2023! → New Year Up in Here, Up in Here © finkanie photography

The inflation is crazy. It has affected the photo industry tremendously with paper shortages and the general shipping woes we all had last year, and with shortages comes supply and demand craziness. Why am I telling you this? Long story short, my costs have increased significantly, so much so that when I did school photos last year, I ended up losing money on orders because I didn’t increase my prices for inflation.

Good grief, right?

I was trying to be nice, and it turns out that wasn’t so nice to myself, so I am supposed to start being nicer to myself because all these memes keeping saying that…so here we are. Dreadfully, I have no choice but to raise my prices to match my vendors & suppliers, otherwise I am working to break even or lose on some products, and that just isn’t fair to me or my family.

So, if your magnet or button costs more, please know it is because it is costing me more to provide products and prints. Trust me, I don’t like raising prices not just because I am teeter-tottering a razor thin line with profits as it is. But because I have kids, too, and I am a bleeding heart empathetic to a fault person, I know how much everything costs with activities and multiple kiddos, so I try my best to keep things reasonable. I am driving a 2011 vehicle, okay? I am humble. No worries. In the meantime, I design packages with households with multiple kids in mind, so you can save a little bit if you want to mix & match items!

Despite ongoing cost increases, I am still very happy to sponsor our local Little League, Mattawan Athletic Boosters, Walk-A-Thon, Wildcat 5K, the MHS Drama Department, Mattawan Youth Football…the list goes on! It is extremely important to me to invest in our community. If the photographers who are doing your students’ photos for teams aren’t sponsoring the school and/or team, you should probably ask why not? They absolutely should be! It is an industry standard. Hold them accountable!

Or, just hire me, because I will 100% support your organization. Happy to do it! And! I am looking to add some more teams, but if all else fails, parents, you can hire me on the side to do banners and things for ya. It is my favorite thing to do!

Thank you to everyone who came to the studio, ordered photos, listened to me sing at your child, listened to me having to scold my 2nd grader assistant when she is acting too silly for work, had to negotiate the confusion of finding my studio entrance if you have never been there before…I appreciate you all very much!

Looking forward to sessions starting back up this weekend with Mattawan Youth Basketball 2023!! Is your kiddo in the Mattawan Youth Basketball League this year? If so, schedule your session date today! Click here to schedule!