Michelle Misner Photography, 1500 Ferndale Avenue - Johnstown, PA, specializes in infant and children’s artistic portraiture.
I would like to hear from you! I have prepared a quick survey to see what folks want! I'd greatly appreciate a moment of your time to complete the survey so I can continue to serve you the best way possible. Thank you! You are able to remain anonymous, so what have you got to lose?
The new location, 1500 Ferndale Avenue, is OPEN!
Open House and my first Fall Harvest/Halloween Fun Portrait Event takes place from 11 AM to 5 PM on Saturday, October 31st!
Mini sessions are $15 and include a 5×7 print for one subject. Add a subject for $5. Two dollars of every order goes to the local food bank and if you also bring in a non-perishable item, you get a free 4×6 (one per session!).
I hope to see you all there!
This year, from September 15th through November 15th, I’ll be taking on this season’s holiday portrait sessions and card orders! You can use a portrait from earlier this year or have a new one taken for your holiday card purchase. All holiday sessions require a card purchase.
From September 15th through October 15th, you can receive 25 FREE holiday cards with a $99 portrait session. Cards come in sets of 25 only and will retail for $75 per set. This includes the design, personalization and envelopes. They will be printed on the luxurious Pearl paper and UV coated for a professional finish.
Schedule your appointment TODAY – sessions are limited and will go fast!
Parents, don’t you love the way yearly school portraits chronicle your children’s school years? But don’t the upturned collars, blinked eyes and other careless imperfections make you want to scream?
We’ve got an alternative to consider. On September 10, 11, and 12th we’ll be conducting our popular School Portrait sessions. The School Portrait promotion provides families with beautiful school portraits at fantastic pricing – packages start at only $24. Now there are no more worries about out-of-place hairs or silly grins. During our quick, caring session, we will capture their child’s true expressions, while paying attention to the details. Call today to reserve your session for children who are enrolled in preschool through age 16 – 814-539-5784.
Click for printable PDF
More and more we’re connecting through social media, so we decided to create a fun, inexpensive way for you to look your best to all your old and new online friends. Every month, Michelle Misner Photography, hosts a Facebook PixParty.
Come and enjoy a welcome break from your hectic week. We’ll treat you to a cold beverage and a tasty snack while you take a moment to relax and be pampered. Get some friends together and join us. For only $15, you’ll get an image you’d be proud to share on the World Wide Web. Bring a friend or two and you’ll each get an image for $12.50. The portrait session will last 10 minutes and you’ll have a choice of backgrounds to create a casual, personality-driven image.
A few days after your portrait’s taken, the image will be uploaded to the Michelle Misner Photography album and we’ll email you a link so you can tag yourself and drag the image to your desktop to use on your social networking or e-dating sites.
Call Michelle Misner Photography at 814-539-5784 to make an appointment for our next Facebook PixParty. You’ll be glad you did.
We want YOUR child in our portfolio! Wanna play?
How it works:
~ Call 814-539-5784 to schedule a 5-minute test session.*
~ Complete the test session and receive a $75 credit to use on your next full session.
~ When we receive new props, backgrounds, or just want to try something new – we’ll select our test subjects out of our portfolio and bring you in for a short portrait study!
We get great stuff and you earn free stuff! *For ages 3-9, new clients only.
Click for printable PDF
Hi everyone – dance photos are ready for pickup!!
Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Location: Michelle Misner Photography – Southmont
Times: 10:00-10:45 AM
2:00-2:45 PM
6:00-6:30 PM
You do not need to contact me, just show up during the specific times. I will not be available, due to my work schedule, at any other times during that day, so please be on time! Not everyone gave me their email addresses, so pass the word around of the pickup schedule if you wish. If you are picking up photos for someone else, please be sure they know you are picking up their order. I am not responsible for orders damaged or lost due to someone else picking them up for you.
These will be the only times to pick up the photos at my studio. They will then be available at Concepts Dance Studio mid-July. Contact Connie for specific dates and times of her summer camp schedule.
Thank you for your business and I hope you have a wonderful summer!
