So, we are 3.5 weeks into 2016 and I am finally getting around to my annual year in review blog post.  Seriously, I always think to myself, life won’t get any crazier, CAN’T get any crazier, and then it always does.  Without fail.  And I know all of you parents, and especially all of my fellow working mommas get it.  Life with young kids and a full time gig is exhausting.  And awesome.  And exhausting.  😉

So, let’s start with things on the home front for me.  We are loving life in Pulaski.  The longer we live here (it was 3 years in November), the more we love our little town.  It’s finally starting to feel like home.  Because I grew up in a small town, I had prepared myself for being the outsiders for a while, the ‘new people’ who didn’t know anyone.  But now, because of all of the activities the kids are involved in, we are starting to make some friends, get to know more people in town and do more things with the other parents.  I love walking through the grocery store and recognizing faces and actually knowing some names now!

The kids are all doing awesome.  Eddie is 7.5 and in 2^nd grade.  He’s SUCH a little man.  So mature and wise beyond his years.  He is doing amazing in school.  One thing I wanted for my kids is to be great readers as I think it can take you so far in life.  Well Ed is reading at a level well above where he is supposed to END his 2^nd grade year at…and it is only January!  I can’t wait to see how he is doing in May.  And I am not going to lie, I was a bit worried about my kids and math.  Because, well, I was HORRIBLE at it.  I mean, just God awful.  (The only reason I passed my senior year Pre-calc class is because my teacher let me do an extra credit project on Brett Favre…that had absolutely NOTHING to do with calculus).  But Ed is doing really great with math as well.  The kid is a hard worker, he never gets in trouble and is just an awesome kid.  His love for the game of football continues to increase and he is now just as crazy a Packer fan as his dad and I are.  After the tough playoff loss, there were tears in his eyes when he told me ‘we’ll for SURE be in the Superbowl next year’.   He is a Cub Scout, plays baseball in the spring, football in the fall and can’t decide if he wants to be a pro football player or a country music singer when he grows up.

Our middle kiddo, Bobby, is 5.5 now and in kindergarten.  This little man is night and day different than his brother.  Where Eddie has lots of interests and things he likes to do, Bobby is sort of a ‘fly by the seat of his pants’ type kid.  He is doing really well in school and has tons of friends.  He’s definitely the social butterfly of my kids.  He’ll talk to and plays with any kid that is around his age and is always talking about his buddies and having sleepovers.  After watching ‘The Mighty Ducks’ this fall, he decided that he wanted to join a hockey team.  Since this was the first thing he showed interest in (he played t-ball in the summer but did more digging in the dirt with his glove than actual baseball playing), we immediately signed him up for a team in Shawano.  So now, 3 times a week my husband drives the 30 minutes to Shawano for practices and games.  It took him a few weeks to actually be able to skate but now he is getting the hang of it.  I’m not sure if it’s something he’ll stick with, but even though the travel back and forth stinks, I hope he sticks it out for at least a couple of years.  Bob is also the MOST fabulous big brother in the world.  That little man adores his baby sister and the two of them play for hours together.  He is so kind and gentle with her, it’s just the sweetest darn thing.

And last but not least, there is our little Josephine.  She turned 2 in August and is just the most fantastic little lady ever.  If you have followed my FB page at all you know that she is still a little stinker sometimes (we still use the nickname ‘the little witch’ quite often), but honestly, the older she gets, the better she behaves.  She was a bit delayed in her speech, but it seems to be coming along quite nicely now.  She has a hard time with certain sounds so only those of us who see her every day understand what she says, but she’ll get there.  She is still gigantic for her age.  She is quickly outgrowing her 3t clothes and will soon be in  4t.  And she doesn’t turn 3 until August.  She joins in on her brothers rough housing and doesn’t hesitate at all.  Just throws herself in between them and usually it’s the boys that come out hurt.  She is a beast! I love that she can fend for herself.  She is currently obsessed with the movies Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid.  She also LOVES baby dolls and everything that goes along with them.  She almost always has one of her babies in her arms and is feeding, burping or (her personal favorite) undressing her baby and putting him down for a nap.  There are half naked baby dolls all over this house!  It’s crazy to me how quintessentially ‘girl’ she is.  Being that I am not a very girly girl, I never pushed dolls or Barbies or ‘girl’ toys at her, yet it seems those are the only ones she is drawn to.  And I really dislike the colors pink and purple, yet she is obsessed with those two colors.  Every time she gets to choose something, she chooses the ‘poh-ple’ one.  

