Come over to the NEW blog!

The new blog is up and running...come on over!

http://www.blairblanks.com/blog .


This blog will no longer be updated!

~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.comClick here to add Blair to your Facebook Friends List to know about events and specials!

Now booking March weekend dates

I just checked my calendar and I do not have any weekend slots open until March (but I do have weekday morning slots). For those of you thinking of booking a session and needing weekend appointment, booking at least 8 weeks in advance is HIGHLY recommended!

~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.com


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Daddy's Girls

All this daddy wanted for Christmas was pictures of his girls, ALL his girls, together so rarely, loved so dearly.

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~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.comClick here to add Blair to your Facebook Friends List to know about events and specials!

Last days before the big debut

I get to photograph this little one on the OUTSIDE next week...one of my most favorite families I work with. She looks so lovely pregnant... I STILL don't know if baby is a boy or girl. I didn't ask because I want to be surprised when they walk in the door!



~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.comClick here to add Blair to your Facebook Friends List to know about events and specials!

My husband got a Kindle, and I got to thinking...

My husband just got a Kindle and it got me thinking...I have a lot of clients who understandably are confused as to why professional photographers charge what they do, for digital images or for prints.

So here goes...

Books, up until recently, were just paper and ink...people bought books not for the paper and ink, but for the ideas, the creativity, the insight, the wisdom, the artistry, the experience contained within those pages. Now, books are going electronic. E-readers are all the rage. But the price of an e-book is still only slightly less than the cost of a bound paper book (and e-books are MORE expensive than used paperbacks, and you can't lend out an e-book to a friend)...why is that? Stupid question, right? Everyone knows the money you pay for an e-book is for the ideas and artistry contained within the words of the book, so you can have them to read over and over again and enjoy for many years to come. Book authors surely deserve to get paid for the products of their hard work, right? Right!

It's the same for digital photos. Some people wonder why professional photographers charge for the digital negatives of the photos they create. I've even had people tell me they would be happy to kick in $2 for the cost of the CD! That is like telling an author you will pay him for the cost of the paper in his book, or like telling him that the e-book should be free since there is no cost to the author. When you buy a digital photo, or even a print, the bulk of the price is not for the cost of the CD or the paper the photo is printed on. Both of those are very small costs. You are paying for the years the photographer has spent learning and perfecting his or her craft, the way she knows how to get your cranky baby to smile, the way she has learned to pose you so you look your best, the tens of thousands of dollars worth of camera bodies, lenses, lighting, backdrops and props in her studio, her studio rent, utilities, insurance, taxes (we self employed photographers fork over 30% or more of our profit to Uncle Sam), her computers and massive hard drives needed to store so many digital files, child care, marketing, continuing training and education, and so much more.

Consider that for every shoot in the studio, which, with me, lasts up to three hours, a photographer will spend around four or five more hours before and after the session, communicating with the client, preparing for the shoot, then after the session, sorting through all the shots, backing up the files, editing the images for the perfect crop, color, saturation, removing imperfections, blogging the images or posting sneak peeks on Facebook; then, during the ordering process, creating a proof gallery and publishing it to the web, uploading orders to the print lab, packaging prints and shipping them to you. It's A LOT of work! The session fee only compensates the photographer for a fraction of the work she does in creating your images. She depends on sales after the session for her income. It's kind of like the waitress who gets paid less than minimum wage by her employer, but earns her living off tips. Her tip income depends on how well she does her job, and a photographer's print sales are the same. (I do offer a Time and Talent session, which is a flat fee all-digital session that takes into consideration all of the many, many costs of producing and executing a photo session.)

In the marketplace today, there are many hobby photographers who will photograph you for "fun money." Many are just starting out, inexperienced, working off the books and under the table, and do not yet realize all the true costs of operating a portrait photography business. I was, about nine years ago, one of those very people who thought I only needed to charge just slightly over my lab costs in order to be successful, until I realized just how much my "business" was actually costing me and my family.

So, remember, you pay your photographer not just for the price of the paper your images are printed on, or the CD they are burned to, but for her artistic eye, her creative heart, and the hours of her life she spends making portraits that you will cherish until you are old and gray and bouncing great-grandkids on your knee. And she's worth much more than a $2 CD.

~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.comClick here to add Blair to your Facebook Friends List to know about events and specials!

Max is a big brother!

Because I know his mom and dad are anxious for a little taste from our session, here is Big Brother Max and HIS new baby sister... sibling shots can be kind of a crap shoot, but really, it doesn't get any better than this. That look in his eyes, it melts me...


Also, I'm just getting back into town after traveling to Louisiana for a funeral, so if you are waiting to see your proofs or wondering where your prints are, please forgive me while I catch up over the next few days!






~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.comClick here to add Blair to your Facebook Friends List to know about events and specials!

Unspeakably gorgeous...maternity photo session

When she approached me with the idea of henna tattoos for her pregnancy session, I loved the idea! I'm always up for something a little different. But when she walked in looking like this, well, the word "exquisite" is what came to mind...I think you'll have to agree.













~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.comClick here to add Blair to your Facebook Friends List to know about events and specials!

New Year, New Blog Post (finally!)

Yes, it's been forever since I posted here! In my defense, more stuff has been going on Facebook and less here (you can friend me to keep up-to-date with studio happenings! Click here to add me as a friend
http://www.facebook.com/blair.blanks). But the holidays have come and gone, school starts back tomorrow and we'll soon start settling into the grove of 2011. No more excuses! Back to work!

Here are a few from some recent sessions. Enjoy!













~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.com

The Happiest Surprise

It's a year ago this week I got the happiest surprise of my life, news that, against all odds, I was going to have one more baby. I have to admit I was nervous, thinking of the logistics of it all, but here we are, a year later, not perfect, sometimes stressed, often a little harried, frequently tired, but always so grateful for our "bonus" baby who sneaked into our lives and our hearts when we least expected her!



~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.com

Love, times two

These twin baby girls just melted my heart! Such an honor to photograph them...



~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.com



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Julia is two!

Some of you may remember Julia from her session at six months...she came to see me at the studio again a few weeks ago and she is such a big girl now! Still as lovely and luminous as ever, may just a wee bit more busy!













~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.com

Thanks for visiting the blog. If you are interested in booking a session, please email me directly by clicking the contact button at the top of the blog page! "Friend" me on Facebook to know about specials and events announced only to my Facebook friends. Click here!

Family fun

I tend to get mostly babies and very young kids into the studio, so it was kind of refreshing to photograph a family with tween-age kids that I did not have to chase! Any my apologies in advaance to the daddy of this family for giving him a heart attack when he sees how grow-up his little girl looks!












~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.com

Growing family...

I photographed baby Phoebe last month when she was just a few days old, just as I had photographed her big sister a few years ago when she was a newborn. I love seeing families as they grow and sharing in such a special part of their lives.











~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.com

Still slots open! Buy-one-get-one free prints if you book by Sunday!

There are still slots open for the holiday mini sessions (Monday and Friday. Wednesday is full!). If you book your mini session by Sunday, I'm offering a BOGO deal on "a la carte" prints...buy one print and get the 2nd print free! Must be the same image, equal or lesser value. Not valid for digital files or packages. (and yes, if you've already booked, you get this deal!)

Mini Sessions are 20-minute sessions perfect for getting great images for holiday cards! $225 for the session and one high resolution digital image (reg. $125), 20% off all a la carte digital images, and now, Buy One/ Get One Free prints! Oct. 11- 22, weekdays only.

And because I hate to post without an image...here are two of my favorites from a recent session...isn't she gorgeous??!!??

~blair blanks | baltimore baby photographer | blairblanks.com