Amy Tripple Photography Blog

When the Gap, Target, or Papa John’s decide to change things up a bit in their business strategies, it’s a fairly cut-and-dry decision process.  Our business decisions, however, tend to feel extremely personal because of the deep connection I have with so many of you.  In allowing me to photograph your families, you’ve given me the honor of seeing right into the heart of the most special corners of your lives, and it’s a role that I cherish beyond words…  So, please forgive me if the following blog post is FAR too long and wordy… but as you all know, I’m just not the Gap when it comes to how I feel about my clients. : )

So many exciting things are around the bend for the future of Amy Tripple Photography and our family, and I’m hoping to share as much of that as I can with you today!  These past few months, we’ve been taking a long, hard look at the structure of this blessed little life we live.  Having only been doing this business for three years, we’re totally aware that no one season has been the same as the last, and the growing pains that the business and our clients have experienced have been substantial.  We continue to be in awe of all of you who have stuck by us through each new season, giving me moment after precious moment to capture your beautiful families.

In light of all that, I’m about to lay out some pretty big changes that we have in store for the fall and how those changes will affect you, our sweet clients…  So, deep breath… here I go… : )

Jonathan:

I’m not sure I could possibly communicate to you guys just how amazing Jonathan’s been this past year.  I’ve watched him become the chief servant of our home, from wiping poopy bottoms to doing dishes, from folding laundry to hosting playdates.  He’s managed preschool pick-ups, played dress-up, made the beds, raised an infant… all with an enormous amount of grace and humility.  And, in the meantime, he’s been managing this photography business like a total champ… scheduling sessions, processing payments, paying taxes, giving outfit suggestions, etc.  When I married him ten years ago, I never would have even fathomed that there would be this level of practical, servant-like love between us that would enable him to get behind my dream like he has.  I wish I could give him a hundred gold medals for the way he’s tackled one of the hardest jobs in the world this past year… being a work-at-home-and-stay-at-home parent.

One thing you may or may not know about him is that he’s studied to be a pastor.  He completed seminary in 2006 and was a minister in LaGrange until we moved last summer.  Through all of the craziness of this past year, we’ve had a pretty clear plan that involves Jonathan following his own deep-seated dream of starting a church.  His passion is to offer a church that is open to all, with an overarching focus on young families.  In particular, he hopes to create a safe and authentic place for those who have honest and tough questions about faith to come and explore.  I’ve watched this dream of his develop and become a reality over the course of this past year as we’ve found a group of others who are excited about coming alongside us to serve our community.  The church will launch on September 12 and I couldn’t be more thrilled to see and fully support Jonathan as he pursues this dream of his.

I’ve never had any other purpose for this blog but to give my clients a glimpse into my work and family, so you’ll rarely (if ever) hear my thoughts on anything “churchy” or spiritual here.   Because Jonathan’s come to mean so much to many of you, however, I think it would be worth mentioning that our church, Redeemer Church of Downers Grove, has a website (http://www.redeemerdg.com) for you to check out if you’re curious about what we’re up to on that level.  And it goes without saying that we would be absolutely thrilled if we ever saw any of your sweet faces at one of our services… check out the site if you’d like more information…

Allie:

Who is Allie, you ask? : )  Oh my… you are all in for a *totally* delightful surprise!!!  Allie is my sweet baby sister (ok, not so much a baby anymore!) who will be stepping in this July to take Jonathan’s place as our official business manager.  She, her husband, and their sweet yellow lab live in Lisle, only minutes away, and are pursuing a move to Downers Grove as we speak.  She was an absolutely fantastic teacher (the kind you keep your fingers crossed that you kids will get!) for six years and brings a tremendous amount of organization, planning, and child and people skills with her to the position.  I have no doubt that Jonathan will still be popping his head into the business from time to time, but Allie will be that sweet voice on the other end of the line beginning this August.  She rocks.  She’s gonna save my totally-creative-but-not-very-organized butt.  And she can do the job without simultaneously having to watch three kids ages four and under (did I mention that Jonathan is a champ?). : )  We’ll be featuring her soon on a blog post to give you all a little bit of a better introduction.  We couldn’t be more excited to have her come on board!!!

Associates:

Last fall, as we watched our waiting list soar to over 200 families, we decided to try to expand our capacity by hiring some absolutely lovely women.  We wanted to have an option for those families who were hoping to get pictures done within a certain time frame but couldn’t wait for my availability or wanted sessions outside of my travel radius.  They have been absolutely wonderful to work with, and I admire their skills and professionalism even more now then when we first hired them.  Through the process, these ladies have become so much more than employees… they’ve become photography peers and, in the end, friends. : )  I love them each so much!!!