And that brings us to the business portion of this little update.  Now, before I started this blog post, I went back and re-read my year in review post from January 2015.  In it I made all of these claims and statements about how crazy busy 2014 was and how I would be taking on so much less work in 2015.  Well, um, yeah, that didn’t happen.  Not by a LONG shot.  I had such good intentions and then I caved and ended up taking on WAY more work that I wanted to last year.  For example, in 2014 I shot over 240 sessions.  I told myself I would take far less than that in 2015.  Well, in 2015 I shot over 270 sessions.  At least 30 more than 2014.  Total craziness.  Couple that with the 15 weddings I shot and things got real loony, real quick last year.  I was a total wreck in October.  I mean, I am a wreck EVERY October, but this one pushed me over the edge.  It took me 11 weeks to get my last wedding of the year completed and that was the longest I had ever taken on a wedding edit.  Sessions were taking the full two weeks to get edited as well.  There just weren’t enough hours in the day to get all of my work done along with all of my momma duties as well.

So this year, things are a changing and they are changing for real this time.  From now through mid-June I have no more than 6-7 photo shoots scheduled each week.  And that is that.  I am not taking on more.   I have been turning away at least 3-4 new clients away every week.  I feel awful doing it because there is no way for them to know that I book out so far in advance unless they religiously follow my Facebook page, but still, I refuse to make my life even more crazy by taking on more than I can handle.   I’m hoping that by doing that, I can get back to getting sessions edited and galleries sent out within 7-8 days instead of the 13-14 it was taking me last year.  Plus maybe, I won’t have to be tied to my computer every night as I was last year.  Hoping that I can spend a bit more time with my kiddos so they don’t cry every time I enter my office.

Also, weekend shoots are now a thing of the past.  I cut down on them tremendously last year, but I still did them every so often.  This year, I am just not going to do them.  With shooting weddings on so many Saturdays, I am taking the rest of my weekends off to hang with the kids.  To go up north, to go visit friends, basically to do anything but work.  Now, I completely understand that some people need weekend shoots due to work schedules and family coming from out of town.  When I am contacted by someone who just cannot make a weekday session work, I always give them the names of some of my trusted photographer friends who are willing to shoot on weekends and accommodate their schedules.  Maybe one day I will get back into shooting more than just weddings on weekends, but for now while the kids are still young, it is not on my radar.

Session pricing went up a bit last year so if you haven’t checked out the prices on my website lately, please do so.  This year I am going to try to shoot an email to all clients before their session that will let them know what the session fee will be on the day of our shoot.  Hopefully that helps with any confusion the day of.  And the print minimum in order to get the disc of images and copyright release has changed a bit as well.  For family sessions the print purchase minimum is now $200($150 for disc only).  For maternity, child, newborn and all other shoots, it is $170($125 for disc only).

Now let’s talk about availability.  It seems like every year I book up more quickly than the last.  I hate asking people to book their shoots 6-12 months in advance, but that seems to be what people are doing these days and if you want your photos taken during a specific time of year, it is what I recommend doing.  For 2016 I am completely booked from now through mid-August.  So for the next 7 months!  I expect to start booking more heavily now for the months of August-October and fully expect to be completely booked for the entire year by March.   I know, it is total craziness.  I will try to keep everyone posted via Facebook and on my website as to how much availability I have for the remainder of the year.

As for weddings, 2016 is completely booked (15 weddings total this year).  And I have 6 weddings booked for 2017 already! And here is a fun little stat for you—4 of those 6 weddings are in the months of January and February of next year! Definitely not the norm, but I love that more people are doing winter weddings. (I LOVE snow filled wedding pics!)  Now, I am only taking on 12 weddings in 2017.  I have decided to cut back from 15 to 12 for the next few years while the kids are still young.   So, if you are getting married in 2017 and thinking you might want me to capture the day for you, shoot me an email as soon as you can so we can chat.

One thing I really wanted to address this year is expectations and trust.  Now, I am just going to come out and say it, I hate Pinterest.  I mean, I love it because I can always find great recipes and crafts to do with my kids, but I hate it because it sometimes gives my clients unrealistic expectations when it comes to their shoot.  It is not uncommon for a client to send me their Pinterest board with photo ideas.  I actually don’t mind when this happens.  It gives me an idea of what style photos they are after.  However, what I can’t stand is when that board is full of images taken on a beach with crystal clear blue water in the background and we are taking their family photos at the Stone Barn.  When this happens I know immediately that this client is not going to get the images she is hoping for.  (I mean, how could you when there isn’t a trace of white sandy beach in front of that big red barn?? )  Now, I know that is an extreme example, but it happens quite often that a client wants me to create a miracle and somehow make their photos look like they were shot anywhere but in NE Wisconsin.

