FIRST CAKE SMASH, EVER. But why is it "so expensive?"

I first hosted a cake smash contest in hopes to book a few to gain some experience and show all of you wonderful people what my skills are. Well - Colton was a huge treat! Not only did he throw a heated fit, I am STILL finding little bits of blue icing in my house and his cake smash was a few weeks ago (yes, I know I'm a bit slow on the uptake right now)! However, it was a HUGE joy to photograph his tears (the cutest little sad face ever), smiles and giggles.

Being a child photograph isn't easy, it's a test your patience, nerve ruining, anxious and sometimes tumultuous experience. It is also joyous, adventurous, wonderful and makes me so happy to see how happy children 98% of the time are! It's also pricey to keep up with the constant and ever changing trends. After expanding my services now to cake smashes and pet photography I needed a quality studio light, a nice *seamless* backdrop, a backdrop stand and several other backdrops with scenery and a "homey" feel. Which will eventually change with Christmas vastly approaching (yay!). I not only have to purchase these things out of my own pocket, I work 40+ hours separately, am constantly driving and finding what little time I have in the evenings when I do not have sessions to edit photos. Although my goal is to edit, deliver and produce quality images as fast as I possibly can to my wonderful clients (really, you all are truly wonderful I canNOT thank you all enough) sometimes it always doesn't happen that way.

With all of that being said, for an hour cake smash that including stand alone photos and the initial cake smash I charge $300. So let's break it down, shall we?:

• $35 Seamless Backdrop

• $275 Alien Bee Strobe Light

• $80 Backdrop Stand

*Total: $390

It also includes any decoration that goes with your "theme" or "color" AND the cake/cupcake:

• $30 - $50 depending on cake size/theme/color

• $20 - $30 for a dozen cupcakes if you so choose a cupcake

• $5 - $10 decorations (from what I'm finding out so far)

*Estimated Total: $55 - $90

In total what I'm paying is roughly $400 - $500 just for ONE hour session. What do you get out of you ask?

• One hour quality stand alone photos with props and cake smash

• 10-20 high quality images (half the time you will get way more than what I try to give)

• 1 8x10 print credit

• 1 4x6 print credit

• Print release so you can go ANYWHERE you'd like to print.

Keep in mind this is just a breakdown of a cake smash session. All other sessions have a different breakdown and price based on how much work/props go into the set up. I did not write this blog post to point anyone out, show off, etc. I wrote this post to bring awareness as to why local, small business photographers charge more than Portrait Innovations or Picture People. We do not require a price for every single pose and we do not require you to only use us for prints. We provide quality work, the best that we can do and must make a living as well. We are not a chain, a cooperate run business, we make our own marketing tools, our own hours (most of the time overworking) and put our hearts into this.

So the next time you say "Oh my, I didn't know it was that expensive I can go to Portrait Innovations for only $100" remember we are a stand alone person, with heart and the love of our work. We will make it beautiful, be flexible and create a vision you have that no one else could.

Shop small, shop local.

xoxo,

Amanda