THE SHORT ANSWER: experienced family photographers cost more because you’re paying for skill, on-going education, time and care. Not the camera. At Enhance Studios in Port Melbourne, that means 22 years and more than 3,500 families of experience, a planning consultation before every shoot, a design appointment to choose your artwork, and printed portraits made to be handed down.
So you’re looking for a family photographer in Melbourne. There’s plenty of choice across every style and budget, and it’s natural to compare prices. If a few quick photos at the lowest price is all you’re after, I may not be the right photographer for you, and that’s completely okay.
At Enhance, we’re in the business of forever. Your family photos should be good enough that you want to look at them for the rest of your life, and pass them on to the people who come after you. Here’s what I’ve learnt about why some photographers cost more, and what you actually get.
The old saying holds true: you get what you pay for. In photography, that usually isn’t the camera. Plenty of photographers use the same equipment and the same print labs. What you’re paying for is the skill, time and care behind every image.
However much critics argue the value of specific works of art, the family portrait and family album quietly assume a significant place as a witness to our eyes.
Good family photography can look (and should look) easy. A family together, everyone relaxed, clean and simple. But clean and simple is intentional.
Every pose and every frame takes planning, timing and an understanding of people: knowing when a toddler has one more smile left, how to relax a dad who’d rather be anywhere else, or how to bring a teenager out of their shell. That only comes with years behind the camera, and it’s the part a newer photographer often hasn’t had the chance to learn yet.
And when your family reaches its next chapter, a new baby, a first birthday or a big family gathering, I’ll still be here.
Every session starts with a pre-shoot consultation, where we plan around your family, your style and your home. After the shoot, you come back for your design appointment, the best part of the whole experience, where you see your family as you’ve never seen them before and choose the pieces you’ll keep. We’re not a high-volume studio, so nobody is rushed.
In 22 years, I’ve seen most of what can go wrong at a shoot, and each time I’ve put something in place so it doesn’t happen again. Today we carry spare cameras, batteries and memory cards, back up every session and hold full liability insurance.
Phones get replaced and online accounts get forgotten. A printed portrait is the one thing you buy that you never throw away. Our printed artwork comes with a lifetime guarantee for as long as the studio operates, when care instructions are followed.
Choosing a family photographer is a decision you’ll live with for a long time, because these photos will outlast almost everything else you own. When you choose experience, care and a studio that will still be here in years to come, your investment won’t be misplaced.
Looking for actual prices? See how much newborn photography costs in Melbourne and how much family photography costs in Melbourne.
WHO IS BILL THOMPSON – Bill Thompson is an American fine-art photographer known for large-scale panoramic murals, pieced together from as many as 50 individual photographs. His Nursing Home panoramic, printed 90 feet long, was shown at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris.