Having said that, we’ve decided that having associate photographers as part of our model hasn’t been the best choice for us as a small business.  Our goal in these past few months of “restructuring” has been to simplify, simplify, simplify, and we’ve decided that part of that simplification process is limiting the source of our work and service to myself only.  The decision has everything to do with the extra time and complication of scheduling and maintaining extra employees, and nothing to do with the quality of their work or personalities.  They are women with fantastic camera skills, their own unique styles, and, at our encouragement, photography businesses of their own as well.  We are so incredibly proud of them and are honored that they chose to spend these past nine months working with us in our attempted venture.

Session Availability and Pricing:

It hardly needs to be said that volume and pricing go hand-in-hand when creating a working business plan.  When I first began Amy Tripple Photography,  it was much more of a small-scale hobby… the profit we made was turned straight back into the business as I built up a high-quality arsenal of cameras, lenses, technology, and equipment for over a year.  As the purpose of our business has gradually shifted from my rockin’ little hobby to a full-time, family-supporting income over these past three years, the prices and packages we’ve set out for our clients have transitioned as well.  I’ve been a total hardhead about always offering the digital images in every package… it’s something that I’ve always believed in and Jonathan and I both committed to do from the start of this endeavor.  It eliminates pressure and allows families to get the most out of every session for years to come.  Many of you know that offering digital images is a fairly unique business model among local custom photographers, but we really love the way it feels to give these full-resolution images, fully-released, to each family that we serve.

With that in mind, we began evaluating the structure of our business a few months ago because of the crazy-busy amount of time that is required to keep up a pricing structure like we do.  Hard work has never bothered me… in fact, I used to really pride myself on the huge number of sessions that I could shoot within a given day, week or month.  I loved how it felt to be appreciated by so many of our clients for the reasonable package and prices we offer.  We are the first ones to understand that a “good price” is only a matter of perspective, and a fee that requires a few months of saving for one family is the same fee that’s a drop in the bucket for another.  Knowing that there are many of you, however, that have continued coming to me for pictures even though it’s been a stretch for your family financially, I’ve been completely uninterested in raising prices to be anywhere near those of similarly-experienced custom photographers in the area.

The truth is, however, that I’ve had to work 60-80 hour weeks this past year to support my family at the rates we offer.  Jonathan puts in an additional 30-40 hours each week scheduling sessions, making phone calls, answering e-mails, putting in orders, settling payments, etc… Add those schedules up and it becomes clear very quickly that this is not anywhere close to a perfect situation for a family with three very young children.  Although we had already begun thinking about my schedule a bit, my beautiful four year old daughter brought it to a turning point as I was tucking her into bed one evening back in early May.  Jonathan was taking the three kids up to the lakehouse for the weekend, and I was staying home to take pictures.  As I was sharing with my sweet four year old that she would be headed up to Wisconsin with her daddy, brother, and baby sister, (and wouldn’t that be SO SO SOOOOOOOO fun?!?!?) she immediately began to cry.  ”What’s wrong, my love?!?” I asked as I snuggled her close.  She pulled back and asked me through her tears… “Mommy… how can we be a family if we aren’t ever together like families are together?”  Thank you, darling girl, for your ever-wise-four-year-old insight on life.

In light of all that background info, I’m hoping that you mommies and daddies out there will understand exactly where I’m coming from as we look ahead to this fall’s schedule and pricing structure.  Please know, as you see some of our raised prices, that we’ve made the decision purely out of the desire to honor our kids and be the kinds of parents they need us to be during these formative years.  To cut right to the chase, I’ll be cutting down my session volume quite a bit this fall and raising my prices to $400 for our weekend sessions.  The weekday and sweetie session prices will remain the same ($250 and $150, respectively) in an effort to stay as affordable as possible for as many of you as we can.

For those of you who find our new prices out of your financial comfort level, please know that I would never feel hurt if you had to use another service for your pictures.  We absolutely know that there are more affordable options out there, and, speaking from the perspective of a girl who *hates* spending too much money on anything, I couldn’t possibly take it personally if you felt that you needed to move on.  I’ll be using this blog as a way to stay in touch with all of you, and your comments will make me SO happy, even if I’m not seeing you in person as often as I used to.  And having less sessions (and Allie!) will get my happy blog writing right back up-to-speed.  I miss the time I used to have to share, but it’s coming again soon! : )

Because I’ll be offering fewer sessions, please allow me to point you in the direction of our three Associate photographers’ websites…

Alyssa Albers - www.alyssaalbersphotography.com

Kelly Bichoff - www.kellybphoto.com

Francine Mittenthal - www.lillybellerosephotography.com

Christina Bailitz – www.christinabailitzphotography.com

Other Fun and Happy Things:

Oh my goodness do we have a LOT of fun and happy things going on here with the business this summer!!!  I’m thinking that this blog post could seriously jam up your e-mail inbox at this point, so I’m just gonna throw out some quick details for you and get on to the stuff that you’re really interested about (like the fall schedule!!!)

