Exquisite Family and Pet Photography

Photos by Madman

Your Family and your Pet are the stars!

For years, people have asked me to do their family and pet photography because I gave them photographs that displayed them in more comfortable poses than the traditional stiff studio poses they were used to. I have travelled around the world providing this style of photography to my clients and friends.

Almost all of you visiting this page are here because you have seen my work in the home of one of your friends. Think back to what attracted you to the photos, what made you want to come here for more information. Here is the way I think about them:

1. First and foremost - YOU are the subject of the photo. No cluttered backgrounds. Just plain simple backgrounds, usually white, intellegent props, sensible sets . This lets YOU stand out. It doesn't matter whether you are fair complexion or dark complexion, the background is not noticed and it's not supposed to be! This also lets you dress in any attire from casual to frilly to business attire. It all works. Even a white dress works extremely well - the dress fades nicely into the background - or with a black background it stands out in stark contrast. Either way the attention is forced on YOU not on the background.
2. The poses are comfortable. No Stiff (traditional) poses. They range from fun casual to intimate to suitable for business brochures, all the while avoiding the traditional stiff poses. Some people like me to take one or two of the traditional poses because they end up looking funny beside the natural poses, so yes, I will take a couple traditional formal shots as part of the session if you want me to and ask.
   Using my comfortable style you receive a variety of exquisite photos that show your family with it's many dynamics. The love of children for their parents, husband for wife, owner for their pet. The fun side of life, the relationships and interaction with each other and your surroundings.

What do I get?

Memories of Love, memories to savor. 

And if we want to talk about the physical items you can hold: Lots! Includes a minimum of 36 exposures, you get ALL the prints, not just "the" one print. No need to choose between the many shots you like. 20 of the best prints will be mounted and ready for standard 8x10 frames, available almost everywhere with prices starting at a couple dollars (Wal-mart) and going up as high priced as you want. The rest of your prints will be in an album customized for you. You also get a coupon for a 8x10 enlargement of whichever shot you want. And, unlike the traditional photo studios, I'll provide you with some "extra" valuable goodies that you need for proper care of your photos.

But what if I want something more?

Well of course you can have more. And, unlike the Wal-marts of the world and the traditional studios, I don't charge you an arm and a leg for reprints. I can provide you with matting, frames, internet display and much more, all for reasonable prices.

How many days (hours) do I have to get extra reprints?

No limit! I never turf your negatives. No "decide now, they go in the garbage tonight if you don't buy" with me. I hate this (and all other) high pressure sales tactics. Want reprints 25 years from now? I keep everything indexed so that I can quickly find the correct negative. The studio where my wife and I had our wedding pictures done told us "we destroy them after 6 months - it takes too much room to store them all and besides (he winked here) this way your more likely to buy more!" In truth, he keep them almost 2 years before destroying them. Now, he was a nice photographer, I liked him, but my negatives are long gone now. If my photographs got destroyed (accident, fire, sunlight, during moving) there is no backup anymore, we will have lost them all with no chance to recover . Is it any wonder that many people say that in a fire, after the kids, the first thing they grab is photographs? Ever see the red cross picture of a crying child hugging the only earthly item of value - a photograph of his parents? Ask people you know (especially parents and grandparents) what items on earth have the most value - you will probably find that most of them pick relationships and family photographs as being so high on the list that nothing else comes close.

Fortunately, negatives are actually fairly easy to keep care of as compared to photographs. Hopefully you won't ever have a disaster, but if you do, it's nice to know there is a backup - no need to risk your life rescuing photographs -  let the insurance simply pay for reprints.

How long does it take for a session?

Wrong question! I prefer to ask "how much time is allowed?" Bookings are 3 hours apart. I plan for 2 hours, this gives time to relax, get comfortable and not be rushed. But the bookings are, as mentioned, set for 3 hours each. This allows an extra hour to give cranky kids and dogs time to settle down or get happy! If we have to sit for a while and let the kids play to get comfortable, no problem - I PLAN for that so you will not feel rushed or guilty. You will feel less anxious and often that helps the kids (and you) get more relaxed too!

Many people say "I never photograph well." Unless you are a professional model it is no wonder! It takes time for most people to get comfortable. Very few people are going to photograph well when they are rushing into a studio with only minutes before the next booking. I have photographed professional models - and yes, they only need a few seconds to get ready - but my sessions are designed for regular people!

So please don't try to do the Wal-mart "10 minutes per family booking." If you do want me to set up at your location, please note that I typically need about an hour to set up before the shooting starts. This way I don't need to be constantly fiddling while the smile on your faces are fading into a frown! It will let me be ready so when your pet has that 1/60th of a second of good behaviour - we have the best chance of capturing it!