Whimsical Frames
Somewhere along the line, life got in the way (again) of the blogging. No surprise to anyone, I’m sure! 
I’m introducing a new “brand” of Michelle Misner Photography children’s portraiture – Brella Portraits! I’m taking things back to basics in the way of children’s portraits. Simple, colorful, fun!
I’m launching the new website in time for tomorrow’s Women’s Showcase at the Living Learning Center on the UPJ Campus. I’ll be there from noon until 4 pm. I hope to see new as well as familiar faces! I’ll be giving away a free Keepsake package.
Visit the new site – www.michellemisner.com/brella/
Written by Willow Mietus of Willow Dawn Photography www.willowdawnphotography.com and used with permission.
So, you’re getting married!
Are you happy with your wedding photographs?
April 25, 2008
I asked that simple question on a forum I frequent (not photography related) with a diverse membership. Women from all walks of life, every socio-economic bracket and from every corner of the country. Even a few from other countries. The results?
42% replied – No, they were not happy with their wedding photos.
58% replied – Yes, or Other.
I found the results interesting and posted a follow-up poll…
… if you could do it over again, where do you wish you had spent more money?
46% responded with photography
28% said they wish they had spent more money on their rings, and
the cake, hall (location) and dress filled out the remainder with 8, 9 and 10% respectively.
It seems fitting that the photos are the one thing most wished they had budgeted a greater deal of their budget for. After all, once the cake is cut, the food is eaten, the songs are danced to, your dress is cleaned and preserved, the only thing you have daily are your rings… and your photos. I was amazed to find out that photography is usually only 10% of a bride and grooms budget. Really, for one of the two things that will last past the actual wedding day? And the number of “experts”, wedding guides and websites that are recommending that to save money, hire a “new photographer”, a family friend, a relative. OK, I’m the first to admit that there are some amazing cameras that make taking a nice photo much much easier than in years past. But the camera is really only one part of the equation. I had a friend just last week ask me why she always got red-eye in her pics still? After all, she had a fancy DSLR. Or why all the pics of her kids were blurry. She paid a lot of money for a “nice” camera. Why oh why would you want to trust one of your most important days to just anyone. Even if they can show you some nice pics. Do you really want to bank on them getting lucky on your special day?
Part 2 of “… are you happy?”
I had asked the simple question in the format of a poll, and many of the respondents left comments as well. Thought I’d share some of them.
- I didn’t put much thought into our wedding photos at the time and I was disappointed with the results.
- I cut back my budget on some other areas so I could get the photographer I wanted… So glad I spent the little extra money to get who I wanted!!!
- I figured I’d hire a friend of a friend to take pictures so that I could save some money. Big mistake! We don’t have one good shot of DH and I together. We have some nice ones of the entire wedding party but I don’t have any of just us. I should have come up with more money for better photos… but I was naive about weddings and stuff.
- YES! We spent over 1/3 of our budget on photos and it was worth it. We had decided before much else was planned that the photos would be our top priority. Our amazing photographers didn’t disappoint!
- Yes, we were thrilled. We paid a lot of $$ for a very highly recommended photographer, since pictures were very important to us. Besides awesome photos, he was just a great person to have around that day…he kind of became our “buddy” for the day and helped relieve a lot of the stress.
I saw an article from theknot.com breaking down the average wedding costs:
– The bulk of the average wedding budget is dedicated to the reception venue ($12,722, or 45%); followed by the reception band ($4,105 on average, or 15%); and photographer ($2,651 on average, or 9.5% of the total average wedding budget).
Let’s take the national average for photography, $2651. That sound like a LOT of money, right? And it is, if your wedding photographer simply showed up for a couple of hours and then hands you the memory card from their camera. Don’t laugh, I’ve seen that offered. But the reality is that for a small, simple wedding with 4 hours of coverage the day of the wedding, the photographer works at LEAST 40 hours! That’s an average rate of $66 per hour. But Uncle Sam wants his cut off the top… Leaving the photographer with an hourly wage of $47.71. BUT WAIT! Did the B&G order any prints? An album? Announcements? Thank you notes? Mother’s Albums? A custom guest album (which are way cooler than a traditional silk guest book, btw!)? ALL of those things must be paid for out of the photographer’s fee! What about purchasing and maintaining their equipment? Have you seen the cost of a new high end, professional camera lately? Be sure you are sitting down! And what about things like insurance? Never hire a professional without insurance! Most halls and churches require all professionals working on their premises to maintain insurance. And the photographer has to pay for that. How about continuing education? Good golly, Miss Molly. Technology changes faster than the weather. There is always something new to learn and discover. Oh, and when you work for yourself, there’s no 401k with matching funds from an employer. So a wise photographer is taking a large chunk of their income and saving for the future.
