Personal Thoughts on Photography & Family

So I’ve been pretty busy lately.  In the last month, I’ve shot six family sessions, two newborns, a birthday party, and my son’s one-year photos.  It seemed like the shoot-edit-ship process was unending there for a while.  It became normal for me to spend a few hours most evenings on photography just to try to stay a little on top of it.  The photo shoots are fun…and editing the first five or so images from a session is kind of exciting…but after that, it feels like more of a job and it’s not so fun anymore.  (For every hour of shooting, there is probably 2 to 3 hours of editing.)  I also started to realize that I was taking fewer and fewer photos of my own family’s happenings.  To grab the camera again after just shooting for two hours to capture my kids wrestling on the living room floor seemed a bit exhausting…and then to have even more photos to edit…no thank you. 

Then something interesting happened.

I was all caught up with no sessions, or even personal photos left unedited.  Then this past weekend I had just one shoot scheduled, but due to weather, we decided to postpone it until next week.  So I had a whole weekend with no photos to edit!  And going into this week I was so excited to take candid photos of my own kids at home, unposed, just being themselves in their environment. 

Then there was this question that kept coming to mind as I enjoyed my editing-free weekend… “Stacey, why are you doing photography?”  And I couldn’t ignore it.  I had to begin to answer it.  And here’s what I came up with:

I enjoy the photography that I do because I appreciate how fast our children grow and change.  I know that through photos, we can preserve a tiny bit of who they are right now before they change again.  The photos we have had taken of our family are some of my most treasured possessions.  I enjoy being able to bless other families with photographs the same way we have been blessed by those who have photographed us. 

I enjoy photography because it is such a fun creative outlet for me.  In my past life I was a middle school teacher which, as I’m sure you can imagine, requires a fair amount of creativity not only in lesson planning but also in managing loads of hormone-crazy and awkward pre-teenagers!  Don’t get me wrong, staying home with a three year old and a one year old requires lots of creative energy too…but there’s something about spending time with another family and the challenge of being creative for someone else that seems to re-energize me. 

I am not doing photography to make money.  At least not yet.  To be perfectly honest, at this point my income is still working to pay for my equipment.  I know that at some point that will be paid for and what comes in through photography will be more of a blessing for my family but for now it’s not about the money.  I like being able to provide a family a full, personal, fun session without them needing to take out a small loan to afford it.

So, with all of that being said…I have made some decisions regarding Fall photo sessions.  I know we are approaching the busy seasons for family photographers.  But we’re also approaching a busy season for our family personally with a bunch of Fall birthdays, family visitors from out of town, a little one entering preschool, and a little one who’ll be walking any day now.  I want to make sure that I’m just as excited to pick up my camera for my family as I am for my clients.  Therefore, I am going to really limit the number of sessions I take on this Fall.  I will only schedule 4 standard sessions per month (August, September, October…we’ll see what kind of weather November gives us).  And then if things are going well, I may announce last-minute openings on facebook. 

I know that this decision means that I will have to say no to some of my clients…as much as I love to say yes, I need to make sure that I’m saying yes to my family first.  Thanks for understanding! 

<3

Stacey

My Mackenna...being mommy to her sweet baby, Anna!

2011 Kids!

I recently had a little contest on my facebook page, asking fans to guess how many kids I photographed last year (not including my own).  The answer: SIXTY!  That just blows me away.  Last year was quite a year for me.  It's been so much fun watching what seemed like an out-of-reach dream begin to turn into a reality!  How many people get to do that?!  Getting back to the 60 though...everyone of them beautiful, interesting, and fun!  Not one stinker, refusing to listen to the camera lady!  I loved every minute with every one of them!  Now what are your predictions for 2012?  My first 2012 session is coming up on January 28th! 

New for 2012--The Milestone Package

Are you expecting an addition to your family in 2012 or do you know someone who is?  This year I'm offering a milestone package that will include four complete photo sessions at various milestones during your little one's first year of life.  Each session will include a CD of 20-30 edited images.  The whole package is priced at $250 with an optional maternity session add-on for an additional $50.  BUT the first person to purchase the milestone package will get it for just $200!  Spread the word!  More information on the milestone package can be found here.

Always learning!

Since embarking on this photography journey a few years ago, I am constantly learning new things!  And I love it!  I've been wanting to learn how to do this for a while and finally found just the right step-by-step article to guide me through it.  These photos from my last photo session work perfectly in the template I created and I love how it turned out!  Will have to do some more experimenting to see just how creative I can get with this new skill!

Fall Family Sessions

Changing leaves, new school supplies, cooler weather...Labor Day weekend and the unofficial start of Fall is here!  Here are my available dates for Fall photo sessions.  Each date has a 9am session and a 10:15am session and includes a CD of 20-30 edited, high-resolution images.  Contact me via email (staceysutkowski@msn.com) or facebook to schedule your session!

Ready to ship!

So anyone who knows me well knows that I am not the type to just slap a CD in an envelope and throw it in the mail.  I threw around some different packaging ideas for my photo CDs and this is what I came up with.  I am pretty much in love with it...what do you think?

Summer Session Sale

July is coming to a close which means just one more month of summer, yikes!  For the month of August I've got three days available for short sessions at an amazing price!  Email me to schedule your session!  (By the way, this photo is one of my favorites of Mackenna from last summer...her very first popsicle dripping down her belly, and those eyes are honestly that blue with no photo editing...lucky girl!)