Christmas Special!!!!! - York region Portrait Photographer

(Prints and High res images are not included with session fees.  Session fees include time, talent, and processing of images with an online gallery for 10 days.  Orders MUST be placed in this time.  This ad does not have cash value.  This offer is only valid on family portraits up to 4 people.  Additional members are $25.00 each.  No travel fees pertain to this offer unless travel is over 10 kilometres from the studio).

Don't forget the gift of Photography is always a perfect gift for family and friends!  How does a gift get any better than custom art!

The French Doogy - York Region Portrait Photographers

Norwalk has hit our house hold this weekend so while I'm quarantined to the house it has given me time to learn my new equipment in between bleaching everything, LOL.

This is the frenchie in her socks she has a yeast infection in the wrinkle of her face which is very itchy so while it is being treated she wears her pink socks.

Taken with 5D MrkII with 70-200 2.8 IS and off camera 580 EXII.

Very cool I've been waiting for this equipment for a very, very long time!

Vision Art Book On It's Way!!! - York Region Wedding Photographer

Take a look this is the new 10 x 10 Vision Art Book Sample coming I am told in about 2 weeks.  We are so excited because we think you will be blown away by the results.  These are the spreads as designed by us and the fabulous thing about these new books is they lay completely flat so no more gutters meaning more image enjoyment and presentation.  We will keep you posted as to when the sample arrives so if you want to make an appointment to come check them out you are more than welcome.

Stay Tuned!

Something to Laugh At! - York Region Portrait Photographers

For those of you who have had studio sessions you may or may not have met miss Cleo our hairless cat. If you have met her you understand how much of a character she is. Well take a look at what she was up to the other night after dinner! Yes I am sure most will find this some what gross and yes we felt the same but we found the cat in the very warm skillet after it had been used for dinner and couldn't help but laugh!

In the winter Cleo can get pretty desperate to find heat but this was a whole new level and we thought we would share to hopefully bring a laugh to you as well.

  

The Jackson Family - York Region Portrait Photographers

This session was incredible and done with my oldest and dearest friends in my favourite location. Talk about a fantastic recipe for creating something special!

The below panoramic images (they present small here but stay tuned as we add them to the website) are something we have kept under wraps for a few months and this is the first release of this new innovative idea. Panoramic images have incredible potential and we love them so much we are now going to include them as a session onto their own. Stay tuned to see even more and some of the off the wall ideas we have. The Jackson's wanted something artistic so I felt they were my first perfect subjects.

Let us know what you think we are so excited with this idea but we want your feedback as well!

Happy New Year - Toronto Wedding Photographers

Happy Happy New Year to everyone!!!!

It was another fantastic Year in 2009 and I have really enjoyed seeing you all again and meeting new clients. We introduced many new products that you are all starting to take advantage of and we are feeling good about them.

So what's next for 2010 you ask? Well Photography by SSV is turning 4 on January the 4rth so that is exciting. I am still madly in love with creating imagery I think even more so now than before. This year we are going to continue to travel into the realm of unique out of the box imagery. I am simply in love with creating images and portraits that are very different?!

In 2010 we are going to step even further outside the box and offer a really cool take on the family portrait so wait to see that. January and February are going to be the months we develop this idea further so stay tuned for that!

Weddings - We are still going to focus on taking a limited amount of commissions for weddings this year. We love being apart of your day but it is also a large amount of work and we want to keep enough time open to dedicate the time you deserve after the big day is over and still fully service our portrait clients. This means we will only be taking on 1 -2 weddings a month (must be small to consider 2). So if you are interested in us to artfully capture your day do inquire soon to make sure you get us for the date you require.

If you have any questions about wedding day coverage do always feel free to contact us. We are very easy going and we do not use high pressure sales we are here to lend advice and get you on the right track to making your day the best it possibly can be. So in a half shell ask away that is what we are here for!

I think this wraps up my final post for 2009 but hey if you have any ideas you would like to see or have us offer contact us to let us know. We love to hear from you!

