http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm Jurina Photography Blog en-us http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=76&little-johanna http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=76&little-johanna Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:57:00 GMT

]]> http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=75&a-meaningful-gift http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=75&a-meaningful-gift Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:40:00 GMT
Recently, we had the opportunity to get on the other side of the lens and get our own photos taken by the extremely talented, Alyssa Dixon of New Vida Photography. Now, I have taken lots and lots of portraits, and until recently, don't think I realized the extreme excitement that comes with seeing your own photo, and those of your loved ones taken by a talented photographer. These photos will be cherished for a lifetime! There is no value of money that I can place on how much meaning a photo of my family plays for me.

And then it hit me. This is why we do this. We value photography. We understand that good photography has tremendous value in preserving memories. And this is why I am writing this: To encourage you all to think of giving photography as a gift to your loved ones. There are very few things that you can give someone that can have such a lasting meaning, and can out-live the next trendy gadget or fad.

Many photographers (including Jurina Photography), offer gift certificates for their services. This holiday season, or anytime, consider a photography session for your family members or friends.

(Photo below courtesy of Alyssa Dixon of New Vida Photography)

]]> http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=74&david-k-senior-shoot http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=74&david-k-senior-shoot Sat, 19 Nov 2011 22:03:00 GMT Location: Hershey, PA
Notes: Not even a cold November morning could stop David from rocking his senior portrait session.

]]> http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=73&grant-y-senior-shoot http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=73&grant-y-senior-shoot Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:43:00 GMT Location: Hershey, PA
Notes: Who knew that a parking garage could produce so many fun photos? :-)

]]> http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=72&ethan-k-senior-shoot http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=72&ethan-k-senior-shoot Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:16:00 GMT Location: Harrisburg City and Capitol area
Notes: Great light, great company, and a few angry unemployed protesters equals a great senior session. Thanks, Ethan!

]]> http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=71&announcing-the-image-of-orphans-project http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=71&announcing-the-image-of-orphans-project Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:14:00 GMT
In recognition of the many orphans around the world who still need adoption, and the many families who have gone through the rigors of the adoption process, Jurina photography would like to announce the "Image of Orphans" project.

Beginning this year, we will be offering 5 free family sessions each year to families in the Lancaster, Harrisburg and Hershey area who has adopted a child in the past year. This service will be free of charge, and will include a 2-hour family photo session, CD of images from the session, and a print release. This offer is first-come-first serve to the first 5 families who inquire. This offer is completely free and comes with no obligations except the permission to allow us to share some of your family photos on our blog to celebrate the additions of your new family, and to promote the idea of adoptions to others in our community. For more information or to schedule a session, please contact us via e-mail.



]]> http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=70&boat-senior-shoot http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=70&boat-senior-shoot Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:30:00 GMT Location: Harrisburg Capitol Complex
Notes: Boat rocked his senior session on a beautiful November afternoon, and he did it all on turf paid for by Pennsylvania tax dollars. That's tax money well spent.

]]> http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=69&the-sattazahn-family http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=69&the-sattazahn-family Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:34:00 GMT Sattazahn Family. This time, we met up with them at Long's Park in Lancaster on a beautiful Fall morning with some excellent weather. Their son Austin, has gotten so much bigger since our last shoot with them, the photos show just a small part of the fun we all had.

Thank you all for a wonderful photo session!

]]> http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=68&the-manz-family http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=68&the-manz-family Sun, 02 Oct 2011 15:35:00 GMT

]]> http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=67&why-do-photographers-charge-so-much http://www.jurinaphotography.com/blog.cfm?postID=67&why-do-photographers-charge-so-much Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:55:00 GMT
As a disclaimer, I'm going to start by saying that I am in no way an expert in business or finance, and my ideas and formulas don't necessarily apply to photographers everywhere. My business is currently a supplement to a full-time job that I enjoy very much, and I am very fortunate to have such a situation in which I can do both. Because there are so many variables in running a business, let's just use a simple approach to things for this post.

Let's first begin with basic pricing. For a photographer to adequately price their work, there are many considerations to take into account: time, equipment expenses, traveling expenses, insurance, studio rent, marketing expenses, assistant costs, replacement and repair expenses, etc. All of these things can add up and if you are doing business with a partner or are planning to hire people to help you run your business full-time, then there is even more to add into the equation.

All of this makes sense, I'm sure, but none of this really gets down to why you're paying so much for prints and a sitting fee. Let me break it down from my own personal perspective to help you all out:

My current rate for a 2-hour portrait session is 225 dollars. One might think, "WOW! He's making 112.50 an hour!!!!" My response is, "Not even close." You see, into that 225 dollar fee, just for time would include the following: 2 hours of shooting, 2 hours of post-processing, my driving is usually from Lancaster to Hershey or Harrisburg (45-60 minutes each way), so that's 2 more hours of driving. Then there's the time involved in sorting the images and creating the CD or media disk with other paperwork (about an hour), and then we won't necessarily count the time needed to plan for the session and preparation that is needed to check and clean the equipment before and after the shoot. In total, an average photography session usually involves about 8 hours of work, and that's if it ends up being exactly 2 hours of shooting. So $225 divided by 8 is $28.12 an hour.

Okay, so maybe it's not 112 dollars an hour, but 28.12 isn't too shabby, right? Well, that's just an estimate of time. On top of this, we have to figure that I don't shoot a session a day. So what if I shoot one session a week? What does that pay? Well, if you take 40 hours and divide it into 225 dollars, I'm making about $5.63 an hour over 40 hours...and that's gross income with no expenses figured. Now minimum wage is starting to look pretty good.

Without getting into too much math, you can see that the earnings of a photographer are pretty thin. My specific case doesn't really even touch on all of the expenses of a full-time photographer, which makes the situation even scarier.

Another area to bring up is quality. The one thing that many people seem to overlook is quality of images. You get what you pay for. Any artist, craftsman, or skilled person will tell you that if you want talent and quality, then you will have to pay for it. A good photographer is going to charge a good price for their knowledge and experience. Their education and experience are what allows them to give you their very best. Sure there are some that maybe charge too much, and even more that charge too little, but there is a whole lot of difference between a wedding photographer who charges 10,000 dollars and one who charges 100 dollars.

Lastly, I'd like to add that there are very few photographers that are in it for the money. The truth is, many of us in this industry love what we do. We love knowing that we can help to capture memories and moments that our clients will cherish for years to come. We love the relationships that we build with our clients, and the things that we learn to help our clients enjoy a better experience.

Well, this was a really long post, but I hope that it helps someone out there who has been wondering about the cost of photography. Like I said, there are many more factors involved that I probably have overlooked, but at least we covered a few here today. Thanks for reading!


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