Portrait Parties

[Bthornton]

My partner and I do portrait parties. We are creative and we are not cheap. There is no min purchase and we do not sell at the party. All portraits are on line in under 2 weeks and each person orders what they want. The best part for us is after you do one of the parties you always get some of the guest wanting to set up an appointment for just their family. These parties are more like a mini session giving each family a taste of our work. It's really not like a party. We set up in a room that only the people we are photographing are in. There are not others waiting in line. The host sets up different time for each family to come over. So far it has worked well for us. It's a long day but worth it.

 

[tarpleyg]

when you can do just one portrait session and make $2,000-3,000 on someone who appreciates the art and refers to all their friends.

I am not going to pretend I know what type of people you or anyone else here hangs around with but I know for a FACT that I personally know NO ONE willing to drop $2,000-$3,000 on a portrait session. Sorry, but new moms and dads have a hard enough time getting by...at least here in Raleigh. $200-$300 is more like it.

Greg

 

[jols]

i totally agree. 2 to 3 grand. i nearly fell off my chair. i dont mix with the circles of people with that much money. and i could never justify charging that much its outrageous.

 

[Joxby]

Its not outrageous, if the market exists and you can fill it, you'd be stupid not to.
Like good beer, good portrait photography is re-assuringly expensive.
Its only a problem when the market dissappears, for whatever reason, times change, peoples expectations change, the days of 4 figure portrait sessions straight off the street are numbered.
Get the best price for your work that you can now, and dont undersell yourself...ever....portrait parties included.

theres a couple too many kickbacks in that set up for my liking

 

[wildmaven]

You can be as creative as you want, but why would you waste time on a portrait party where people may spend up to $100 each (if you are lucky as they are looking for WalMart prices), when you can do just one portrait session and make $2,000-3,000 on someone who appreciates the art and refers to all their friends.

According to your site, your session fees are Basic Session.....$225.00 and Maternity/Newborn combination.......$395.00. Are you making an extra $1700+ from prints?

Congrats on the new studio, by the way.

 

[jols]

blimey thats a lot of 10 x 8 for one session

i too checked out the website

 

[dpolston]

I realize that I have a tendency to be a thread killer but I'll throw in here...

I think I like the idea for beginners and part timers like me. I feel that you can still be creative, price competitive to the target market (middle class working stiffs like me) and have a great opportunity to market yourself.

I try to use all of my proceeds that I make shooting in my spare time to use for newer and more advanced equipment. This seems to be a way to easily get the funds for those needs. Case in point: I recently shot a series of sessions where I am planing to use the cash for 2 flash units, a remote cable and a point and shoot for my youngest for Christmas.

I would seriously consider a portrait party at this stage of my career. Crap, I have the lights, backdrops and I have a few goodies in the camera bag... might as well use them.

Sign me up!

 

[jstuedle]

I did something like this a few years back with bird clubs (parrot) and enjoyed it. With critters being the challenge they are, the creativity issue is not really an issue. People are goofy with there animals and will do about anything asked without a second thought. I enjoyed it and made some bucks. Sounds like maybe time to do it again. I just contacted the club officer that I could and made an offer to come to a club meeting and photograph there pets. Offer the club 10% of print sales and a free 8X10 of the officers all lined up with there pets for the newsletter. This get your name and number in the pet owners home who couldn't attend that meeting. You will pickup 2 or 3 more in home or in studio sales with sitting fees.

 

[bellacat]

I like this idea and think it would be great as well if the sessions were outdoors. I have held mini sessions at some of our local parks which have in return resulted with people coming back for full sessions.