Info

Hours:
Monday- Friday 10:00 am-6:00pm
Saturday- 9:00am-5:00pm

Sassy Chic Photography is an on-location specialist serving the greater Kansas City, Missouri areas portrait needs for Baby Portraits, Maternity Portraits, Childrens Portraits, Family Portraits, Senior Portraits, and Wedding Portraits.

Being an on-location specialist means we bring our services to you. Our portable studio can be set up almost anywhere. Many of the studio portraits on this site were taken in our clients home with our portable studio. Our outdoor portraits can be taken anywhere. All of the outdoor portraits on this site were taken in the Kansas City area at various parks or in our clients home backyard.

A few benefits of having portraits taken at your home:
Children and babies are most comfortable and relaxed in their own home.
Clothing changes are easy.
Portraits hold more sentiment that have been taken in your home.

We do have a studio space available to you if you would preferr portraits in our studio. 

Guide To Hiring A Professional Photographer{Kansas City Photographer< Lees Summit Photographer}

You interview your pediatrician, you check consumer reports to find the safest car seat and the safest vehicle, you interview your child care provider, but what about choosing your family's photographer? With so many photographers these days it can get quite daunting to choose the right one.

Just a few things to consider when choosing a photographer:

Quality of work.

Technical aspects are very important in portraits. The first requirement for anyone who wants to become a photographer is to become proficient in producing quality images. Are images crisp and clear and properly exposed? Or do you see a lot of super bright spots with no detail left? Are black and whites truly black and white or just grey and muddy? Are images in focus - is the person/face/eyes the sharpest detail in pictures? Do you see light in subject's eyes or are eyes just black holes? Does your final gallery/proofs match the work on the website? Be sure that your photographer can reproduce the work in his or her portfolio/website. Art and style are certainly creative choices, but don’t sacrifice technical quality (sharp focus, correct color and brightness, soft lighting without too many shadows) when choosing a photographer.

Style of the photographer.

Do you prefer a more formal style or more of a natural, photojournalistic style? Whatever your style preference, please make sure to let your photographer your main priority for the session.

What do you want captured? The photographic art you choose to place on your wall is ultimately the result of the vision of the photographer. This vision, coupled with what you wear to your session, the environment, the lighting, even the mood of the subjects will create the photographs that you will want to proudly display on your walls forevermore.
A custom photographer will listen to your ideas and guide you in planning a session that will suit your needs and stay true to their own artistic vision.

Experience and portfolio.

Do you see an extensive portfolio with variety of images/subjects, or just many shots of the same person, maybe even photographer's own children? Capturing wonderful images consistently with a variety of subjects is an important skill for any photographer. You want to hire somebody who knows what they are doing and took time to learn the craft.

Referrals.

A good photographer will be happy to direct you to satisfied customers.

Business license/taxes/insurance.

The legal aspects of photography are very important, especially in this economy. If a photographer is offering super-cheap stuff it may be a sign that he or she has not completed all of the business licensing and insurance requirements (heaven forbid something happens during the session to your child). Unlicensed businesses leave little for unhappy consumers to fall back on if they had a bad experience. Make sure to verify that your photographer is fully licensed and insured.

It can become frightening if you find out the person you hired is not a professional at all. Let's face it, everyone knows someone who has a nice camera.....Does that make them a photographer, does that make them a professional?

I had a sad experience recently with a client. I received a call from her sobbing. She had decided to hire a friend who had a nice new camera to shoot her newborns first portraits, she only charged her $15 and she got a CD with all the digital files. Her friend took about 8 weeks to get the images to her, she couldn't figure out how to get the images off the memory card to burn a CD. When she did finally get the CD the images were terrible. She was crying because those moments were lost. She asked me if I could fix the images for her. I told her I would try to recover the images. Only one image out of 250 was salvageable and it wasn't very good. We also scheduled an emergency portrait session so she wouldn't loose any more precious moments.

This was a learning experience for both of us. I learned how many non-professionals are out there, she learned to always research who you hire, friend or not.

How To Weed Out The Non-Professionals

The key to finding those that are true professionals is doing your research. If you know where to look, you will be able to narrow your selection. I suggest starting on the local level. Go to your local chapter of the Professional Photographers of America (PPA). Here in Kansas City it is PPA of Greater Kansas City (PPAGKC). http://www.ppagkc.org/ . On their website you can search the directory and find true professional photographers. If you have found a photographer you are considering hiring, ask them questions.

1. Do you have a business license?
2. What name is your business license filed as with the state/city?
3. What professional organizations are you part of?
4. Do you pay sales tax? What is your sales tax ID? ( If they don't have one, this is a big hint they are not a professional).
5. Do you have references and referrals

Next step, verify the info they gave you, with your city for business license info. Verify with your state to find out if they have registered their business with the Secretary of State, and the Department of Revenue (If they don't pay sales tax they are not legitimate). Verify any memberships in professional organizations. Check their references.

A custom photographer spends a lot of time with each client, from "I would like to book a session with you" through to "enjoy your portraits," averaging between 15 and 25 hours. Be careful with your choice, and invest in someone who can capture the images that you can treasure for years to come!

I invite you to research my business, and check my references!

I have often used a wonderful online resource called "Consumer Guide for Hiring a Professional Photographer" in advising my clients. You may find it useful as well - visit the site at http://www.professionalchildphotographer.com/

Charlene Benbrook owns Sassy Chic Photography, LLC, a professional photographer in the Kansas City Metro. Sassy Chic Photography specializes in Newborn, Children, Family, Senior, and Wedding Photography.