. In those four hours I checked in, photographed, prepared photos, worked the sales counter, and ordered photographs for about 6-8 customers. We often ran late, sometimes by hours. We just filtered people in and out. If your kid wasn’t happy for the 15 minutes/20 photographs we were allowed to take you were simply out of luck.

As a custom photographer, I only schedule 1-2 sessions a week. I spend hours on each customer that I have. My time is spent on everything from correspondence, to shooting time, to meticulously editing/retouching, designing, and ordering. I try my hardest to make sure everything is perfect. If your kid is having a horrible day, I will take as much time as I need to get them comfortable and happy. I will even reschedule if it just isn’t going to work for them. This leads into the next point…

The experience. At a chain studio it goes something like this…You walk in, the ‘photographers’ are running late, you take a seat in the much too warm lobby. Your children were happy when you arrived, but by the time you get called back they are hungry and cranky. They spend their fifteen minutes photographing your children before they move you to the sales table. At the sales table it doesn't matter what you want or need. They don’t give up until they have sold you their largest package at retail price which happens to be 15x the price of that little coupon you got in the mail. What on earth are you going to do with 12 sheets of wallets?

With a custom photographer, the process is much more seamless. You arrive to your appointment and your photographer is ready. They devote the next hour or two making sure they captured your child and their true personality. After the session, you get to go home and rest while your photographer makes sure every photo is perfect. That drool running down Little Johnny’s chin surely ruined the photo with that perfect smile, right? Wrong. With a custom photographer they take the time to edit that out of your picture. It’s like it was never there. Your portrait is perfect!

Of course that brings us to the last and surely most important point...the final product. What do you walk away with?

I am going to let the pictures do the talking here. My apples to apples comparison: a two week old baby in Mommy’s hands on a black backdrop. On the left is my very own little guy taken at the chain store studio where I once worked. On the right is my very own creation as a custom photographer. For the record, I paid $15.98 ($7.99 for the portrait sheet and another $7.99 for them to hit two buttons titled 'sepia' and 'vignette') for an 8x10 of that picture on the left. So, which option is the true value? That is for you to decide.

**Disclaimer** Digital file of the chain store photo was purchased.