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….