Olympic Torch Comes to Aurora! - York Region Photographers

This was a BLAST! The moment the torch came through it was utter mayhem and was such a rush to capture! It was cold cold cold but so much fun and incredible to be apart of. Thank you to the Town of Aurora for choosing me to capture such an historic event it was truly an honour!

Congratulations!!!!! - Aurora Portrait Photographer

Congratulations to the award recipients of the Arts and Culture fund! We would like to thank the town of Aurora for choosing us to photograph this years awards.

The Olympic Torch is coming to town on Friday! We are very excited to cover this event for the town and we will see you out there!

The Pickford Children - York Region Child Photographers

Oh my gosh talk about beautiful children! I had a blast yesterday working with this family they were so well behaved! Enjoy your sneak preview and I'll be in touch with the rest soon!

The Work and Business Behind Taking Pictures - York Region Professional Photographers

Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?

In this digital age where everyone has cameras, scanners, and home "photo printers," we hear this all the time: How do professional photographers charge $X for an 8x10 when they cost just $5.50 at the drugstore? Simply put, the customer is not just paying for the actual photograph; they're paying for time and expertise.

The average one-hour portrait session
(some are 2 - 3 hours)

First, let's look at the actual work involved:

• Marketing
• Travel to the session
• Setup, preparation, talking to the client, etc.
• Shoot the photos
• Travel from the session
• Load images onto a computer
• Back up the files on an external drive
• 8 - 12 hours of Adobe® Photoshop® time, including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, and backing up edited photographs. Keep in mind we at Photography by SSV give you proofs in Colour, B/W and in artistic tones. Each proof is hand touched.
• Upload time to private galleries.
• 2 - 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, get reprints done if originals are not up to snuff, package prints, schedule shipment, and ship.
• Possibly meet clients at the studio to review photos and place order. Meeting and travel time average 2 hours.

You can see how a one-hour session easily turns into a 3 - 4 day job or more from start to finish. So when you see a professional photographer charging a $200 session fee for a one-hour photo shoot, the client is NOT paying them $200 per hour.

The Eight-Hour Wedding

A wedding photographer typically meets with the bride and groom several times before and after the wedding. And it’s not uncommon to end up with 1,000 - 2,000 photos, much more than a portrait session. Many photographers spend 40-60 hours working on one eight-hour wedding if you look at the time that is truly involved. Again, when a wedding photographer charges $4,000 for eight hours of coverage, clients are NOT paying them $500 an hour!
(Don’t forget that the photographer runs the wedding day to some extent. A comfortable, confident wedding photographer can make a wedding day go more smoothly.)

The expertise and cost of doing business

Shooting professional photography is a skill acquired through years of experience. Even though a DSLR now can costs under $1,000, taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.

Most professional photographers take years to go from buying their first camera to making money with photography (5 - 7 Years). The costs of equipment is enormous with each lens costing $1000 - $2500 plus. In addition to learning how to use the camera, there is a mountain of other equipment and equipment replacement plus software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website, etc. And don’t forget backdrops, lights, props, rent, utilities, insurance, etc!

In addition to the financial investment, photographers actually have to have people skills to make subjects comfortable in front of the camera. Posing people to look their best is a skill by itself. You could argue that posing is a more important skill than actually knowing how to use the camera. A poorly exposed photo can be saved, but a badly posed photo cannot.

Comparing Apples to Apples Not Apples to Oranges
The chain store photo studio

Chain stores do have their place. For a very cheap price you can run in, shoot some quick photos, and be done with it. But you get what you pay for.

Consider the time and effort that a professional photographer puts into photographs, compared to a chain store. Store sessions last just a few minutes, while a personal photographer takes the time to get to know the people, makes them comfortable, makes them laugh and coordinates and tailors a session to your family's personal style. If a baby is crying at a chain store, they often don’t have the time (or the patience) to wait because everyone is in a hurry where as your professional photographer will wait and give baby the time they need.