 Some clients have also been known to have their entire photo shoot mapped out before we even begin.  I will arrive at the location, let’s just say Pamperin Park, and they will tell me the four areas of the park that they will be having their photos taken.  Yup, you heard that right, they tell me where we will be shooting.  Now, I actually like when my clients give me some ideas on what they are looking for.  If they want a wooded backdrop or something more urban—that I LOVE.  It helps me to ensure that they will be happy with what they get and I will always try to accommodate requests.  However, when they have a specific image in mind, it almost never turns out the way they had envisioned and both of us leave the shoot frustrated.  What those clients fail to realize when they decide on these locations is that the light changes depending on the time of year we take the photos AND the time of day we take the photos.  If it happens to be sunny on the day of your shoot, and we start the session at 2pm, there are spots at Pamperin Park that absolutely will not work for photos.  Like the bridge for example.  If I put you on that bridge at 2pm on a sunny day in July, your photos are going to be total crap.  The images are going to be way to contrasty and everyone in them will be squinting and full of shadows.  There are plenty of places at Pamperin that are shady and would make for a lovely backdrop, but you have to trust that I will take you to those places.  And 95% of my clients do.  Most of you just tell me to work my magic and I do and you are always happy with the results.  But this past year I shot a couple of shoots that made me want to stop photographing families all together.

One in particular that involved a large family shoot at their home and the grandma wanted the photos shot in a particular area.  An area with some gorgeous fall color in the background, but that also happened to be in full sun at the time of our shoot.  Had I shot the entire group where she wanted, everyone would have been squinting, the lighting would have been uneven and the images would have looked awful.  I looked at that area for 5 minutes after I arrived and tried to figure out a way to make it work, but it just wasn’t going to happen at that time of day.  So I chose a different location first, got some really lovely and evenly lit images and then went over to the location the client chose where we did a few smaller groupings.  Well, about 4 weeks after the shoot the grandmother called me and told me that the images weren’t what she had in mind.    I knew from the second she told me where she wanted those photos taken that she wouldn’t be happy with the shoot.  However, I didn’t want to take all of the photos in an area I knew I couldn’t make it work technically.  So I chose to photograph them where I knew we would get some nice photos (even if we didn’t have the pretty fall colors in the background) and went with my gut.  And I will continue to do that in the upcoming years when I photograph a family.

So, basically, the reason I wanted to tell you guys this story is that you need to tell me, or whoever is photographing your shoot, if you have specific ideas.  Had the grandmother told me that she had a particular spot she wanted the images taken and nothing else was going to suffice, I could have let her know in advance that it may not work and we could have photographed the shoot at a different time of day.    And I will be completely honest with you if I think your ideas for the session will work or not.  And most of all, as someone you choose to capture such precious times in your lives, you have to trust me.  Trust us.  Whoever you choose to capture your memories.  As experienced photographers, we know what we are doing.  We know what works and what doesn’t and by choosing us to document your story, you are telling us you trust us .  And again, if you have ideas for your session, by all means, let me know what you are thinking.  I will give you my honest opinion and do whatever I can to get you the type of images you are hoping for.

Okay, so I think that is it.  That got WAY more long-winded than I intended it to.  Sorry about that.    I just want to say thank you again to all of my amazing clients.  Not only for keeping me so busy but for just being such awesome people.  My favorite part of this job is capturing images that I hope you will treasure for the rest of your lives.  But a close second to that is meeting and relating to all of these incredible people I would have never met had it not been for this job of mine.  I love comparing labor and delivery notes with new parents during itty bitty sessions.  I love talking about eating habits and potty training and the terrible twos as we photograph your toddler.  And I love seeing families grow and change throughout the years.  So many of my clients first came to me as newly engaged couples.  I have had the honor of capturing their lives from that moment, to their wedding day, to their first baby and for so many years after that.   It’s an incredible thing I get to do.  To document your lives and loves and I am grateful for the opportunity.  So again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Last Saturday I kicked off my 2015 spring/summer wedding season by photographing Matt and Chelsey’s big day up in my hometown of Oconto Falls.  I have said it before and I’ll say it again, I love photographing weddings up in that neck of the woods.  I always feel like I am home when I drive into that city and Saturday was no different.  The ceremony was held at the Catholic church I have belonged to my entire life and when I found out the reception was at Romy’s Holiday Inn in Kelly Lake, I immediately started craving the broasted chicken and tips I remember from my high school days.  