1.  GO CHECK OUT MY NEW BLOG!!!  I’m a little crazy, I know.  It started with a little update from WordPress, but I was so delighted with all of the new capabilities that one thing led to another and wham-o!  A super-cute, WAY more interactive blog for you guys!  And I’m not even close to being done with it, hee hee!  My hope is that it will be a place for you mommies (and, of course, daddies!) to come for helpful info about photography, parenting, decorating, sewing, etc…  All of my favorite things!  Wow, I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you for now.  But do go check it out (the real thing, not the e-mail you’re reading).  Too much fun!

2.  That little project I was working on last week is completed… yay and hooray!!!  Our sweet boy model totally rocked it, and I was pretty tickled with the way the video came out.  If you head over to my blog, you can view it on the left by hovering over one of those super-cool sliding-drawer tabs.  It’s fun.  And you’ll want to be sure to check it out, because you or your babies just might be in there! : )  Or you can check it out on you tube:  Welcome Video!

3.  Facebook!!!  I’m totally digging it!  We’ll definitely do some kind of a “drive” soon to show it off a little, but for now I’ve just been posting little odds and ends about what we’re up to.  Tonight I posted my new video.  Yay!

4.  The studio.  Oh, my… the studio.  Anyone who’s been to our studio for pictures would have a hard time missing some of the needs it has in the way of, shall we say, a major facelift.  Now, please don’t get me wrong… it’s one of my absolute favorite places in the world and it’s teeming with character and potential.  But it’s undeniably in need of some serious tlc, and this summer that pretty little house is going to get more lovin’ than it will know what to do with. : )  Many more details to come, but just to throw it out there… we’ll be doing a studio workday this summer, and those who come to help will be paid in pictures.  More details to follow!

The Fall Schedule:

Ok… now for the fall schedule! : )  If you’re one of the handful of people still reading this e-mail, you’re a saint and you’ve earned the opportunity to be one of the first to see what we’ll be offering this fall, 2010:

Sessions open at 7am on July 1st.  You can book a session by logging into our online scheduler (www.amytripplephotography.com/scheduler).  It would be a really good idea to make sure that you have an updated profile there before “opening day”.  These sessions tend to go fast!

Sweetie Sessions  ($150 |  25 minute sessions)

• September 17  |  Katherine Legge Memorial Park in Hinsdale
• October 1  |  Fullersburg Woods Nature Center in Hinsdale
• November 5  |  Naperville Riverwalk in Naperville.  Backup location = Amy’s Studio in Downers Grove
• December 3  |  Amy’s Studio in Downers Grove

Sweetie Session Times: 9am, 9:30am, 10am, 10:30am, 12:30pm, 1pm, 1:30pm, 2pm, 4pm, 4:30pm, 5pm, and 5:30pm.

Weekday Full Sessions ($250  |  30-90 minute sessions)

• September  |  7, 14, 21, 28
• October  |  5, 12, 19, 26
• November  |  9, 16, 23, 30
• December  |  6, 7

Weekday Full Session Times: 12pm, 2pm, 4pm

Tuesday mornings are reserved for newborn sessions (one per week).  If you’re expecting, be sure to get in touch with us asap if you’re hoping to get in for newborn shots. : )

Weekend Sessions ($400  |  30-90 minute sessions)

• September  |  11
• October  |  16, 30
• November  |  13, 20
• December  |  4, 11

Weekend Full Session Times: 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm (after the time-change on Nov. 7, there will no longer be 5pm sessions offered due to the earlier sunset)

Well, I’m thinkin’ that this post will officially go down in history as the longest post I have ever written.  I think I wrote a paper in college that came close to the length of what you just endured. : )  I PROMISE that the next post will be very short on words and long on pictures and adorableness, and thank you thank you thank you for being such awesome blog readers!!!

A little eye-candy to finish things up… enjoy! : )

What an amazing weekend it was at the studio!

