Monthly Photo Sessions To Daycare Parents?

[11bella]

Hi,

I'm new to the boards but thought this would be a great place to see what people were thinking. I have been taking pictures for years and have been thinking of making the leap and trying to do this on a more full time basis.

My idea is to offer services to in home daycare providers and parents. Dropping by once a month, taking pictures of the kids alone and together, specialized birthday shoots, christmas card photos ect. The site would be password protected and all pictures would be fully downloadable to the parents.

So here is where I have some questions for you moms out there.
I did this for years at my sons daycare free of charge. To make this worthwhile I would be contacting 40-60 in home daycares and trying to set up schedules to drop by once a month.

I take a lot of pictures so I would assume each parent would receive approxiamately 50 or so high quality photos from each visit which would be photoshopped and enhanced.

So...
Is this a good idea?

Would you pay for this service if it was offered though your care provider?

I was thinking 25 a month per child with a discount for siblings... is this too
much and if so what would an acceptable amount be?

Would once a month be good or possibly every other month?

I would appreciate any feedback that anyone is willing to give. I have a lot of good ideas including monthly sheets the daycare provider could fill out about activities and funny sayings that could be assembled into a year end book.

I think there is potential... what I want to know is do other parents feel the same way?

Thank you for any advice you are willing to give

[daycare]

I think that taking picture once a month is unnecessary. This is being said by someone who LOVES pictures. I belong to a photo club and I only take solo pictures once a year around birthdays for each child, Once per year a family christmas photo, and maybe an easter pic. I could not imagine spending money on pictures every month.

I think that you would be better off offering the service to come when needed.

As a provider, I would not allow someone I did not know to come into my home to take pictures of any of my children. Even if the parents paid and gave permission.
I could see this working better for centers where there are more staff to assist.

[QualiTcare]

i had my first child's pictures taken EVERY month at the mall for her first year of life. then i slacked off. i think that's what typically happens. i don't have nearly as many pictures of my second child - and has time has passed, i've stopped taking pictures as much all together. my husband brings it up all the time. we had a really nice camera that died about a year ago and we've taken pics here and there on our phones and family members have taken pics at holidays, etc., but it seems the more time that passes, the less pics we take.

i think you have a great idea with great potential. i don't know that EVERY parent would be willing to pay $25 a month, but some would. i think it would be smart to offer a smaller package to those parents who might cherish at least one picture every month, but who weren't willing to pay 25 bucks every month. i'd probably pay between 5-10 bucks (maybe 8 dollars) for ONE 8x10 every month or something like that. you could still offer the 25 bucks a month option, but i think it would be wise to have another option available to those parents who wouldn't be willing to pay that much EVERY month.

good luck!

edited to say: you also realize that the providers who would take you up on this service would expect a portion of the profits. i don't know how much to suggest - maybe just a few bucks per child - but i know that no provider would want to deal with the hassle and especially wouldn't compile "funny sayings" for free.

[Lucy]

I would suggest once a quarter or even twice a year. Maybe just birthdays and certain holidays.

I think you'd run into trouble with Providers feeling safe having you come into their home. They worry about how the parents would feel about it.

I agree that Providers aren't all going to be willing to fill out forms without some kind of compensation. If you didn't want to give them a cut, you could maybe provide free portraits of their own children or pet.

[thecrazyisout]

I think that taking picture once a month is unnecessary. This is being said by someone who LOVES pictures. I belong to a photo club and I only take solo pictures once a year around birthdays for each child, Once per year a family christmas photo, and maybe an easter pic. I could not imagine spending money on pictures every month.

I think that you would be better off offering the service to come when needed.

As a provider, I would not allow someone I did not know to come into my home to take pictures of any of my children. Even if the parents paid and gave permission.
I could see this working better for centers where there are more staff to assist.

I agree....plus, I do this myself already.

[squareone]

Sounds like a good idea but I think monthly would be too often. Maybe twice a year - once in the spring/summer and then again in the fall/winter. I would be willing to pay pay $10-$20 for this service.

[marniewon]

As a parent I would not take advantage of this service. I take enough pics myself.

As a provider there's no way would I let you in my home to disrupt my daycare for as long as it took to get 50+ candid shots per child every month, especially with no compensation to me for the time and hassle involved. Not to mention the safety aspect of it.

You might get some positive outcomes if you only offered this for holiday parties, but for me, I would be taking my own pics for that too.

This sounds like one of those great ideas that sounds really awesome in theory but just don't work out right in practice. If doing photography is something you want to get into on a more regular basis, I know a lot of photographers in my area who offer to do all sorts of pics (graduation, infant, belly, etc) and go to the subject's location or another location like a park or garden to do the shots.