Now I met Matt and Chelsey last year when I photographed their engagement session and fell in love with them as a couple almost immediately.  Matt is funny, quick-witted and silly.  Chelsey is gorgeous and genuine and quite possibly, the sweetest girl I have ever met.  She smiled and giggled throughout our entire session and it was contagious. You can’t help but be in a good mood when you are around these two.   The wedding itself was picture perfect.  They had THE most spectacular spring  day.  Sunny and 60’s for April in WI is pretty amazing.  Their wedding party and families were wonderful to work with.  I could joke with them and boss them around and they just went with the flow.  Father Joel did a wonderful job with their wedding ceremony.  His homily was one of the best I have heard and you could tell he really knew and cared for these two.   The reception was full of laughter and drinks and dancing and fun.  You can’t ask for anything more. (And the chicken and tips at Romy’s did not disappoint. )

Matt and Chelsey, I feel honored you chose me to capture this day for you.  I had a blast following (bossing) you guys around and I truly hope you love these images.  Congratulations!!!!

You know you are a big deal when The Antique has your names on the mirror!  

Gorgeous cake from one of my favorite bakeries in Green Bay, Monzu.  AH-mazing.

They had the BEST first dance.  It started off nice and sweet….

and then after this dip, they turned things up a notch

and the crowd REALLY got into it!

and then their awesome wedding party joined them….

and then they finished nice and slow again.  It was fantastic!

Congratulations you two!!!  

*****EDITED to reflect changes in my schedule as of 02-01-2015.  I am now booking into November 2015.  February-November are completely booked up.  Please book early, especially Baby’s First year sessions, as I cannot guarantee availability to everyone at this point.  Thanks!

So, it’s that time again.  Time for my annual beginning of the year update on this crazy little photo business of mine.  2014 was a really, really great year for me.  Both professionally and on a personal level.  Let’s start with my life at home.  Our house is absolute craziness most of the time and I kind of love it.  Sure, there are times I want to run screaming out the front door and into the first establishment that will give me a cold Bud Light Lime to slam, but honestly, that doesn’t happen too often.  (mostly because I know that after one beer I’ll be so sleepy I’ll want to go to bed by 9pm and I can’t do that when my ‘work’ day starts at 9pm)    Eddie has had quite a year.  He started wrestling last winter and starts up again this coming week.   He played t-ball this summer and joined Cub Scouts this fall.   He finished a great year of kindergarten in June and started 1^st grade in September and is doing awesome in school.  I am sort of floored by the changes in him since the school year began.  He went from being my little boy to being….well, a big kid.  He is so mature and he uses all these grown up words and you can sit and have a real, in depth conversation with him now.  He just gets things now.  Does that make sense??  It’s just crazy to see on a day to day basis.  On one hand I am so sad he is growing so fast and no longer my baby boy.  But on the other hand, it is awesome to watch him change and become his own little person.   The thing I am probably most excited about with him is that he has taken up an insane love for the game of football.  Pauly and I are both HUGE football/Packer fans and it is amazing to be able to sit with our 6 year old and watch a game and have him understand what is going on.  He knows the player’s names and is quickly starting to grasp all the concepts and strategies of the game.  It’s fantastic!

Bob also had a great year.  He is still a bit too young for sports, but he tags along to all of his brother’s games and meetings and is good at keeping himself occupied.  He will talk and play with any kid you put him next to and is our little social butterfly.  He started 4K this fall and is doing super at his first year in the same school as his big brother.  He is quite the little lady’s man and every time he sees a girl from his class that he knows, he leans over and whispers, ‘that is my girlfriend’.    His interests are very different from his brothers and in true four year old fashion, nothing holds his attention for very long. That is, except for Ghostbusters.  The kid has been obsessed with the movie for well over 2 years now.  Every once and a while he will look at me out of the blue and say something like, “I feel like the floor of a taxi cab” or “Who does your taxes?”  (I you know the movie as well as I do, you’ll get that)It’s so funny to hear his adorable little voice quoting Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd.

And then there is our little Josephine.  If you follow my Facebook page at all you know that this little girl is giving us a run for our money.  She is, hands down, my most challenging child.  She is crazy and destructive and honestly, so, so fun to watch.  I mean, she is a tiny tornado and can destroy a room in 20 seconds flat, but it’s amazing to watch her energy and enthusiasm while doing so.   She is ALL girl and definitely knows what she wants.  But she can be a defiant, sassy little witch when she doesn’t get her own way.  Oh, the tantrums.  I was NOT expecting the tantrums from her yet (isn’t she still my itty bitty baby!?!?).  Besides being a bit witchy sometimes, she is also smart, sweet and in my totally biased opinion, absolutely gorgeous.  Oh, and HUGE.  She is at least the size of an average 2 year old and is 16 months old.  She’s a giant baby.  Clothes that I bought for her 2 year old photos next summer are already too small on her.  I have taken to calling her the beast.

Now, let’s move into the business aspect of things.  I always refer to this photography gig as my ‘little’ business, but 2014 proved that it isn’t such a ‘little’ business anymore.  I photographed 15 weddings and over 240 photo sessions.  Yup.  You read that right.  240+ photo sessions.  I was shocked when I saw that number.  I know I sound like a broken record, but I am so so thankful to all of you who have chosen me to photograph your weddings and families and babies and, well, your lives.  I could not think of another job that would give me the satisfaction, flexibility, friendships and most importantly the itty bitty baby snuggles that this one does.    It’s a pretty sweet gig, let me tell you.

