Michelle's Maternity Shoot

Here are a few of my favourite photos from my maternity session with the lovely Michelle. The photos were taken at Moona Moona Creek in Huskisson when Michelle was 34 weeks pregnant. I often get asked when the ideal time for maternity photos is and my recommendation is anytime from 32 weeks, however, it is completely up to you!

Burrier Newborn Session

I joined new parents Dan and Jess to capture some family portraits with their beautiful daughter a couple of weeks ago in Burrier, NSW. Being a father has taught me how precious those first few weeks of life are, so to be invited into the homes of new parents is such an honor!

Dallas and Jacqui's Wollongong Botanical Gardens Wedding

Dallas and Jacqui couldn't have picked a more beautiful location to have their wedding ceremony. The two tied the knot surrounded by flowers in the Rose Garden at the Wollongong Botanical Gardens. Their romantic wedding ceremony was followed by a traditional sit down reception at City Beach Function Centre. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know this lovely bride and groom and wish them all the best for their future as husband and wife. 

Berry Family Home Session

A lot of my clients have a preconceived idea that photography sessions are highly posed and awkward. I often suggest to these clients that we take a walk or shoot the photos somewhere they feel comfortable. I have a relaxed approach to photography and I try my best to capture genuine relationships and special moments. Below are some photos from a recent shoot in Berry, NSW. Half of the booking was used taking property photos and the remainder was used taking family portraits around the home and yard. 

One of the best things about this business is the nice people you meet along the way.

Aerial Home Photos

Property Photos

Family Photos

Go Steel Concrete Pour

Are you struggling to come up with content for your social media in the building trade? Having professional progress photos can be a great way to educate potential clients of the building process, showcase your project management and generate interest from start to finish. With the spotlight on home improvement over the last few years, there is an increased demand for this type of photography. By having regular, professional photos you can stay ahead of your competitors and as a result generate more business! 

Check out my recent work below, a day on a Go Steel job site in Cambewarra NSW.

Jonah and Mila

When Mila emailed me to organise the engagement shoot they never had I jumped at the opportunity to head back to Sydney!

I met Jonah and Mila at the Royal Botanical Gardens on their recent visit to Australia. We wanted to shoot their session at an iconic location because Jonah is Canadian and Mila hadn't been back home in over four years. 

Thanks guys for allowing me to capture this special afternoon with you both. 

Dolphin Point

A couple of weeks ago I spent my morning shooting The Puglisi family. We took a walk around Dolphin Point, NSW and it was so picturesque. We will definitely be heading back down for a swim in the not so distant future! 

Integrity Nowra Headshots

If you are local to the Shoalhaven you will most likely recognise some of the friendly faces below from the team at Integrity Real Estate Nowra. I had the chance to meet them myself when I photographed their updated corporate headshots late last year. 

Headshots are your first opportunity to make a great first impression for your brand/ business. They can be used on your business cards, email signatures, brochures or website. They reinforce your commitment to professionalism and help potential clients identify with you. 

Having professional photographs of your staff should be a top priority if you are serious about your branding.

Melinda's Newborn Shoot

This year expect to see lots of babies on my blog! With the recent introduction of gift vouchers that have been popular gifts for expecting mothers, I have many more of these in-home newborn shoots ahead.

Aren't Melinda and Wynter-Lee the sweetest pair!

Penny and Ben's Maternity Shoot

"Sometimes miracles come in pairs."

Penelope and Ben are expecting twins! I was honored to be asked to photograph a maternity shoot for these soon to be parents. I really tried to capture the love the two have for one another and the excitement that they feel to meet their babies. The session was photographed in my hometown, Sussex Inlet. All the best to you both.

Harper's First Birthday

Here are some of the photos taken at our daughters first birthday party. Her party was a mermaid theme and was held at White Sands Beach in Jervis Bay. Thank you to our close friends and family for joining us, Harper enjoyed her afternoon and liked her beautiful gifts! 

159 Greville Avenue, Sanctuary Point

Just listed with Oz Combined Realty is this property only 100m from Palm Beach in Sanctuary Point. To view the listing, click here!

The Pakes Wedding

I finished my 2017 weddings with Josh and Courtney Pakes and what a high note to end on! Who says you can't pull off a wedding the week of Christmas? 

Their big day was held in Culburra, NSW and had a strong emphasis on family. I enjoyed watching the two families join as well as two parents make an even bigger commitment to one another. 

Thank you for allowing me to celebrate this new chapter with you, your friends and families.

Happy New Year to the Newlyweds!

Cambewarra Horse Shoot

Below are some photos I took in November as a surprise for Christmas. I had a great afternoon in Cambewarra challenging myself with something new. I am very open to the artistic side of photography and love working with clients to photograph extensions of their family and lifestyle. I can't wait to talk to the owner of the horses and see if she likes her prints!

The Coulthart Family

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas yesterday.

Back in November I had the pleasure of photographing the Coulthart family on their farm in Terrara. The shoot was organised as a surprise Christmas gift! I have been itching to share this shoot with you all because the kids are so adorable and their property was beautiful.

Thank you for letting me experience a snippet of life on farm with you guys! 

Survey Results

Last weekend we conducted an anonymous survey to better understand our clients needs. Although we encourage our clients to review our service on Facebook after they receive their photos we felt a survey might give us some useful feedback. 

We kept the survey short to encourage participation. Below we have shared the results with you.

Question 1
How much do you think is a fair amount for a one hour family photo session?

$200 - 66.67%
$300 - 33.33%
$400 - 0%

We are in the process of reviewing our pricelist. We wanted to offer cheap prices initially to generate interest as we are a new business. We don't have intentions of dramatic increases, however, we are looking at our costing for one hour shoots because of the editing time as well as the travel from our home in Sussex Inlet. 