My dd and step-dd both had their sr pics done by someone like this at a local park. My other step-dd and her fiance got their engagement pics done somewhere (other than a studio) outside by another on-location photographer. Something to look into.

[ninosqueridos]

few things

The group of kids I have would be hard to photograph in my home daycare setting - some are terrified of strangers and it would take a looong time for them to get comfortable (if at all) with a new person. I don't have the time for that.

Even if I were to be comfortable/background check you, etc, I know my DCPs would NOT go for an outside person coming in monthly to photograph my kids........as a parent, I'd be thinking about where those pictures may end up.....on facebook promoting the photographer's business and other advertising out there? There's no way.

It seems like it would be better suited for a larger center. Most centers do "school picture" type photos, but you could certainly market those beautiful, candid type snapshots as something new & different.

[Blackcat31]

As a parent I would not take advantage of this service. I take enough pics myself.

As a provider there's no way would I let you in my home to disrupt my daycare for as long as it took to get 50+ candid shots per child every month, especially with no compensation to me for the time and hassle involved. Not to mention the safety aspect of it.

You might get some positive outcomes if you only offered this for holiday parties, but for me, I would be taking my own pics for that too.

This sounds like one of those great ideas that sounds really awesome in theory but just don't work out right in practice. If doing photography is something you want to get into on a more regular basis, I know a lot of photographers in my area who offer to do all sorts of pics (graduation, infant, belly, etc) and go to the subject's location or another location like a park or garden to do the shots.

My dd and step-dd both had their sr pics done by someone like this at a local park. My other step-dd and her fiance got their engagement pics done somewhere (other than a studio) outside by another on-location photographer. Something to look into.

What she said! My camera is out every day already and I take between 10-100 pictures daily. I compile a photo album for each child and their family for a Christmas gift. I also use photos for documentation on a daily basis.

Some of my kids would be terrified of a stranger coming into their "safe zone" and others would ham it up, but my biggest question is what happens when 4 out of 10 families agree? How do you keep pictures from containing everyone? How do you not come in contact with the children whose families did not give permission to do so?

As a provider, you would be just another person who messes up my daily schedule. I do not mean to sound rude, but with Wal-mart doing picture packages for under $10 and Target having their own portrait studio for pictures just as cheap, I really don't see a market for such personalized photography services. Nice idea in theory though.

[QualiTcare]

What she said! My camera is out every day already and I take between 10-100 pictures daily. I compile a photo album for each child and their family for a Christmas gift. I also use photos for documentation on a daily basis.

Some of my kids would be terrified of a stranger coming into their "safe zone" and others would ham it up, but my biggest question is what happens when 4 out of 10 families agree? How do you keep pictures from containing everyone? How do you not come in contact with the children whose families did not give permission to do so?

As a provider, you would be just another person who messes up my daily schedule. I do not mean to sound rude, but with Wal-mart doing picture packages for under $10 and Target having their own portrait studio for pictures just as cheap, I really don't see a market for such personalized photography services. Nice idea in theory though.

yeah, but candid shots are a loooot different than wal mart or target pictures! i had pics at wal mart ONCE when i was younger and poorer and i got what i paid for.

i still think the idea could work especially at centers. OP - just pick up the phone and start calling people - or better yet, show up if it's a large center. they can't hang up on you in person!

[daycare]

yeah, but candid shots are a loooot different than wal mart or target pictures! i had pics at wal mart ONCE when i was younger and poorer and i got what i paid for.

i still think the idea could work especially at centers. OP - just pick up the phone and start calling people - or better yet, show up if it's a large center. they can't hang up on you in person!

Yes I agree, I think I even said I think that i would better at centers where there are more staff to help assist with this.

I do recall when my kids were little that a guy used to bring a pony around with a western costume to their childcare and would offer package deals with a pic on the pony. I don't think that I ever bought them because back then I couldn't afford it.

I say call centers....

[Blackcat31]

yeah, but candid shots are a loooot different than wal mart or target pictures! i had pics at wal mart ONCE when i was younger and poorer and i got what i paid for.

i still think the idea could work especially at centers. OP - just pick up the phone and start calling people - or better yet, show up if it's a large center. they can't hang up on you in person!

:: Yes, I completely agree about the Wal-mart quality.....I solved that issue by enrolling a mom who did photography into my childcare and traded services for services.....great idea but I think I ended up doing childcare for her for over two years just to pay for photos!! I am photography nut and take so many pictures, my DH has given me my college age dd's room as my own for all my negatives, extra copies, photo CD's and photo albums but....that being said...the OP does have a good idea for centers, I just don't think it would fly in home cares.

You are also right about calling....you will never know an answer until you try. Call some places and find out about what type of services would be useful in that area.