That being said, after some serious pondering over the past few weeks, I have decided that some things are going to have to change this year.  Most importantly, how many sessions I take on.  You see, I have a really REALLY hard time saying no to people and I took on WAY more sessions that this one-woman show should have in 2014.  There are some weeks I photographed 10+ sessions AND a wedding.  And that means I was up until 2-3am editing photos as I had no time to do it while the kids were awake and my editing work ‘days’ start at about 9pm (and when you are up with the kids by 6am, that creates one sleep deprived momma).  I was constantly at my computer and during the months of October and November, I spent so little time with my kids it makes me sad. (it got to the point where Bobby would burst into tears every time I sat at my computer as he knew I’d be sitting there most of the night).  I feel like I missed the last 2 months of the year because I was so focused on my ridiculous workload.  Which is funny because one of the reasons I started doing this photo thing full time was to be able to spend more time with my kiddos.  And this year, the exact opposite happened.

Now, I tried to reserve 2 days a week for editing only so I wouldn’t have to  work while the kids were here, but like I said before, I have a hard time saying no.  If one of my regular clients emailed me and said they forgot to book and ask me to squeeze them in, I did.  If someone emailed and said they just had a baby and forgot to book a newborn photographer early, I would book them on an editing day and hope it would all work out.  Well, it always worked out, but I always felt like I needed to check myself into the looney bin.    So, this year, I am changing things up a bit and it is my New Year’s resolution to stick to it.  So, here are the changes in no particular order:

I will only be taking 6-7 sessions per week and I will only book sessions 3 days a week.  The days I shoot will change every week based on my client’s needs, but I need to have editing time during the week, while the kids are at school, to save my sanity.  Plus, I need to save time for rain dates, another thing I failed to do last year.

I will still take on 15 weddings a year, but Saturday/Sunday photo shoots aren’t going to be available often.  I know that stinks for some people who can’t take off work during the week or make weeknight shoots work, but right now, I need my weekends reserved for my kids.  If a weekend is the only thing you can make work and I don’t have a wedding and can make the date work, I will photograph on the weekends but the session fee will go up $50.

Most of you know that I always ask people to book early.  And those of you who have been using me for your photos for the past few years know how early I book up, especially in the summer and fall months.  However, lately, the winter months are booking up just as fast.  I have no availability in January/February anymore and have maybe 8 sessions available in the months of March/April.  That is it.  After that I will be booked solid for the next 4 months.  And in the past 2 weeks I have booked 15 sessions for June/July/August.  With these new session changes that I am implementing this year, I fully expect to be booked through year’s end by May.  And I am going to start referring people to some of my other photographer friends if they call and I don’t have the space in my calendar, no more squeezing people in when I really don’t have the time. (I’ve been doing this for years now, but expect to have to do it on a more regular basis now).  Honestly, I feel sort of guilty about this.  I get how hectic our lives as parents can be and how easy it could be to forget to book a yearly portrait session.  I forget to book things for my kiddos all the time.  Dentist appts, sports sign-ups, things like that.  However, I have to put my foot down at some point and 2015 is the point.  

I am also taking quite a bit of time off in 2015.  Especially this summer.  We have 3 vacations planned and I have decided I am not going to feel guilty about taking time off during the busiest time of the year.  In my mind, the memories with my kids are just as important as working.   During the month of July I will be out of the office 22 days.  That leaves about 6 days to shoot.  That is it.  So, if you know you need photos in July of this year, contact me early.  Like now.   😉  And August isn’t much better.  I am out of the office the 17-25^th.   So again, book early!!!  (If you know you will need itty bitty photos while I am gone, let me know and I’ll help you find an awesome photographer to help you out!)

Also, I have done a lot of researching other area newborn/portrait photographers during the past few weeks and in order to stay competitive, there will be a few changes to my pricing as well.   Weddings prices are staying the same as are kiddo, maternity and family sessions.  Newborn sessions are now $180 (previously $160).  And the print purchase minimum and disc price are also going up just a bit.  After averaging out all of the print orders from 2014, I discovered that clients are purchasing much more in prints than I expected them to when I first started offering this option.  I hope it is because they are realizing that the quality of the prints from my lab are worth the cost compared to the price and quality of the prints from Walmart/Walgreens.  The average client purchased just under $200 worth of prints this year (my minimum was $125 to get the disc), so this year the minimum is going up to $150.  I also offered my clients the option of forgoing the print purchase and just purchasing a disc outright.  The cost of the disc was $70 in 2014 and will be going up to $100 in 2015.  That means that a kiddo session and disc of images (approx 50-80 images) will now cost $220.  Like I said, after researching the competition, I believe that is a fair price for my time and for beautiful photos of your wee ones.  And if you booked your 2015 photo shoot last year, don’t fret.  You are locked in at the old 2014 prices!  If you have any questions or concerns, please email me to discuss.

