Last night on my way home from work I stopped by the grocery store and picked up a small bunch of daffodils. I know everyone does it, but I felt like photographing flowers.

This was a definetly a McGiver setup. For my light source I took a small desk lamp and set it up on some boxes. My backdrop were two navy blue towels draped over my full-length mirror and the the wood frame the mirror used to be in–but it fell apart–which were leaning against the wall. I then had two sets of boxes pilled up, one blocking the light from my backdrop and the other set blocking the light from flaring my lens. And don’t forget the vase that was sitting on a cardboard box. It was awesome.

For this shot, I had just moved my tripod or the flower, and was in the process of refocusing. I really liked the out-of-focus colorful shapes.

It’s funny how I often go into a shoot with a particular idea of what I want but my favorite shot ends up being something completely different.

In this digital age where everyone has digital cameras, scanners and home “photo printers”, when people upload their photos to a local drug store website and pick them up a few hours later, we hear this all the time – How in the world do Professional Photographers charge $55 for an 8×10 when they cost just $1.50 at the drug store?

Here’s why.

Simply put, you’re not just paying for the actual photograph, you’re paying for time and expertise. First, let’s look at the actual time involved. If you don’t read this entire page, at least read this first part.

For a two hour portrait session:
- one hour of travel to and from the session
- two hours of shooting
- 30 minutes of setup, preparation, talking to the client etc.
- 30 minutes to load the photos onto a computer (2 – 4 Gb of data)
- 30 minutes to back up the files on an external drive
- 3 – 4 hours of Photoshop time including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, saving a copy for print and a copy for the internet and backing up the edited photographs
- 2 – 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive their order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment and drop package off at Fed Ex.
- For local customers, we also print a set of all of their photos, and meet them at our studio to review the photos and place their order. Meeting and travel time averages 2 hours.
You can see how one two hour session easily turns into more than ten hours of work from start to finish. So when you see a Photographer charging a $200 session fee for a two hour photo shoot, you are not paying them $100 / hour.

For an eight hour wedding:
- I won’t bore you with the details, but an eight hour wedding typically amounts to at least two to three full 40 hour work weeks worth of time. Again, if they are charging you $4,000 for an eight hour wedding, you are not paying them $500 / hour.

Now for the expertise…

You can read the rest of the article here.

Here is the front

The view when you open the front flap,

Then open the right flap,

Then close it and turn it over,

I’d love to hear what everyone thinks

You are in luck! There are a few calendars still available for purchase. Below is a small sampling of images in the calendar.

If you would like to purchase a calendar, or two, or three, send an email to info@tameerenae.com. Please include how many calendars you would like and where I should send them to.

Calendars are available for $20 for the first calendar, and $15 each for every calendar thereafter.

Please send cash or check (made out to Tamee Renae Photography) to:  125 Near Court #518, Walnut Creek, CA 94596

But now I’m back in full gear! I’ve been looking for models so I can build upon my portfolio, working on pricing, and marketing. I’m currently working on creating wedding packages and a promotional piece to send to prospective clients. Below is the cover I will include in this piece–but it may change before I send it to press.

My new year’s resolution is to do more shooting for myself. It’s so easy to get caught up in work, but I am going set aside a day (or part of a day) every month to do some shooting for me. So far, that day of personal shooting hasn’t happened

I went to City Hall today and picked up a business license application, so I will soon be official!