Hello everyone!
I have worked at a JCPenney Portrait Studio for over a year now and will be finding a different job fairly soon. I have learned a lot from this job as far as tips and tricks as a customer, and I’ve wanted to document it all for future reference. I absolutely love having photos of those I care about, and I know when I have my own children, I will take and purchase more photos than I will ever need. So, I’ve decided to share my tips with all of you, and I hope they help!
Scheduling your appointment
• When scheduling your appointments, try to book either the first appointment at the beginning of the day or after lunch, or the last appointment of the day. The first appointment has no wait time, and your photographer is usually less stressed and rushed, whereas the last appointment of the day can be useful for longer appointments that require a little more time, like larger groups or difficult children – just make sure if you have this need, you discuss it with the studio ahead of time.
• When scheduling for children, figure out what time works best for them – if they are happier in the morning or after a nap, in the evening, etc. You will likely have a stressful and disappointing session if your children are tired or cranky.
• Always plan out two possible session dates in your calendar – sometimes, it’s just doesn’t work out with the kids’ moods, the studio run times, your plans afterwords, etc. and it’s in your best interests to reschedule if it seems like the session is not going well, and you do not want to be stuck without an alternate time. You don’t want to try to drag out the time in the camera room, as it often just makes it harder on your kids. (Also make sure to schedule both times within the valid dates on any coupon offers you have, as the employees generally cannot extend the offer.)
• Make sure you schedule your appointment with enough time to get your pictures back before you absolutely need them. For JCPenney’s, it takes around ten days for them to ship the portraits to the studio, and a couple days more for any larger packages. So if you are ordering photos for holidays or birthday parties, plan the dates ahead!
Preparing for your session
• Always arrive early for your appointment. Always. If you are ten minutes late, they can take your pictures, but you will have to view them at a separate session or call in to order, all within seven days, which often will not work for your schedule. With that being said, do not be too frustrated if they are running a bit behind. Some sittings or families are harder than others, and the companies have very restrictive runtimes that do not allow for much wiggle room. Plus, they often give you a free sheet for your wait if it’s ten minutes or longer, which is a nice compensation. Just be prepared to entertain your children.
• Decide ahead of time how you will deal with uncooperative children. Bribing sometimes works, but if you are like me, you want your children to behave without buttering them up. If you are fine with doing whatever works (and sometimes, you have to, depending on the personality of the child), make sure you bring things accordingly. It is also a lot easier on you, the photographer/sales associate, and your children if you bring someone to help you, like a spouse or sibling, to help control and entertain them, as well as help corral them or get them to smile in the camera room. Make sure you are on the same page on how to handle your children.
• Keep track of the background colors in the pictures you have on your walls or in your home and try to keep these photos consistent. It can look strange if you have all brown backgrounds on your photos except for one that has a white background. It will stick out.
• Coordinate your outfits in advance, but try not to be too matchy-matchy. Pick a color palette to frame everyone around – generally one color and a set of neutrals – and make sure everyone fits within that palette. You want consistency, but also a visual variety, so do not pick shirts that are identical in cut. If you choose a pattern for a shirt, try to keep only one pattern in the mix – two patterns side by side often clash. (Also, ladies, if you are concerned about your arms, half or three-quarter length sleeves are best.)
The session itself
• Bring things from home to make the photos personal – blankets, handmade things, or gifts for babies; toys, books, or anything your children are interested in at the time; sonograms and booties for maternity pictures. You don’t have to use these for every picture, but it’s nice to document where you or your children are in their lives and what they’re interested in. Along with bringing personal things to document, I also recommend putting their age in birthday or milestone photos, either with large block numbers or a chalkboard to write on – it is a good visual documentary to show their progress.
• You can bring your own background if you’re looking for something specific – we had a customer bring one in recently that she wanted for the tutu she made, and it turned out beautifully. Just make sure you mention it when you make the appointment so they are aware in advance.
• When you are taking holiday photos, especially family photos, if they offer you two backgrounds, choose one holiday background and one classic background instead of two holiday ones, that way you have a family photo to display year round as well.
• If you do not like your photos or your photographer, you can request a reschedule with a different photographer or the manager. The schedule may be a little harder to work with as the manager is not there every day, but these are your pictures and you should not settle for less. The turnover rate for employees is very high, and with photographers constantly being hired, it is often a gamble as to the quality you will get. Please be polite in explaining it to your photographer when you ask, and once you find a photographer you like, you can request them when making your appointments; you just have to make sure to schedule your appointment on a day they work.
