Here is a little sneak peak of a session that I did of my own children. It was a challenge to pull it together and even harder to get my own kids to smile for me but I am pleased with the results. I will post more later when I have time to edit them but I wanted to show off my beautiful kids!

You never know what might happen when you are folding laundry with kids. Love these pictures!

After some thought, prayer and long conversations with my husband I have a few changes I need to make in my business. These are my thoughts put down into an email that I will be sending out to my friends and family. I love each and every one of you who have supported me over the years and hope you will understand the heart of this letter.

Dear Friends and Family of Katie Watkins Photography,
I am writing this to you because I value your support of my photography business but feel that I need to “clear the air” with some of you concerning the direction of Katie Watkins Photography.

Earlier this year my husband joked that I should just get a non-profit number as my business has been pretty much that way for awhile. I laughed at the time but that got me thinking about the direction I was headed.

I truly love taking pictures and providing that service to family and friends. It has been very rare that I have charged full price to any of you. I really love what I do and I want to bless each of you with beautiful pictures! But I have also recognized that God has called me to be at home with my children and not with my photography business. Unless I am making money that blesses my family I am essentially stealing time from them to do this.

When I started looking at the numbers I realized about 75% of what I was doing was at a discounted or no charge rate. Most of my customers are my friends and family as I do not heavily advertise but with rates like I have been giving I have been essentially working for free!! This is my own fault for not setting up my business properly from the start but like most things I have been learning as I go.

I have taken time to examine if I wanted to go further with my business or quit all together. I have always wanted to be a wedding photographer since my early teens. God has blessed me with a wonderful husband and family situation that allows me to freely pursue this passion of photography. At the same time I know that God has clearly called me to be available to my children and homeschool them and that must be my first priority.

So I have sadly realized that I can no longer work at a discounted rate but must charge for my time to make this endeavor worth my time and effort for me and my family. It may seem that a session takes just a few hours but there are many more hours spent processing and preparing images to complete a session, plus equipment and other costs I have to cover.

I have raised my rates and my print prices to bring them more inline with other photographers who have as much experience and time invested as I do. This has been at the strong urging of my husband who I am thankful for encouraging me to do so because I finally feel that what I am being paid covers that time and effort I put into a session. I have also talked with other photographers about how they handle friends and family and I was surprised to hear that they charge the same amount to them as everyone else because they recognized they are running a real business!

Because of these recent changes I know that I have surprised a few of you when asked about my pricing because you didn’t hear that discounted (or free!) rate you are use to hearing. Please know that I truly value your business and want to retain you as customers. I am willing to do payment plans for those who are unable to pay up front for as long as you need. I just need to make this business worth my time and effort for my family or I am going to have to quit it all together. If you are on a “baby” plan I would like to finish out your year the same way we have done your other baby sessions so please don’t hesitate to set those appointments.

I do not want to miss out on the opportunity to bless you with beautiful wedding photography if you have a need in that area. Please contact me to see what my “family and friends” discount is for wedding photography. I truly love “gifting” that to my friends on their wedding days.

Thank you for all your loyal support over the years. I look forward to many more years of being your family photographer.

Thanks,
Katie Watkins