1. How would you describe your photographic style? My photographic style has been refined through years of hard work and vision development. I am an artist who’s goal is to capture your special moments as they occur. I use color, setting, black and white (when appropriate) and composition to tell your story in the best possible way. A journalistic approach.

2. How long have you been photographing weddings? (Or, how many have you shot?) Long enough to know that no two are alike but not long enough to be the least bit jaded. There is nothing I love more than being their on your special day.

3. Do you charge by the hour or by the package? This is going to sound sarcastic but I promise it’s not. The answer is yes. My packages are based on a certain number of hours of coverage and they generally bundle some of the products I know you’ll want. Of course, you can always buy more or less. Just give me a call and we can work out a package that makes sense for you.

4. How much of a retainer do you require and when is it due? Do you offer a payment plan? My retainer is 1/3 of the total cost of the package you request. The reason for this is that I am giving you that date. If you decide not to proceed with your plans it may be difficult for me to rebook. For this reason the retainer is not refundable. I do offer payment plans. If my pricing is high enough that this is a serious consideration I would not recommend booking me.

5. How many photos come in each package? Anything else? Again, this will sound like a sarcastic response. There is really no way to answer this definitively. The answer is as many as are needed to tell the story of your day, but not so many and by no means ALL of the pictures that I take. As a rule of thumb if I don’t include an image it will have been because there is something in the frame I know will not lend to your story, whether that is too much flash or not enough flash. Suffice it to say that there are some things better left on the editing room floor.

6. Can we customize a package based on our needs? Yes. Always. Yes.

7. How do you know how many pictures to take? Lots. It isn’t unusual for me to come home after an event with a thousand or more photographs. You will have no idea that most of these are being taken because I work very hard to stay in the background.

8. When will we receive a written contract? Just as soon as we’ve figured out what package makes the most sense for you.

9. What are your prices and what do they include? I do not discuss pricing over the phone or in e-mails, I will discuss pricing face to face during a consultation. I can tell you that my prices include, my time and talent and they include whatever deliverables are in your package.

10. If the reception goes longer than scheduled, will you stay? If there is an extra charge, what is it? Whether there is an extra charge for extra time depends on the package you select. My all inclusive packages enable me to stay for as long as I feel like is necessary to capture your special day. If you select a package with less coverage, well, that includes less coverage. In that case my hourly coverage cost beyond the package is 100.00 per hour. That sounds like a lot, but considering I may have to call a babysitter to stay longer and that I will also have to edit all of the extra images I’m going to capture (and editing takes about 3X the time as shooting) it’s not that much.

11. Do you shoot digital pictures or film? I use the latest digital equipment to document your special day. This includes off camera flash, various low light lens and back up equipment.

12. How long after the wedding will the gallery be ready? How will they be viewable? Proofs are generally available within 2 weeks of your wedding ( I work diligently to have them up within 7 days). They will be accessible through an online interface.

13. What is your ordering process? Once your gallery is complete, your account will be credited with your print credits. You may purchase direclty from your gallery. Albums will be approved by you before printing. You will also approve any and all photographs that will be placed in your album. Friends and family may also view and purchase directly from your gallery....it's very simple and easy to do.

14. Will the proofs or prints have your name on them? (I’m not sure what that’s called, but some photographers do that in a corner or across the picture either on proofs or prints or both.) I think the term your looking for is a watermark. Yes. The proofs that I provide online and in in any other proof source will contain my watermark. This is the way I protect the images from unauthorized use, both by my clients (who believe it or not sometimes simply steal them), and by others. (you don’t want your images showing up in an STD brochure now do you?)

15. Do you provide digital files on CD? (actually DVD, but yes)

If so:

- Are they high resolution files? (yes)

- How many would there be? (as many as makes sense)

- Can we make our own prints from these files or do you own the copyright? (I own the copyright but you can also make prints. However, the 14 year old kid running the photoprinter at the local drug store may not realize the red blinky light means there’s no more blue toner. So when your pictures come back red you’ll know why).

- Do you include every shot you’ve taken? (No. We’ve covered why above).

- What kind of special effects or edits are included in the price? I generally include what I think makes sense for your event ... I am not interested in doing lots of stuff that makes your day look much different than it actually was.

16. Do you offer wedding albums? If so, what type? Yes. That depends on your package. There are several vendors who I work with who can create great books for us.

17. What are your prices for duplicate prints and enlargements? Again, it depends on your package. There is generally a discount for a duplicate print, however, enlargements carry a price increase due to the extra editing time necessary to make sure an image can carry the size you order.

18. Do you offer DVD slideshows? If so, what is price structure for:

- one that will play at the reception consisting of growing up pictures of the couple and after they met. I have someone who can create these for you but it is impossible to quote one unless we know a bunch of other stuff. For what it’s worth, I don’t do these myself.

19. How long after placing the order will it take for prints, enlargements, and slideshows to be ready? Prints and enlargements are essentially the same thing and they take about 2 weeks to get back to you. This of course depends on the work load of my professional print lab.

20. What is your refund/cancellation policy? (Both sides.) If I have to cancel for any reason I will give you a full refund. If you cancel you forfeit the retainer.

21. Are you a full-time photographer? Yes.

22. Will you personally be doing the shoot? If so, will you have an assistant? I will personally be doing the shoot and I may have an assistant, again, depending on the package and coverage. I do also from time to time have an up and coming photographer intern with me but I'll let you know in advance of your special day>

23. What extras do you offer that your competitors don’t? This is a very hard question to answer. Frankly, I offer me. My competitors are not me and I am not them. Art is a very individual thing. Each photographer captures images with their own style. That isn’t meant to be flippant. It’s just true. Once we’ve captured the images we can all provide pretty comparable products ...

24. What do you think distinguishes your work from other photographers? Why should we hire you? Ultimately that’s a question that only you can answer. Like I said above. I’m me. No one else is. You should hire me if you think I will provide you with what your looking for in a photographer. We need to talk face to face and we need to feel comfortable with eachother, nothing worse than having an impatient photographer who hates kids and tux's......