Where can I have the work done?

Typically these are done  in my Studio  on our farm 6 minutes from the Calgary city limits Deerfoot or Centre Street north. I have a low fixed price for setting up in your location in Calgary, Airdrie or other site within 30 minutes of Airdrie.

Further than 30 minutes and you want them done at the location of your choosing? Either way, talk to me for details and pricing.

If you live a long distance from Calgary and you just want your family photographed, the cost is not going to be practical for most people, however, if you are a business owner and want to give your employees a Christmas Gift they will treasure for literally decades , we can arrange to set up and photograph all your employees families on the same trip - then it is practical, just as it was for one company in Switzerland. Allow for 3 families to be photographed per day.

In and around Calgary, I hand deliver your huge box of goodies about 3 weeks after the photo shoot. Outside of Calgary, I have to let someone like UPS or the Post Office deliver it for me. They are not quite as friendly, but it is certainly better than waiting a year or more for me to hand deliver them!

Your session fees are higher than Wal-mart!

Yes my studio fees are much higher than Wal-marts - but you will be surprised at how low they are compared to similar quality elsewhere. At Photos by Madman - you pay for what you get. You pay a higher fee than Wal-mart for the studio time because you get more both in Quality and in time. There are mega hours that go into your session including prep time, setup time, session time, production time and delivery. I allow 3 hours for your personal visit, although most families, especially with older kids, are done in less than 2 hours. As far as the reprints, again, with me you pay for what you get. While Wal-mart and downtown studios charge a very high rate for reprints - I WANT you to take LOTS of reprints of different poses - they are my best advertising. So - of course I set my reprint prices much lower than even Wal-mart's photo studios! Although I advertise on the web including pages like this one - 90% of my business is through referrals from people showing or describing my work to others.

But your session fees are lower than the downtown studios!

Again, yes. They are lower than many "downtown studios" - they have to charge you for the overhead and taxes and staff for downtown. The sad part is, at a "downtown studio" you will almost always still get only the traditional poses, just at a much higher cost! My "studio" is part of the large farm house I live in just minutes from the Calgary airport and my overhead is very low (I don't advertise in the yellow pages - too many calls from people who want Wal-mart prices.) So, whether you visit my studio or I come to your location, you are only paying for what the expertise and photos - not to maintain an expensive downtown studio (taxes, receptionist, high rent costs, yellow pages & other advertising etc.., etc.., etc..,)

I want to more information:

Phone me on my cell 403-226-0620  most days and most evenings. It rings through to my home if I'm there or email me. If you phone and a child answers (I have 4) - just tell them you want to talk to their daddy - they will get me or get me to call you back. When you call, I'll take your name, address and optionally, your email address. I will send you a full information package that will answer all or most of your questions.

I promise NO HIGH PRESSURE sales. The only time I will call YOU is to confirm you received something we have sent you or, if you have booked, to confirm the booking or to arrange something like delivering your huge box of goodies about 3 weeks after your session.

As I noted at the beginning of this page, you probably are here because you saw my work and you talked to the people who had the work done. You know from them how I operate so there is no need for me to pressure you into a decision. If my work is right for you, high pressure sales would at best do nothing, and more likely, it would cause you to try to make the quickest get-a-way you can!

I want to book now:

Again, you can call or email me. I can let you know what spots are currently available. If there are no spots currently available, I will take your name and email/phone number and, when the next sessions are set, let you know. When you tell me you want to book, I will ask you quite a few questions. These will include number & names of kids, ages, if very young, I'll ask where they are developmentally, pets -  name and type, any "special" items - toys, musical instruments, sports equipment, hobby or work items - that you might want to bring along, any specific "important" combinations "baby and older sister" etc.., I am not doing this to be nosy of course, my purpose is to let me come up with the best starting plan for your session.

What!!! I can't just drop in for the session!

Nope. There are several reasons. For starters, I spend a lot of time (literally hours) preparing your session before you ever get to the door. Second, with 3 hours being allocated per session, if you were to drop in and I had 12 people ahead of you - you'd have to wait 4 days in line! Beyond that there are other reasons, I am an author (several books, 100's of articles) and CFO/CTO for a US company (Awesam.com) I do a few other things including, lecturing, photography and mentoring in various countries around the world, and, when everything is combined, I end up travelling fairly often. However, if you are on our waiting list, you will be given priority when bookings become available. And believe me, my clients know that it is worth the wait!