Meet Newborn Kempe | Ventura, California Weding & Portrait Photographer | Donya J Photography

Ladies and gentlemen, Blog readers, Baby photo lovers, today I have the distinct honor of introducing you to baby Kempe, who was officially 15 days new in this shot!

I think we can all agree: his adorable sweetness should earn him a spot on the cover of every baby magazine in the nation! Seriously, I'm practically melting from cuteness overload!

Anyway, as you can see from the pictures below, Kempe and I had one of the best sessions together. His mom, Andrea was exemplary in getting the shoot ready for us. Her preparation allowed us to have an especially awesome shoot together.

I would love to say that Kempe slept most of the way through the session, but he only did at the end for the last few shots. And when he wasn't sleeping, Kempe was happy and eagerly awaiting his next feeding. He couldn’t have been any better.

Without further adieu, Mr. Kemp!

Fun Photo Facts for Photography |Ventura, California Weding & Portrait Photographer | Donya J Photography

• 1 GB of memory last most people a month but barely lasts you the afternoon.
• You know what aperture-priority means.
• You delete more photos in a week than most people make all year.
• You need just one more lens.
• You've crawled on the ground to get a shot of something rusty.
• Your camera equipment is worth more than your car.
• No one brings a camera to an event if they know you're coming, so we just don't tell family and friends that we are coming to events anymore.
• Your family doesn't recognize you without a camera covering your face, especially your 2 and 3 year old.
• You have thousands of pictures and you're not in any of them.
• You've been up before dawn or out in the freezing cold or even done something semi-dangerous.....all for a photography.
• When you go to the movies you spend more time trying to figure out their lighting than trying to figure out the plot.(This even applies to watching a TV show!)
• When you lose track of a dramatic conversation between two characters in a movie or show because you're too busy paying attention to that nice bokeh behind them.
• When you lose track of the entire movie by thinking about which lenses were used in each shot.
• Your addicted to Flickr, Instagram or Pinterest!

Ventura Holiday Family Photographer | Ventura, California Weding & Portrait Photographer | Donya J Photography

Thursday October 3rd!

It's hard to believe we are at that time of year again, but here we are! It’s time to start thinking about your holiday photo sessions and custom holiday cards. Now I know what you’re thinking – “whoa, school is JUST starting, it’s not even fall yet!” But really, this time of year is crazy busy and there are only so many days in a week… and they are filling fast!

I'm leaning toward Arroyo Verde Park in the morning and Ventura Beach/Pier in the afternoon, with sunset photos (whoever that lucky person/baby will be)!  10:00am to 6:00pm. If you have a baby, then the park is the way to go.

The time slots are 15 minutes and if you want siblings or you in the photo you will need to book 30 minutes.   I am a shoot and share Photographer, so you will receive ALL High Resolution, edited images in a downloadable online gallery.  

$55 for 15 minutes and $85 for 30 minutes.

Please text call or text me with 2-3 desired times you want. 805-616-8136, then I will call you to discuss details and where to meet. If you could show up 5 minutes early for your session as well to assist and make the day go smoother that would be Awesome.

Please have your child dressed and bring all desired clothing changes and such. If your child doesn't walk yet please let me know.

Also, if you can't make this one, no worries, I typically do this 2-3 times a year to help out my 

Mommy friends.

If you're not familiar with my work, please feel free to check me out.  Ventura Family Photographer

Why are Photographers so expensive? | Ventura, California Weding & Portrait Photographer | Donya J Photography

So why are professional photographers so expensive? 

You’re not just paying for the actual photograph, you’re paying for time and expertise in creating the image itself. First, let’s look at the actual time involved If you don’t read this entire page, at least read this first part.

For a two hour portrait session:

• about one hour of travel to and from the session

• two hours of shooting

• 30 minutes of setup, preparation, talking to the client etc.

