Making photography a priority in these times

Yesterday I had the pleasure of photographing return clients, Zach and Vanessa and their two children in my Seattle Studio. I photographed Vanessa pregnant with their first, and then photographed the three of them once the baby came. The photographs were beautiful and they hang all over their house.

Vanessa got pregnant with her second right in the midst of the recession when everything went to hell. Zach was a mortgage broker, a very successful one, but even he was feeling the squeeze. So they decided not to have maternity portraits for the second baby. Vanessa was devastated but understood. After the baby was born, they wanted to have family photographs taken. Vanessa kept saying, "Zach we have to go back to Jennifer," because their gallery of photographs didn't contain the new baby. But they held back. A friend of theirs who was a photographer gave them a gift of some pictures.

"They were fine," said Vanessa, "but they just weren't the same, you know?"

Vanessa whispered, "Zach said to me, we really need to go back to Jennifer. It isn't fair to Madison if she doesn't have great photos of her. There really is a difference." Vanessa told me this story because she said she wanted me to know that Zach realized how important it was to have me capture this time in their children's lives and how you can't get back those years. She told me how Zach realized that taking photography of your children is a priority. Zach walked in and sat down in the living room of my studio and said "yes, your photography is a total priority. You don't have to order $3000 worth of prints now. We can always come back later, but at least you have the photography done and the kids captured."

This is an important point. If you don't have the money to order prints now you can later. We archive your images forever. I store your negatives in archival sleeves which are in archival envelopes. And we do see many parents calling in for new orders months even years later. Until I heard Zach say this, I never though about it, but yes you can always order prints. Just take the photos. Just take the photos. You won't regret it. This is a brief and fleeting time in your or your child's life.

Thanks Vanessa and Zach for telling me that story.