The truth is that many chain store studios lose money. In fact, Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios in 2007 because of the financial drain. What the chain stores bank on is a client coming in for quick, cheap photos…and while there, spending $200 on other items. They are there to get you in the door.

Your Professional photographer is a different business. They are there to produce and give you the art and high quality you were hoping to receive in your imagery. The investment into a professional is like an investment into an artist, photography is simply the medium that person has chosen to creatively output.

The real deal

Professional photographers are just that—professionals. No different than a mechanic, dentist, doctor, or electrician. But a professional photographer often becomes a friend, someone who documents a family for generations with professional, personal photographs of cherished memories.

Purhaps you could look at it this way: A pair of scissors costs $1.50 at the drugstore. Still, most people will gladly pay a lot more to hire a professional hair dresser to cut their hair.
The added attention and quality that a personal photographer gives is worth every penny.

Conclusion

We hope that those who have taken the time to read this page will have a better understanding of why professional photographs, created by a Professional Photographer are so expensive.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Slideshows No Available!!! - Toronto Family Photographers

Check these out. This a quick sample I made of our new Slideshows. They are available for purchase on DVD and you will be able to play them at home on your computer or television. Files are not printable in size it's purely for your digital enjoyment.

Gifts for Christmas - York Region Wedding Photographers

So I bought one of these sets and I simply love them. I love them because they are a nice quality and would make a great small gift to mom and dad after your family portrait session especially for the holidays. The set comes with 6 glass coasters and your own images can be inserted for a really nice look. I am going to retail these for $45.00 and that includes 6 different images from your own portrait session (one for each coaster). What is also nice is you can change the images out through out the years. I'm only going to give them a try for this Christmas season to see what you think.

Hassani Family Portrait - York Region Family Photographers

This was another great session with Dr Hassani's family on a Sunday afternoon. Enjoy and I look forward to photographing the baby!

Little Model - York Region Child Photographers

Ah I LOVE this little boy! This was my third session with the little boy and first with his sister, just amazing to work with, both of them. I think this little boy may be a budding photographer or a business man because he knows how to negotiate already like a pro. For every shot I took he wanted to take one himself, LOL. Mom I think you may also want to sign him up as a Ben Sherman children's model for the time being he would be perfect!

What do you think... Model???? This little one in his awesome fedora and argyle Ben Sherman sweater SO CUTE!

Sunday Morning Fun - York Region Area Photographers

This one of our Mothers Day session specials and was so much fun! I have really wanted to use the graffiti in Fairy Lake for some time and I'm so glad the Smith family was up for it. Thanks girls for a great morning!

Portrait session with the Lewis Family! - York Region Family Photographers

I had the pleasure of working with the Lewis and Lemanna family this past weekend and had a great time doing so. This session was donated to Habitat for Humanity for their Wine and Cheese fundraiser at Eaton Hall and the Lewis family won the bid! It was a fantastic afternoon and I hope you all enjoyed your experience.

Fall/Winter Pricing now Available and New Products!

So I made the decision to add a new line of wedding albums! They are incredible and are called Vision Art Album. I am also in the process of adding the Finao album line which is ultra cool and will really suit city weddings! So exciting. Of coarse we still offer the incredible Cypress Album did you know they just provided folios for Obama's inauguration! I told you they were the best and simply stunning!


Another release is a new product line of personalized bags! Add one of the photos from your session to create a one of a kind piece to carry with you. There are tons of styles to choose from, purses, diaper bags, backpacks, beach bags, pillows the list goes on. Studio samples are on their way as we speak so you will be able to check out samples shortly. This is a sample image below (not a photo from Photography by SSV, simply a temporary fix) of the sample bag that will arrive. This bag comes in small, medium and large and will retail for between $90.00 and $130.00. You can also upgrade these to leather!

Also Wedding and Portrait Pricing is now available for the 2009/2010 fall winter season! Contact us for details.