5 Reasons You Do Not Need A Photographer

You Prefer Your Photos in a Box or on a Screen… Not on Your Walls

There are so many incredible ways to decorate with photography.  You can make your office homier, or your entryway a photographic welcome-to-our-family.  And when you’re holding on to your sanity by a thread because you have to get dinner on the table and someone’s yelling and someone (else) is clinging to your leg, and someone ELSE has lost their lego/car/doll/FAVORITE-TOY-IN-THE-WORLD and needs you to help find it, you can look at that gorgeous print of all your angels smiling at each other and remember why you love your family so much.  

If you prefer your walls and coffee tables to be less personal, or even bare, than don’t tempt yourself to decorate them beautifully by having gorgeous professional images available with which to do so.

You Don’t Need Tangible Memories of Your Family

Your family is a story.  There are the milestones we all normally capture, like births, graduations, weddings, and… well, back to births again.  But there is so much that happens between those big events that doesn’t always get documented.  If these details live in your memory just fine, than having them photographed may be redundant or unecessary. 

For anyone else, having a regular tradition of getting photographs with your family tells the rest of your story.  The year someone lost their first tooth, the year someone had a broken arm.  Having professional portraits made documents all that in-between stuff.  And let’s face it, that’s where the story really happens.  If you don’t want or need to go back and see those stages that have passed… then you may not need to have photographer document them for you.

A Fun Family Playdate is Not Your Idea of Fun

One of my favorite traditions, and some of my best memories, are from our annual photo-shoot day.  Yes, we do the whole get cleaned up, pick out match-y but not matching outfits deal.  But then we work with a photographer who guides us in focusing on our family and enjoying each other.  I love, love, love having images of us playing, laughing, and just being a family at a place where we already have memories.  

If you find a photographer who makes you feel comfortable and who can capture your family’s personalities, you risk scheduling a day of family fun with them.  If a day of fun with your family is not your cup of tea, than be forewarned… that might be exactly what you get.

You Will Never Send Holiday Cards, Birthday Invitations or Gifts

Let’s not leave out the most obvious reason most people often have portraits made.  Professional images can make your holiday cards and other print mailers so much more beautiful and personal.  

Aside from that, they make wonderful gifts for grandparents, family, etc.  And if it’s a gift to display, so much the better if it’s a well-composed, professionally retouched image with beautiful use of light and shadow to show off your favorite subjects’ laughing faces.  

If you have no need to to send cards, invitations, or gifts at some point in the year, that’s one less reason to commission portraits.

You Don’t Get Joy From Photographs of Your Loved Ones

Photographs are not just to remember or “capture memories.”  They are, more importantly, to enjoy.  Any photographer worth their salt will create images for you that you will want to frame in your bedroom, put in your office, create albums for your coffee table, or turn into gallery wraps.  

It is art, and it features the most important people in your life.  If you just don’t get joy or enjoyment from looking at photographs of your loved ones, consider saving yourself the time and investment of creating them.

So there it is… some indicators that professional portraits are not worth your time and investment. 

Of course on the other hand, if you like the idea of creating an annual day of family fun, or getting your photos out of boxes and onto your walls, or you DO get joy from seeing images of your family…. click here for some guidance on what questions to ask to make finding a photographer that’s right for you a total cake walk.