I had three absolutely fantastic groups of parents come in for classes on Saturday and Sunday, DSLRs in hand, to participate in the Sweet Shots Classes that we’ve been offering!  Like last time, I was just completely impressed by their eagerness to learn about their cameras and how to take great shots of their kids.  I could SO relate to their initial excitement and frustration over their DSLRs… I remember feeling those exact same things a little over three years ago when I first got mine.  And that manual?  Barely readable.  Boring as all get-out.  NOT for me.

I had such a blast watching the faces light up this weekend as these parents went from “What the heck do those letters mean?!?!?” to “Oh my GOSH I can capture my kids running and swinging!!!”  I was reminded, yet again, of how much I really do enjoy teaching (a job I had in my former life, pre-kids and pre-camera).  It made me come home and say, “I just can’t wait to do that again!”  So I put together a few more classes for you eager-beaver, snap-happy mommies and daddies… : )

Take a peek at the new splash page (yeah, I know… we’re always adding stuff around here!) with a link to the upcoming Sweet Shots classes.  There will be 3 levels of classes offered…  Sweet Shots, Sweeter Shots, and Sweetest Shots.  I’d tell you all about it here on the blog, but I’m kinda hoping you’ll head over and check out the new site, ’cause it’s cute and I love it. : )

Click HERE to take a peek!!!

(Yes, the editing class is more expensive than the others… A LOT of info will be shared there!!!)

Now, speaking of super sweet shots… : )

Check out this mama paparazzi!!!  You girls ROCKED IT!!! : )

Alright-y.  Yay for camera-crazy parents! And yay for all the beautiful newborns lately!!!

Your job?  Sit back, scroll down, and enjoy these beautiful sleepers… : )

Edited to say…

We’ve got our model!!!  Thank you SO much to everyone who volunteered!  There will be more, so keep an eye on the blog! : )

Thing One:

Wanted to throw out a little “casting call” to you guys!  I need a little one for a special project I’m working on.  Can’t share too many details on the blog : ), but here’s what you need to know if you’re interested:

- I’m looking for a 2-3 year old child… either a boy or a girl!

- We’ll meet at the Fullersburg Nature Center in Hinsdale this Wednesday (tomorrow!) at 12:45ish.

- I’ll need the parent to be willing to sign a model-release form specific to the project at hand.

- You’ll get a bunch of edited high-resolution pictures (20-40) on a CD, both color and black-and-white, within 2 weeks of Wednesday.

If you have other kids that you’d need to bring along, that’s totally fine… just know that I’ll be working with one child for the project.

If this sounds like something you’d like to do, shoot me off an e-mail and I’ll give you some more specifics.  When the position has been filled, I’ll post it here on the blog, so if you haven’t heard back from me… check here first! : )

Thing Two:

I’ve got another round of Sweet Shots Seminars coming up this weekend and there are a few last-minute spots open.  If you’re interested in really learning how to use your DSLR to shoot capture your children : ), click on the schedule link above to grab a spot.  There are spots available in the 2 p.m. Saturday class and the 2 p.m. Sunday class… the 9 a.m. Saturday class is sold out.  For those of you already signed up… get ready to have some FUN FUN FUN!!! : )  For more information, click the link below:

Sweet Shots Seminars

Thing Three:

Are you guys familiar with Winkflash?  It’s one of those everyday online photolabs like Snapfish, Shutterfly, Photoworks, etc…  Well, check this out:  they’re offering 40% off of all their gallery wraps till June 15th!!!  I’d be lying if I told you that they were as good as ours, but hey… if you wouldn’t order ours anyhow what have you got to lose?!?

I put together a little demo of how AMAZING these babies would look on your wall with some sneak-peeks from a recent session (killing 2 birds with 1 stone here) : )

That’s two 16 x 20s and two 16 x 16s.  You could have them all for $188.

Wait… why am I not ordering a set like this?  Jonathan, are you reading this?  Hee hee… : )

Seriously?  Do it.  It’s an unbelievable deal.

Thing Four:

Took my little man on a date last night.  Yup, you read that right.  We date our kids.  It’s too cool what you can see in them when you’ve got them alone.  Jonathan takes our four year old girl out now and then to Steven’s Family Restaurant, a local place that just so happens to be her favorite (so funny where they pick, isn’t it?!?).  And I take our boy to the best restaurant in the whole wide world (according to him) : )…

It may not be the fanciest place in the world, but if you need somewhere TOTALLY SPECIAL to take your little boy, this is it. They get little boys there. Just go… you’ll see what I mean.