The pricing for my Baby’s First Year package (for those parents that want to capture every stage of their little one’s first year) is staying the same.  For those of you that don’t know my Baby’s First Year package is either 4 or 5 sessions in the baby’s first year of life.  (check out the website for more details).  I started offering this a few years ago and wanted to find a way to thank my clients that keep returning to me to capture their baby’s milestones.  However, lately I have been thinking.  So many of my clients book 3 or 4 different sessions with me each year for their older kids.  They’ll book a 2 year session, a 3 year session and a 5 year session for each of their kids and in the past, paid full price for all of them.  Well, starting in 2015, if you book 3 or more sessions of any kind with Erika Krause Photography, you will receive $25 off each session fee and a free 8×10 from each shoot. (the $25 discount for all sessions will come off of the final session fee for 2015.)  Just another way of saying thanks to all of you for choosing to support this fantastic career of mine.

Okay, so I think that is it.  Sorry for the super lengthy post, I get a little long winded sometimes.    Again, to all of my current and future clients, THANK YOU!  So many of you have become much more than clients to me.  You have become dear friends and I am so grateful for all of you.  Thank you for sharing your lives and your precious little wee ones with me.  I love watching them grow in front of my lens.

If you have any questions about anything mentioned above, please shoot me an email to discuss!  info@erikakrause.com

Erika

Ps-stay tuned.  My website which hasn’t been updated in almost 3 years is getting totally revamped in the next few weeks and you will finally be able to view it from mobile devices/iPhones!  Yahoo!  I’ll let you know via Facebook when it is live!

So, 2014.  How the heck did that happen?    And we are almost a month in already.  I always felt like time flew by, but since having kids I feel like time passes at warp speed.   Insane.

Anyway, lets back up a bit.  2013.  That was a pretty fabulous year for my little family and I.  We finally got settled into our new home in Pulaski.  Met our neighbors, met some people through Eddie’s school and baseball and we are finally starting to feel like this could be our forever hometown.  Speaking of Eddie, he started kindergarten and is rocking it so far.  He’s reading so well and rocking his sight words and math problems.  AND we started him in wrestling this winter so he’s a busy boy!   Bob is loving 3K and I am totally in denial that next year I will have a 4Ker and a 1^st grader.  (Again with the time flying thing)  And probably the biggest news of all came in early August when we welcomed a baby girl into our clan, Josephine Renee.  Baby Joey is doing fabulous and while there are times she earns her ‘Little Witch’ nickname, for the most part, she is a good little girl.  So as you can see, 2013 was a great year for me personally, and once again, you guys made it great professionally as well.   Even with taking 6 weeks off before and after baby Joey arrived, 2013 was my busiest year to date.  I did more kiddo sessions than I ever have before.  Oodles of folks took advantage of the Baby’s First Year package and got their baby’s one year old session for free.  I photographed 15 super gorgeous weddings and loved being a part of every one of them.  It was just a really great year.

Now, 2013 was only my 2^nd full year doing the photography thing full-time so I am always looking for ways to stay competitive in this ever-growing field while trying to make a living doing what I love.  Throughout the year I find things that don’t work so well or that could use a facelift and this is when I put those changes into effect.    Now don’t worry, these aren’t big changes by any means.  Just a few minor changes and some policies that are going to make things easier and more efficient on my end.  I am finding out with 3 kids and a full time job, being efficient with the little time I do have is key!

Change #1:  I had quite a few clients take longer than the requested 2 week period to order their images.   Some took as long as 3-4 months and that is not a good thing, especially in the summer months when I am shooting 10-15 sessions per week.  My computer gets bogged down and then everyone ends up sending in their orders around the same time so I get backed up getting orders out the door and it is just a mess.  J So, there will now be a $10 late fee accessed on orders over 14 days.  And that fee goes up $10 every week after that.  However, I totally understand that sometimes things come up that are beyond your control.  If there are circumstances that prevent you from looking at your gallery and getting your order to me, just email me and I can extend the time your gallery is available.

