Let's address the elephant in my inbox

I get a lot of inquiries from business owners hoping to find a bargain. I understand the instinct. Marketing budgets are tight, everyone's trying to stretch a dollar, and there is no shortage of people in your local Facebook groups willing to shoot your brand photos for $150 and a tag on Instagram.

Here's the thing though. I'm not that photographer, and trust me, you don't actually want that photographer either. You want the brand photographer who makes your brand look like it's worth paying attention to. Those two things are not the same person, and they are definitely not the same price.

I get it, I'm a bargain hunter, too

My goal anytime I am paying for anything is to get that cost as close to $0.00 as I can, and the person I'm paying wants to get the cost as close to $1,000,000 as they can! Somewhere in the middle is usually where we end up, and if what I'm buying is excellent and the experience is top tier, I'm happy and the business owner is happy.

One thing that really helps me when I'm deciding how much I'm willing to invest in anything is to understand fully the value I'm getting. Never underestimate the power of a good cost/benefit analysis.

What you're actually paying for when you start a brand photography project with me

I'm a brand photographer in Tampa with over a decade of professional experience who has hyper-focused my entire career on brand photography, product photography, content creation, and wardrobe styling. I have a total of 20 years of practical photography experience on top of my obsession with helping businesses make more money by giving them kickass photos.

So my rates start at $2,000 per project, which is a higher number than most small business owners want to see when they are looking for quotes for brand photography. I get it. If you're looking for the cheapest photographer in Tampa, that just ain't ever going to be me.

Here's what's baked into my rate:

• The planning… My process involves getting really nosey about your business, your audience, and YOU. Some photographers are great at documentary-style candid photos with minimal direction. I'm way too much of a Type A control freak for that. Instead of leaving anything to chance, I learn about what makes you special, what makes your audience excited, and figure out how to connect those two concepts photographically. The planning is the real magic.

• The creative direction... I consider myself a creative instigator. My role is to draw creativity out of you in a way that resonates with your brand vision. From the concepts to the shot list to the way I tell you exactly what to do on set, my role is to help you push outside of your comfortable, safe bubble and find your inner weirdo.

• The skills… The vast majority of my photography clients are not models. You're a business owner, an industry leader, a public person…but probably not a fashion icon ready for the cover of Vogue. The skills I bring to the table are making you look way more comfortable being photographed than you actually feel. That is the kind of skill that comes from years of experience.

• The usage... Not only do I focus on creating a variety of unique, stand-alone images for you to use in a boatload of different ways to promote your business, I actually include a commercial license for each image you purchase.

  Here's something most bargain photographers won't tell you: paying for a photoshoot doesn't automatically mean you own the right to use those photos for your business. Under copyright law, the photographer holds the rights by default, and without a commercial license spelled out in writing, using those images in ads, on packaging, or in paid campaigns can put your business in legally murky territory. A photographer who includes commercial licensing rights in every project isn't just being generous, they're protecting you, and it's a sign they've actually thought through how you'll use these photos, not just emailed you a Dropbox link and called it a day.

So yeah…not the cheapest photographer you could find, because I'm just not interested at all in providing subpar service or a bare minimum experience. Everyone's got a budget in mind, everyone's got different values, no shade at all to anyone whose budget/values don't align with my business practices.

What you lose when you cheap out on brand photography

If I had a dollar for every time someone hired me after they already threw money away on a cheaper photographer…I'd take that money and buy myself a fancy dinner for two.

That's not to say a cheap photographer can't take great photos. Of course they can! But they're also a lot more likely to lack the systems a high-end brand photographer has developed to create a stress-free experience for you. Things like having a back-up set of equipment in case something breaks on set, having automatic cloud-storage to protect digital files from accidental deletion, having a strong booking system to prevent inadvertently double-booking leaving you at risk of not having your photographer show up at all, etc.

Cheap brand photography is a risk that doesn't save you money. It just delays the real expense.

Tampa is a major city. Your brand should look like it.

You are not running a small-town side hustle in a market nobody's paying attention to. You're doing business in Tampa, a major, fast-growing city with real competition and real customers who have real options. If your branding looks like it was slapped together on a lunch break, you are handing those customers straight to the competitor who invested in looking legit.

You don't need to look expensive for the sake of looking expensive. You don't need to look like some gussied-up, phony-baloney version of yourself. You don't need to look like a neutral-color-palette-carbon-copy of everyone else in your industry.

You need to look like a business that takes itself seriously, because that's exactly what makes potential customers take you seriously too.

How to know you're actually ready to invest in brand photography

You don't need an unlimited budget to work with me. You need to be at a point where you're ready to treat your visual brand like the asset it actually is, not an afterthought you'll deal with eventually.

You're ready if:

• You're tired of using the same recycled photos from two years ago

• You know your current photos don't match how far your business has come

• You're launching something and need it to actually land

• You'd rather invest once and use the results for months than pay less and redo it in six weeks

• You're weird…but in a good way

If that's you, we should talk. If you're still looking for the $100 Facebook Marketplace special, no hard feelings, but I'm not your girl, and that's okay.