Look at that face… couldn’t you eat him up?  He was about to order a cheeseburger.  And fruit.  How cute (and healthy) is that?  I, on the other hand, was getting fries.  He’s trying to be a good example for me… maybe I’ll make good choices like that someday too… : )

All the kids in the restaurant are totally mesmerized by the train that brings their meal right to their seat.  Heck, I was totally mesmerized by it.  I think I was the only mommy sprawled out on the counter getting actions shots of toy train zooming by.  My little guy doesn’t know to be embarrassed of me yet.  He thinks I’m cool.  I’m soaking that up right now, cause from what I hear it doesn’t last long…

They’ve got this super-cool glassed-in train table at the front with a gazillion buttons that the kids can press to make different things “go”.  They control the whole little make-believe town.  He could have stayed for hours, but I was getting pretty “choo-choo’ed” out by this point.

Our darling waitress offered to take a picture of us at the end!  I told her THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, cause I’m never in ANY pictures!!! Then I handed her my new baby and she took a step back and didn’t look so sure.  I told her just to look through the little hole and press the button.  Really, I said… you can totally do this!!!

And she did!

She actually got kinda shutter-happy and took a bunch.  I think she liked the 8 frames per second feature… it made her feel pretty snazzy.  Couldn’t blame her. : )

OH!  For those of you who don’t know, “All Aboard” is on 75th street in Downers Grove.  It’s in the Michaels shopping center.  Just look it up… you’ll find it!  You can be a little boy’s “cool mommy” too!

More Things…

I could go on and on, but I’d better stop so I have things left to tell you another day.  How ’bout a few darling sneak peeks to close it out?

Sweet kiddos, huh? : )

OH!!!  One more thing (ignore me if you’ve got to sleep/work/change a diaper/watch GMA/wash your hair)…

I’m on Facebook now!!!  Want to become a fan?!?  I’ll blog more about it later, but feel free to head on over and check it out!  More on that crazy stuff soon…)

I’m an unusually early-to-bed kind of person, as my friends and poor college roommates would quickly tell you.  As in, the minute I see the nine appear on the digital clock in our kitchen, I get that super-strong “I’m not in the right place if I’m not in my bed” feeling.  But tonight I got caught up so far past the nines that it wasn’t even funny, reading other photographers’ blogs and enjoying the inspiration and quiet peace that only the middle of the night can offer.  And as a fairly hearty thunderstorm now rolls through, I’ve find myself laying in bed, thinking.  Thinking about my life, my work, our family, this journey we’ve been on.

I remember so clearly the moment that my mom and dad walked through our front door a little over three years ago, carrying a present that I hadn’t even seen coming.  My oh-so-big 15 month old girl was upstairs asleep in her crib, and my newborn baby boy was asleep in my arms.  My dad handed us a wrapped box as my mom told us that they wanted to give us “a little something special” to celebrate the arrival of our sweet new baby.  Even now, when I close my eyes, I can watch myself opening that box in an act of pure naivety, having no idea what its contents would mean over time for me and my family.  Out from the box came a little Nikon D40, which seemed absolutely enormous at the time compared to the outdated point-and-shoot I’d nearly worn out during my daughter’s first year.  Out from the box also came a bright and tireless passion, a new home, countless new friends, and (in all honesty) a precious new life for all of us.

Tonight my thoughts swirl around these past three years, as no one season has been the same as the last.  I’ve met and intimately worked with an absolutely astounding number of precious young families (over 1,000 of you now!) and have fallen in love time and time again with the babies and children that have graced my viewfinder.  I think about the comments from so many of you about my “amazing ability” to raise little ones, run a business, and still *attempt* to occasionally engage in fun and crafty projects simultaneously, and I wish in those moments more than anything that you could see my kitchen and bedroom.  I ride waves of exhilaration and exhaustion, trying to keep up with my crazy new ideas and my lightning-fast kids at the same time.  There is no supermom here… just a real woman growing by grace to become a little less selfish and more loving each day.  Some days I feel as though I’m moving slowly ahead, and some days I feel as though I’ve fallen painfully behind, but I continue to press forward toward the deeper and deeper pool of joy that a life full of love inevitably leads to.

I’ve been pondering the what-if’s tonight, wondering what my life would be like right now if I had opened up that box three years ago and pulled out a little birthstone necklace or a sweet new outfit from Baby Gap.  The twists and turns of life can be so powerful and subtle at the same time, and it would serve me well to remember that as my eyes begin to get heavy tonight.  Admittedly, this life I’ve found myself in is often over-saturated and sometimes pure craziness, but it’s precious to me.

It’s a wild ride… but I’m holdin’ on. : )