Question 2
How much do you think is a fair amount for a photographer to ask for a deposit?

30% - 37.5%
50% - 50%
No deposit - 0%
Payment upfront in full - 12.5%

We have only recently started taking deposits for regular bookings due to multiple cancellations. It disappoints us when we get cancelled at the last minute because we both have jobs outside this business and provide our availability based on our photography bookings. We have started taking small deposits so we can also give the booking to the client that secures the date with a payment. 

Question 3
Which of these is most important to you?

Cheap price - 0%
Quality of photographs - 87.5%
Responsive service - 0%
Fast turnaround - 12.5%

This one did not surprise us, however we were curious if the clients wanting a fast turnaround are Real Estate Agents due to their need to list their properties. Fast turnaround was also key in the paparazzi industry, if you photographed a celebrity or event that was not exclusive you were competing with other agencies to sell your photos. 

Question 4
Would you be likely to recommend our business to a friend or family?

Yes - 81.25%
No - 0%
Not sure - 18.75%

We hope the people that said "not sure" are because they haven't personally used our service. 

Question 5
How do you like to receive your photos?

USB - 75%
Dropbox or Email - 6.25%
Printed - 18.75%

This question was probably the most useful. We currently provide most clients with their photos by email/ dropbox. We plan to use this information to make USBs available to all clients. Before now we haven't offered prints because we thought it would easier for clients to purchase them themselves. We have been doing a lot of test prints this month and are finally happy with a printer. We are in the process of finding out the rates we will pay based on volume. Once we achieve a cost effective way to purchase them we will offer this too. We want to make sure the client gets a great quality at an affordable price.

Question 6
What does this company do really well?

• Advertising on social media
• Photography and Marketing
• Photographs are lovely. Great use of social media. Havnt used your business yet but plan to in the very near future
• Continues advertisement of your work, promote response, and great quality photography
• Social Media
• Social media
• We were really happy with all aspects of our experience and can’t wait to see our images. The only thing we did comment on after is that you have possibly priced yourself too low for what you offer. We will be using against n for our family and business images.
• Amazing photo quality. Great social media advertising.
• Friendly personal service (& amazing work of course ??).
• Advertise on social. Havent had work done myself - but love your work you put up
• Take photos
• I like the friendly feel I get from social media

Thanks everyone!

Question 7
What does the company need to improve on?

• Building a client base & stronger reputation which comes with time
• Nothing i can think of
• Nothing
• Variety of photos/backgrounds and edits
• Nothing
• Not sure
• N/a
• Turnaround
• Nil

We are hopeful that our client base will continue to grow with time, agree!
The more shoots we do in different locations the more backgrounds we will have. This one is a bit tricky though when most clients email requesting to shoot somewhere they have seen our work. With the edits we have taken this on board and plan to start asking clients if they have any editing preferences. 
The turnaround one has us stumped, this is what we are most proud of! 

Question 8
How much do you think is a fair amount to charge for an 8 hour wedding?

$1500 - $2000 - 26.67%
$2000 - $2500 - 53.33%
More than $2500 - 20%
Less than $1500 - 0%

We are in the process of working out our new wedding pricing. We have been calculating how much editing is involved. Once we do a few more weddings we will work out an average and adjust accordingly.

Question 9
General comments or suggestions

• Love your work
• Your photography is amazing and I think you could do a price rise as I believe your photos and time is worth more they are beautiful and the distance travelled also needs to be accounted for in cost (you drove to the valley for us that’s a fair distance). Your a nice guy I think you might be selling yourself short (being to cheap)
• Keep up the good work
• N/A

Question 10
When you can't see a photographers pricing you think it's because:

• They will try hard to make you book once you enquire - 0%
• They are too expensive - 66.67%
• They need to tailor a price to your specific needs - 33.33%

We are so torn with this one! We do need to tailor our pricing to the specific job with some categories however a lot of our bookings are based on time. We are planning to work out our 2018 pricing and put it back up soon once our promotions end. 

Thank you to everyone that completed our survey, we appreciate it. If you ever have any feedback send us an email info@samuelwhitephoto.com we would love to hear from you!

Jervis Bay Family Session

When I shoot babies I like to include the whole family and take a relaxed approach. I don't like posing them in uncomfortable outfits while their parents sit by wanting the session to end. I like to go for a walk, include everyone and just capture the joy that they bring. I purchased lighting equipment with the intentions of offering typical newborn photography but found it wasn't for me, I love capturing your family but in a more natural setting.

Thank you Allison for a great session, I hope your family has a very Merry Christmas!

Competition Winner

Congratulations to the Matterson Family on winning my recent Instagram competition! I hope you like your family photos from our recent shoot at Shoalhaven Heads. If you would like to win a free photo session, follow my instagram and keep an eye out for my next giveaway!

Kate's family at Terara

I'd heard the name Kate Inglish long before I received this booking. Kate is the owner of the beautiful kids boutique Kate Inglish Designs in Nowra. A store my sister in law has gifted Harper so many beautiful things from and an Instagram account my wife is always showing me. 

I met up with Kate and her family in Terara, NSW for an afternoon family session. Terara is such a pretty spot to shoot because it offers mountain, river and farm landscapes all within a  small walking distance of each other. 

After so many of my shoots lately, I drive home feeling so happy to be pursuing something I truly love doing. Thank you for letting me meet your family and for such a nice afternoon. 

Jett's First Birthday Party

Last weekend I had a very cheeky client, birthday boy Jett! I had such a great time meeting Jett's family and friends who had gathered to celebrate his very first birthday! It was so nice to see the love everyone has for the little man, and it's no wonder because for such a little person he has such a big personality!

Birthday parties are the perfect opportunity to get family photos. It's a good chance to take advantage of having all your loved ones together.