My point in all of this rambling is that photography is an art. An expensive art. When you are looking to hire a photographer, for any important event in your life… you are hiring a person to create art. For you. The items that you reach for in the event of a fire. The preservation of memories that can’t be replaced. Isn’t that worth splurging on?
I hope you have found this post via the monthly newsletter. If not, why don’t you take a second to subscribe? It’s a good way to keep up with what is going on at the studio if you aren’t a frequent visitor to the website (sometimes I make some newsletter subscriber exclusive offers, too!).
I have a bunch of new things happening for this brand new year…want to keep up with the blog posts? Just subscribe to receive a daily digest of any posts made. This will only subscribe you to the blog, not the newsletter.
New Pricing
All of the new pricing lists are ready to be seen!
2009 Portrait Pricing
2009 Me and My Friends Party Pricing
A Greener Studio
I am far from being ‘crunchy granola’ when it comes to the environment, but I’m taking steps for the studio to become greener. The studio produces very little paper waste…or even just regular paperwork. Pricing and guide sheets are only mailed to those who have no internet access, otherwise all studio information is provided via email. I have eliminated extra paperwork for repeat clients by having them fill out all portrait agreements at their first session and having them initial an additional sheet each time they come in to verify that all of the information is still correct and that they continue to agree with the terms.
This year the big change is in how I present a client’s portraits. I have lowered many of my print prices to pass these savings onto you. I have gone from print boxes to print folders and now I’m going to do my best to even eliminate the print folders and just use nice paper bags. Prints will still be slipped into the protective, acid-free clear bags, but they will now be used one bag per print size.
In lieu of the fancy packaging, I’m offering to my clients a free 8×10 print of a purchased pose included in their order. If any of my clients still have any of their boxes or print folders that they would like to recycle back to the studio, they’ll also get a free 8×10. I do ask that the folders be in like-new condition so they can be used again for clients. Otherwise, I suggest you store old photographs in them rather than throw them in the garbage. They are designed for photos so they are acid-free and won’t damage prints.
At home, we’ve begun using our fabric grocery bags, keep our thermostat a little cooler than we’d like, downsized our car to a more economical size, invested in a nice water filtration pitcher rather than buy bottled water among other things.
Discounts
As of January 1, 2009 all percentage-off discounts are expired. All discounts are now in the form of print credits and can be collected and used on any session – past, current or future, but are only good 12 months from issue. Session albums are not subject to any kind of discount and cannot be purchased with any credits.
Clients that complete at least two sessions a year (excluding baby plans) receive a VIP print credit of $75 each session.
Additional print credits can be collected during special promotions.
Portrait Parties
There is a new twist to the portrait party and you’re going to LOVE it! The “Me and My Friends” parties are as easy as ever…
Bring one friend…bring 10! Session retainers begin at $25 and discount as you bring more friends!
All sessions are done at the studio…no more cleaning the house and emptying rooms!
Earn 10% of your friends orders to use on your own order!
Schedule your party on a weeknight or a Saturday afternoon!
Enjoy discounted print pricing!
Co-hosting a “Me and My Friends” party couldn’t be easier! Contact me today!
Portrait parties have never been easier! Have a read and call me today to schedule your very own portrait party!
2009 Michelle Misner Portrait Party
I had a great response to my Keepsake Package that I introduced last year, but I have had an overwhelming request for the ability to create your own package – so, I give you the best of three worlds! The Keepsake, Custom and the All Digital.
2009 Michelle Misner Portrait Pricing
