For Better Or For Worse

Like most artists, I am sensitive.  My feelings get hurt and my heart gets broken, especially if a client leaves me for another photographer.  My studio is my art and my being, and I am attached to everything that comes with it.  I know that I am supposed to appear all-business, stoic, and impersonal, but it just isn’t me.  My heart is always on my sleeve, for better or worse.

My clients are so important to me for so many reasons, none of which are about money.  You will never, ever find me judging anyone based on how they are dressed or how much they have in life.  You can’t put a dollar sign on people and their little ones.  I love getting to know them and enjoy making a connection with them based on who they are, as well as enjoy hearing their personal stories of how they came to be in life and what commonalities we may have.  It is a discovery, and is very personal to me.  My greatest hope is for is for my clients to be happy with their portraits, and for them to have a warm, welcoming, positive experience.

Although it is rare, when someone leaves me for another photographer, it hurts.  It feels like being broken up with in a way.  I start to wonder if I wasn’t good enough, if I did something wrong, or if they liked another photographer better.  Although I know that there are many different reasons that people choose to go somewhere else, none of which have anything to do with me as a person or my talent as an artist, it still stings. 

I opened up my full-service boutique studio to do the very best job that I could do, both artistically and interpersonally, from start to finish.  That has always been who I am, even as a young girl:  to do the very best that I can do.  I fully realize that I don’t have to go through the time-consuming retouching process; I could show portraits to clients via online proofing, rather than help them through the ordering process at their viewings; essentially, I could farm them in and out like McDonald’s customers.  That, however, would not feel right to me. It wouldn’t be even close to the best that I could do for my clients who deserve the very best.

When I left home and opened my studio, I knew that I wanted to take on fewer clients and provide more services, with artistic excellence, and with heart, but without price gauging.  I wanted to spend time with my clients and get to know them and their children.  Many of my people started with me when they were expecting their first child.  My dream was and is still to see many of those children into their senior photos. 

To facilitate that wish, I eliminated my minimum purchase, put all of my prices on a la carte (so that clients could get what they want, not what I want them to get), and started offering free sessions to repeat clientele.  My hopes were that they would visit me often and their children would look forward to seeing me.  This paid off…a hundred fold.  Clients are happier, I am happier, and, most of all, I feel satisfied that I am doing a wonderful job for people who mean a lot to me.

So, yes.  I wear my heart on my sleeve.  For better or worse.  I grow to care about my clients, and I fall in love with their children.  I can’t help it.  Sure, it leaves me open to getting hurt when people leave me...but my heart swells when they come back to me, only to coyly report that the experience with the other photographer, “just wasn’t the same.” 

Until next time,

Ona

"Amelia"