How to Afford Your Newborn Photographer
It’s the number one response I get from people when they inquire with me, but ultimately don’t book:
“It’s just too expensive.”
I get it, I really do. For a lot of people, photography is a massive investment. Having a baby can be expensive—paying for your health cover & the excess, childbirth education, a whole new wardrobe to accommodate your changing body, a whole new wardrobe for the baby, furniture, car seat, baby prams, baby wraps, the list goes on & on. It’s hard to imagine adding another $1000+ investment on top of all of that, and understandably so! Newborn photography is a luxury, yes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t have it. Here are some reasonable ways that you can pull together the funds to have the newborn photographer of your dreams.
REQUEST A PAYMENT PLAN
I feel like this is obvious, but I have a hunch that many people don’t know this is an option: ask your photographer for a payment plan! Almost every photographer I know offers them and if they don’t, they haven’t thought of it. Contact them (or me) as early as possible, so your payments can be spread out over the majority of your pregnancy. A $1,000 investment paid over 7 months is $143 a month, which is a much more digestible number. If you make 26 weekly payments (from 12 weeks until 37 weeks) that’s roughly $39 a week. The key here is to plan ahead so you can get started as early as possible.
ASK FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Nothing makes friends and family more generous than the exciting news that a new baby is on the way. People love to spend their money on babies! The unfortunate thing about this is that more often than not, a large percentage of the gifts you receive won’t see any use. Skip the unnecessary clutter and consumerism and ask for something much more meaningful instead: help paying for your newborn photographer! I make this exceptionally easy by offering a complimentary gift registry setup. How many people do you know?! If each of them contributed just $25 toward your investment, how much of it would be covered? Every little bit helps!
(Pro Tip: If you set this up early enough, you can share it more than once, so that those who forgot or weren’t able to contribute the first time will have a second opportunity to do so.)
SELL YOUR STUFF
Yep, I said it. It’s a suggestion I’m qualified to make because it’s something I’ve done. I know, it sounds awful, but really—look around you. How many things do you own that you’re not making good use of? How many of those things are less important to you than having priceless images from your baby’s early days? It’s really just a matter of deciding what’s important to you. This is actually something I do often, churn out things in my home that are no longer serving me well in favour of things that will bring me more joy or have more purpose. Nothing wrong with that! Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree are great places for this!
Did I miss anything? If you found a creative way to fund your photographer that’s not on this list, be sure to let me know so I can add it!