Ordering your photos
• Before you come into the studio, make a list of everyone you plan to give pictures to and their preferred sizes if they have any. This will speed up the time it takes to order and make it easier for you to decide. As an example, if I am taking first birthday pictures of my child, my list would consist of:
my parents (mine prefer 5×7’s, Dad wants a wallet)
husband’s parents (5×7’s)
my sister
my aunts and uncles (3.5×5’s for refridgerator)
husband’s aunts and uncles or siblings (3.5×5’s for refridgerator)
my grandparents (5×7’s or 3.5×5’s)
husband’s grandparents (5×7’s or 3.5×5’s)
and anything we want (8×10 for the wall, 5×7’s for our desks, wallet).
I also plan to put together scrapbooks for my children, so I know I will want one main 5×7 with a couple additional wallets. Writing it out in a list ensures that you do not forget anybody, you can use the same list for each session, and you can have totals for each size you need.
• Set a budget for yourself, but make it flexible if you can. They will try to sell you up to large, expensive packages, but you can find cheaper ways to get want you want – setting a budget gives you a goal to shoot for when sorting through packages. However, if the session went exceptionally well, you don’t want to prevent yourself from getting pictures that you would enjoy having.
• Always look for coupons online or at the studios themselves and figure out what you are wanting to purchase ahead of time. JCPenney studios try to sell large packages that are fairly expensive, but the prints are of professional quality and they are the most cost effective way of getting collages or digital copies, if those are things that you are interested in. If those are not as important to you, there are cheaper alternatives than the packages that will get you the same value. (As an example, instead of choosing a package that gives you fourteen “enhanced” sheets for $150, you can get fourteen plain pictures with a $3.99-a-sheet coupon which brings your total to $56. Again, if you like the collages or more professional looking prints, the packages are cheaper than buying them individually.)
• If you have young children (particularly newborn) or a large group, I sincerely recommend purchasing the membership. It covers your sitting fees for several years, which is a worthwhile investment if you plan on coming in fairly often. And if you love photos, it opens up options to come in more – Valentine’s day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Birthdays, holidays, milestones, etc.
• Decide on which sessions you would like to splurge on – I, personally, would splurge on newborn pictures and first birthday pictures, and then get fewer, select photos for in-between milestones and later years.
• If you do not have the money to order for other people or you don’t know what they want, you can view and order the pictures online. You can send them to relatives and they can order from there or tell you what they would like.
• If the photo is a strange size (like a square or 4″x10″), I guarantee you will have difficulty finding a frame for it outside of the studio.
• When you get the printout of what you ordered, immediately write down who gets which photos, that way you don’t have to try to remember two weeks later when you pick them up.
A couple personal thoughts
• Pictures of babies chewing on things (props, the number block of their age, etc.) can be very sweet and adorable. Not every picture has to be smiling to make it cute. Plus, you want to document their personalities and how they are.
• My favorite backgrounds are brown and white – I feel you can distinguish the subject from the background best on them.
• I plan on taking milestone photos for every month of my children’s first year, and I would love to theme some of them for the particular time of year. The studios often have holiday or seasonal props, and you can always ask what they have. For my children, for each session I would like a couple of photos of them by themselves in a cute/classic outfit, a couple with how old they are, then change their outfit to something relative to the month – Valentine’s day, summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. – just for fun. : )
(Note: The studios usually will allow you one outfit change – two outfits total – until closer to Christmas, where they only allow one outfit for time reasons, as it gets VERY busy around Christmas, so I would have to schedule a separate appointment if I choose another outfit.)
Wow, that was long. : ) But I hope it was helpful! Just make sure you ask any questions you have when you make your appointment, whether it regards backgrounds, any props they have, anything you want to bring, etc. It helps to make sure they have what you are envisioning in advance. And whenever you talk to someone, get their name in case there are any issues later.
Anything else I think of, I’ll put in the comments below!
Happy photos!
Make a little hole in the soil, take your plant out of the pot you bought it in, and put it in your jar! That’s about it. 🙂 Put enough soil in and around to cover the root ball and make it look comfy, but don’t pack it down. I would wait about an hour before watering the plants, and when you take care of them, only water them when the soil is dry (use your finger to test).
Dorothy Slover 