Change #2:   For the past 10 years, all of my wedding packages come with a set of proofs.  Package C comes with 200 and Packages A&B come with a full set (600) of proofs.  These proofs are in albums as I always liked providing my clients with a hard copy of everything from their big day in addition to the disc of images.  I have always given brides the option to do a coffee table album as well, but because of the cost, most brides opted out of doing one.  Well, this year I have decided to switch things up a bit.  My 2014/2015(and beyond) wedding couples that purchase Package A or B, can choose either the full set of proofs OR a gorgeous 20 page/40 side coffee table album.  I will go through your images, choose the best ones and design a gorgeous album highlighting the most memorable parts of your day.  My first sample album just arrived and I can’t wait to show it off.  I love the way it turned out so much, I am thinking of going back through all of my own wedding photos and creating one!  If you have me booked for your wedding this year or next and would like to see it, shoot me an email and we can set up a time to meet!

Change #3:  One of the things that I have always thought set myself apart from many of the other newborn/children photographers in the area is the fact that I will travel and come to your house for photos.  I can make this happen because 90% of the light I use for these sessions is available window light and reflectors which are much easier to transport than big bulky flash units.  However, I can only use natural light if you have it available in your home.  I always ask clients to describe the light in their homes when we book the session, but there were a few instances this year when I arrived at a house and I had much less light than anticipated.  When that happens the photos just don’t have the ‘pop’ I like them to have.  In cases where we knew we wouldn’t have enough light in your home, we do the photo shoots here at my house.  We have an entire wall of windows and the lighting is almost always perfect.  To avoid these low-light situations, in the future I am going to ask all clients that would like a session in their home to send me photos of the area we will be shooting in.  As long as the photos were taken around the same time of day that we have the session planned, I will be able to see if the lighting will work.

Change #4:  There will be no raise in price for wedding packages, sessions or prints this year.  However there will be a change to the minimum print purchase that I require clients to make before getting their disc.  About 2 years ago I changed my policy to have customers order $100 worth of prints in order to get a disc and the rights to all of their images.  The prints I provide are retouched, printed on professional photo paper, sprayed with a UV finish to protect them and all sizes over 5×7 are presented in folders or are mounted on art board.  Some people only order the $100 minimum while others order much more than that.  I crunched the numbers from the past two years of orders and found the average print purchase to be just over $150.  Because of that I have decided to raise the minimum print purchase to $125.  If you have already booked your 2014 session and don’t think you will want to buy the extra $25 worth of prints, just let me know via email and I’ll make note in my appointment book.

Fifth and final change: I am pleased to announce that Erika Krause Photography will soon be accepting credit and debit cards!  I finally joined the land of the living and got myself an iPhone, so as soon as my Square gets here and I get it set up, you will now be able to pay for your sessions/prints with something besides cash or a check.  (Due to the Square service fees and the fact that I don’t want to raise me wedding prices, weddings will still need to pay with check).  As soon as I get this service up and running, I’ll make sure to let everyone know.

And that is it for this year’s improvements and changes.  Again, I just want to thank you all for choosing me as your photographer and for trusting me to capture your precious memories.  I adore my job.  I know I say that all the time, but I do.  I get to be with people for some of their most memorable life moments.  The day they say ‘I Do’.  The day their babies come into this world.  I get to capture those baby’s itty bitty baby parts. Their first smile.  Their millionth smile.  Their reaction to their first birthday cake.  Their tantrum during your first attempt at family photos.  I get to watch them grow up and change in front of my camera and. I. LOVE. It.  Lately there has been in influx of photographers in the area.  I know I am not the only one you could have chosen to take these photos for you.  There are people that do it in less time and for less money.  So thank you.  Thank you for choosing me.  Because I really REALLY love sharing your lives and those adorable tiny humans you created with you.  

and because I can’t post without photos, here are some recent pics of my tiny humans.

already two teeth for Joey!

as you can see, she adores her brothers

one child is getting teeth, the other is losing.  Ed lost his first tooth last night however you really can’t tell because his permanent tooth is already in.  goof. 

My littlest love’s smile could light up anybody’s day….

Hey all-just needed to pass along a bit of info regarding print pricing.  My lab has increased their prices on certain prints, therefore, I need to increase mine a bit as well.  Most are only increased by a dollar or two, but I wanted to make sure I mentioned it before you start seeing the price increases on your order forms.  Here are the new prices (with the old price listed behind them):

8 wallets                17.99 ($16.99)

4x6                      $13.99 (12.99)

5x7                     $18.99 (17.99)

8x10                    $34.99 (32.99)

10x13/11x14             $50.99 (49.99)

              16x20                   $89.99 (price did not change)

20x24                  $142.99 (139.99)

12x12 composite        $44.99 (39.99)

Hi all.  Time to dust off the old blog and get this 2013 party started. Three weeks late, but better late than never, right?? 

