"What am I paying for?"

When you pay a professional photographer to photograph you and your loved ones, you are not just paying us to pick up the camera and click. You are paying for a wide array of things, including:

  • reserving a spot just for you so we can’t book anyone else in that time slot, risking potential loss of business if you cancel
  • our in-person consultation time
  • driving to and from consultation and event locations (we wish gas & vehicle maintenance were free)
  • our shooting time
  • our creative photographic vision (ie. posing, lighting, composition, etc.)
  • our time spent culling and editing images after the shoot which could take days
  • resources we use to capture and deliver the final perfect photos that you can treasure forever:
    • costly professional-level camera equipment
    • costly computer equipment
    • expensive editing software
    • professional-grade memory cards
    • large hard drives for file storage
    • cloud-based platforms for online storage so we don't lose the precious photos
    • file & web hosting for online galleries
    • other products we use to deliver your photos, i.e. branded presentation boxes & USBs, pretty little decor items, packaging materials, shipping & handling, etc.
  • other business expenses such as equipment insurance, liability insurance as required by venues, location permits

It's never just the total amount of time spent with you, as there are so much more behind-the-scenes post-production work and related costs that go unnoticed and unaccounted for to the client. This is something to take into consideration when you move forward with booking your wedding or portrait session with a professional photographer. 

"Why do your prints cost more than Costco or Walmart?"

Well, simply put: Costco and Walmart are billion-dollar companies that can afford all the big fancy equipment and resources to produce mass quantities of prints - on low-quality paper - and sell them to you for cheap. It takes no effort and care on their part. They do not sweat and pour their heart and soul into capturing and editing your images, and formatting them for printing. We do. At Monique Dao Photography, we work with specialized professional fine art printing companies using only high-end fine art photographic material that sets us apart from them. Give us a try and see for yourself!