I urge you to read this before booking a free or cheap photoshoot with anyone – not because of the pictures you will get, but because of the process you will experience…

If someone offers you a £25 Mulberry handbag you most likely assume it is fake. If someone offers you a £25 brand new TV you probably assume it is stolen, but when someone offers you a £25 photoshoot or even free and a free framed images of your choice you say “yes please, sounds amazing”… why?!
What happens next is you skip along to your photo shoot, excited about your choice of clothes and have a lovely time doing a wide selection of pictures. And a few weeks later you go in even more excited to choose your FREE framed image, only to have all your hopes crushed by the realisation that your FREE framed image is tiny and fits inside the palm of your hand! “oh, I’m sorry would you rather have that sizable gorgeous statement frame over there” says the kind sales person, “no problem we will happy upgrade your package!” – and that is the key, they are very happy indeed to upsell you, and that comes with a very high price tag that they most likely won’t have shown you beforehand!

This approaches come in many flavours

You might see this offer outright at events and festivals, but they are also disguise in more crafty ways like “gift vouchers”, “charity shoots” and letters from nurseries saying things like “we work closely with your nursery and as a present we would like to offer you a photo shoot…”
I am not judging the photographers using this approach, and I am not saying that customers shouldn’t go along for the palm sized free picture – I just absolutely urge you to make sure you see the full price list before you book that shoot so you can see exactly what you will get for your £!

What’s my problem then

My problem with this approach is that, to me, it feels unfair! I genuinely work super hard to create gorgeous images for families to keep for generations. I am not about cheap and easy but I am most certainly about excellent value for money, and I want my families to be able to come back every year, or every two or three years to update their images so they build up a lifetime of pictures. However, when a family has been trapped into a hard selling experience and paid out twice as much £ as they had budgeted for they are scared for life to even book a professional photographer again – and that is a shame!
I only offer packages that ensure a family walks away with a selection of images, and I know for a fact that even my most expensive packages are on par with the price of just one large statement framed images from these other studios.
Yes, I sometimes do £25 special offers as well, but my pricelist is ALWAYS available at the time of booking and I NEVER trick anyone by including a tiny deceiving print!

Can’t afford me

I totally understand that some people don’t feel they can afford me (we all have different budgets, I drive a Yaris not a Range Rover!), but I also know if you can’t afford me you most definitely can’t afford any of the “cheap ones”! So, if you have already booked yourself a bargain photo shoot, please do double-check the pricelist before you go along 😉