So, first off I have to send a big, HUGE thank you out to all of the fabulous people I had the privilege of photographing in 2012.  It was the best year yet for my little business and I did no advertising (except for the prints I have hanging up at Lou’s Bootery in Suamico)!  Almost all of my business comes from referrals from you guys so THANK YOU!  Without you I couldn’t do what I love. 

Besides being an awesome year professionally, it was a pretty great year personally as well.  We put our house on the market early in 2012 and sold it in September.  We moved in November and are now residents of Pulaski!  I love small town living and I don’t miss the city as much as I thought I would.  Plus we have a nice little chunk of land that is going to be perfect for outdoor sessions (as soon as the snow melts and it warms up a bit.  The crazy cold weather we had this week isn’t ideal for outdoor photos).  The new house also has a perfectly lit area for indoor photos so I have been photographing quite a bit of newborn sessions out here and it is going great!   

Pauly got a new job in May and is no longer pounding nails for a living.  He likes his new gig and I like that he isn’t laid off for 4 months a year and gets full benefits.  Our boys are getting so big and so sassy and so fun!  I just love being their Momma and watching them grow.  And speaking of loving being a Momma, that leads me to the biggest news of all.  We got a bit of a surprise back in early December when we found out baby #3 is on the way!   I always wanted one more baby, but due to my crazy summer/fall work schedule, we like to plan our babies to be born in the spring.  Well, that isn’t the way this one worked out as I am due in early August, my absolute busiest time of year!  OOPS.   I just keep telling myself,’ everything happens for a reason’ and that ‘it will all work out in the end’.   We told our families on Christmas and their reactions were fantastic.  They were totally surprised (I always told them there was NO way I would ever be pregnant throughout the summer months-again, OOPS!) and there was a ton of tears and joy.  A perfect way to celebrate the holiday season!

Now, the reason I am mentioning this now (besides the fact that this is baby #3 and I am almost 3 months along and my sessions are going to start noticing my ever growing belly) is that things are going to have to change a bit for this spring/summer for Erika Krause Photography.  Luckily I have NO August weddings booked this year (pure dumb luck) but August is my biggest month as far as children and family sessions go.  Because of the baby, I will be taking the last 2 weeks of July and the first 3 weeks of August off.  My boys were each born about 10 days early so I am sort of planning on a late July delivery.  That being said, if you know you are going to need photos late this summer, contact me EARLY!  I am already booking sessions for late August and early July and I expect to be totally booked up in a few weeks. 

One other thing that is going to be changing is the location of our sessions, newborn sessions in particular.  Between May and August I do 90% of my session outdoors and on location and that won’t be changing.    As it gets toward the end of the pregnancy, I may end up having to shoot sessions here at our house, but we have a lovely woods/field behind us and it will work out just fine.  But newborn sessions are a whole different ball game.  I have OODLES of equipment that I bring to client’s homes to photograph newborns.  The loading it up and unloading is fine now, but when I am carrying 20 extra pounds and a basketball belly around , that just isn’t going to happen.   Starting in May (and maybe even earlier if I need to) all newborn sessions will happen at our house out in Pulaski.  We have perfect light and tons of space and it’s been working great! I actually photographed two newborns here in the past two weeks and everything went awesome.     

So, that is that.  I am a little worried about how the summer is going to progress, but there isn’t a whole lot I can do about it at this point so I am trying to relax.  We are getting super excited about welcoming a new baby too.  It is so neat to see Ed and Bob react to the news.  They are so excited to be big brothers, Eddie in particular.  He was still a baby himself when Bob was born, so this is his first time getting to experience this whole thing.  He and I have a couple of apps that we downloaded onto the iPad that shows how the baby develops week by week and he is fascinated with it.  He tells everyone that he only wants a sister and if this baby is a boy, we have to have four kids!  (ha, NOT going to happen!)  We have been telling him that we don’t have a choice in what we get and that we just have to pray for a healthy baby and it is starting to sink in.  Speaking of the baby’s sex, I think we are going to end up finding out what the baby is at our ultrasound in Feb/March.  I sort of wanted to be surprised with this baby as I could care less about the sex, but Pauly told me if it is a girl, he is going to need at least 4 months to prepare himself and buy some guns.  Ha.  Most people are assuming we want a girl, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  I wanted another baby, not a certain baby in particular and both Pauly and I are sort of pulling for another boy.  We have everything we would need for a boy and most importantly, a super fun boy name picked out, so we’ll see.  It sounds so cliché, but really, all I want is a healthy itty bitty baby to love on again!

Alrighty, I’ll leave you with a few photos.  First, the photo we put in a frame and gave to my mom and dad on Christmas morning.  Took them about 10 seconds to get it, but when they did, it was awesome!  And secondly, the first photo of our little bambino taken this past Monday.  Doesn’t look like much, but I am so excited for that little blob to make us a family of FIVE!