• 30 minutes to load the photos onto a computer (2 – 4 Gb of data)

• 30 minutes to back up the files on multiple external drives plus DVD’s

• 3 – 4+ hours of Photoshop time including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, saving a copy for print and a copy for the internet and backing up the edited photographs

• 2 – 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive their order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment

• and mailing the package to you.

Now can see how one two hour session easily turns into more than eleven hours of work from start to finish. So when you see a Photographer charging a $200 session fee for a two hour photo shoot, you are not paying them $100 / hour.  And if you look at it this way, I basically make $18 an hour which is not too bad.  But unfortunately new business's like me are not shooting everyday, nor can we when we don't have more people other than us working for us.

Now for the expertise.

Shooting professional photography is a skill, acquired through years of experience. Even though our camera bodys average $4,000-$5,000 for just the body, and most of our lens are in the $2,000 category, taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.  Most Professional Photographers take years to go from buying their first decent camera to making money with their photography. In addition to learning how to use the camera itself, there is a mountain of other equipment involved, as well as numerous software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website etc.
And let’s not forget that you actually have to have people skills, be able to communicate, make people comfortable in front of the camera – and posing people to make them look their best, yet completely natural in a photograph is a skill all by itself.

Think of it this way – the next time you pay $100 to get your hair done, a pair of scissors only costs $1.50. But you gladly pay a lot more to hire a Professional to actually do the job.

What about the cheap studios at the mall?
Please don’t compare us to the chain store studios. Apples & Oranges!!! But if you must, consider all of the time and work that we put into our photographs, compared to what they do. Good luck getting a two hour photo shoot at a chain store. Not to mention they won’t come to the beach! And of course, look at our work compared to theirs.

You get what you pay for.

The truth is, most of the mall and chain store studios lose money. In fact, in 2007 Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios because of the financial drain they were putting on the company. What the chain stores bet on is that you’ll come in for some quick and cheap photos, and while you’re there, you’ll also spend $200 on other things. They don’t have to make money, they are just there to get you in the door.

In Conclusion

Thank you to those who have taken the time to read this, now you will have a better understanding of why professional photographs cost so much more than the ones that you get from your local drug store.

To see more visit Ventura Wedding Photographer 

PASS | A Simple Way to View & Share Your Images! | Ventura, California Weding & Portrait Photographer | Donya J Photography

I am so very excited and thrilled that Donya J Photography now offers all of it's client's, PASS. 

A simple, easy way to share, download and save, and view your images! PASS is a secure online gallery that will be included in any session package. No more CDs, no more discs, and the best part... no more waiting!! As soon as I'm done editing your images from your session, I will upload them to the online gallery which will be made available to you. The online gallery will secure and save all of your images for 30 days!! Wow!!

 

Here's what an online gallery will look like...

You'll be able to click on each image to view it as a larger size. On the right hand side of your screen, you'll be able to share a particular image via social media, e-mail it, mark it as a favorite, or download that image to your computer!

Then, over on the left hand side of your screen, you'll have the option to download the entire gallery straight to your computer! No more waiting to receive a disc from me! Yay! You'll be able to save all of your images neatly in a folder on your desktop. It will then be up to you to save them to an external drive (CD, memory card, jump drive, etc) OR you can just send the images straight to Shutterfly or Costco.com to have them printed! (or any other printing service you chose) You can then upload all of your images to your Facebook page or share them via other social media as you please!

And now, the BEST part! You ready for it?! All of you iPhone users are so stinkin' lucky! PASS - there's an app for that! YUP! You can even download the PASS app to your phone to have all of your images with you on the go for easy sharing!! You'll be able to download them to your phone to use as wallpaper, send in a text, or simply to just show off your beautiful family! 

I am so happy to be able to offer this to all of my clients! I know a few fellow Photographer's who also use PASS for all of their clients and absolutely LOVE it! It's so simple and easy! Even if you have multiple sessions done, you'll be able to access ALL of your sessions through your PASS account!  You can't ask for anything better than that!! I hope all of you are as excited about this as I am! :) 

To see more visit Ventura Wedding Photographer