Ian Lozada: Images and Words

So I'm with the family, visiting my folks in Long Beach, Long Island, and I've got a camera out, taking a photo of Caroline, who's playing with a napkin on top of her head, pretending it's a Pilgrim woman's hat, when my brother starts giving a speech. Now, celebrating Thanksgiving with us are Tim's girlfriend, Nadia, and her family. Well, as soon as Tim starts this, I have a feeling something's up.

It was.











So, long story short, I'm not available Columbus Day weekend (Oct 9-12), because I get to be a groomsman for once. Congratulations, Tim and Nadia!

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In other news, the 2009 pricelist is available on my website. The big news is that I've listened to your requests and a coffeetable book is now included in all coverages, with the option to upgrade to a premier quality album that reflects your personal style. Also, included with all premier albums is a DVD of all finished images-- there's no longer a requirement to buy parent books to get the DVD.

The schedule's filling up quickly for 2009, so call for an appointment right away-- next availability for meetings is December 16th.

The most common question I get in my e-mails off the website is about package pricing. Of course, I have a natural aversion to the idea that someone like me should be telling you what your needs are. You know better than I do what items are most important to you and your family.

Today, I talked to a bride who had a modest budget-- not an overly small budget, but not the type where money is no object, either. In short, she's like a lot of people. She didn't think that it was going to fit, but one thing I knew from previous phone conversations is that she really liked my work a lot, and I really want to help someone like that out.

So, first off, I laid out what the items we'd talked about would cost a la carte from my pricelist:

Shooting fee: $1500
9.5 x 13 inch album, 30 sides: $1200
11 x 14 print: $56
2 8x10's: $50
Assorted smaller prints and wallets: $75-100
(All prints in a package are added up to one lump sum print credit)

Basically, we were looking at $2900 or so. A little on the high side for her. But she wanted to make up a pre-paid package, and since I'm getting paid up front on that, I can work out a discount of 10%. That got us down to $2610... still a touch high.

Now if you've gone to http://www.ianlozada.com/pricelist.pdf recently, you know that the pricelist expires on Saturday of this week. The only major change I'm anticipating is that I'm adding one smaller sized Graphistudio album, at 8x12 inches. We're going to slot that in at $900 for 30 sides, with limited choices on covers and paper style.

We swapped that in for the medium sized album (with an additional discount for prepackaging) and we were able to make the numbers work. In fact, I was able to show her that if she asked people to give her Pictage gift certificates as wedding gifts, she could drop the print credits and get a gallery wrapped canvas instead and still end up in her budgeted range.

The point I'm getting at is that I want to work with you to help you get the things you want within the constraints of your budget, but I also want you to have the freedom to make your package fit you, not what I say you should want.