Perspectives On What We Value. Is Your Legacy Worth Investing In?

What do you value in life? What do you put emphasis on in your life? 

It has been said those things we invest our thought, time, energy, and money in - choose to accompany our daily lifestyle are areas we value. The clothes we wear, the books we read, the conversations we choose to discuss, the brands we choose, why we choose one furniture store over another, why we choose Rolex over TAG Heuer, and why we prefer one car maker over another and why we choose the top-of-the-line luxury model over the base model. These things are not right or wrong. It’s strictly preferences and indicators of those things we put more emphasis and value in for our lives. Some will say they choose the base level car, so they have more spending power in other areas they consider more important. What are those areas you choose non-custom, less expensive things and what are those areas you choose to invest in those things that you realize are more valuable because of their custom and unique nature? There is one area we are free to invest in that will outlive myself and my family. Do you know what that is? 

Have you ever been over to your grandparents house, and look at their black-and-white pictures sitting on their mantle or in the living room? What is it that sparks your curiosity about looking at them? Is it the fact that you know they are old, and you wonder how they had that technology back-in-the-day when you have an iPhone in your pocket and they used large cameras to create that picture? Is it because they’re black and white or old colored photographs? Is it because of the styles of the past, and their clothing styles piqued your interest? Is it because that is the part of your legacy - beginning of where you came from? Would you wonder to yourself if you were in that picture and what the observer would be thinking if they were looking at that picture with you and your family in it?

Your heirloom pictures will one day be seen by someone who may be part of your family name who will be looking into their roots. Believe it or not…you have an important legacy to establish today. This is not something to over analyze. We don’t wake up, make coffee, and think ‘how am I gonna establish my legacy today?’ lol. Doesn’t work that way. Your legacy is established by you just being yourself, by holding your last name and being affiliated with those people in the past who were predecessors to you, and you creating your own life story.

Your legacy is perpetuated through your pictures, in addition to, stories that will be told about you and your family… How are some of those stories created? Imagine looking back at a picture photographed during an event populated with loved ones that you are familiar with. And what is it about looking at a picture that sparks so many thoughts? Do you look at a picture and say, ‘oh, well there’s that one person I know at that one place I went to and had that one drink that was really good…’ No! Instead, you look at a picture and say, ‘wow! Look at my family together at Perry’s steakhouse. I think that was Friday night in August. Mom was always so good with my children when they would stay at her house’. You may look at your dad and say, ‘wow he was such a hard worker in the finance industry’. You may even say about the place its self, ‘It had really good steaks that were cooked the way I like’. And then you look at yourself… ‘Wow did I really wear that lol come on…’ We’ve all been there lol. This is what pictures do for us. They allow us to be transported back in time to visit a moment that has been passed, but never forgotten. We are then able to more vividly recount that event’s story. Storytelling is so important in life. It is the way we share memories, in addition to, pictures.

Let’s revisit the value of things that are important to us. What value can you put on your family pictures, and looking back at them from 20, 30, event 50 years from now? Is that worth $30,000 or is that worth $4000? The answer… (hopefully you consider them) priceless!

There are always implicit and explicit costs to consider when making important decisions that may appear large at the beginning but in the future you say to yourself that was money well spent. Maria and I wanted to put a back porch on the house. Little did we know those porches cost on average $30,000 to make we had no idea! Of course, we understand this also includes all of the upgrades, their labor and experience, and parts and materials. We get that. But we expected something like that cost $10,000. We knew it would cost money. But not that much. So we look at pergolas. Those cost about $10,000. But do you know what each of these two items have in common? Yes, they’re obviously going to be affixed to the house in the same location; yes they’re obviously handmade; yes they are non-essential items. But do you know what both of them require? They are not forever structures. Both of these structures will need to be maintained. What does that entail? Additional expenses to buy parts and material, time spent fixing it, and that’s if I maintain it and not outsource the work to a handyman who specializes in performing those repairs and has years of experience doing that job and understands how to complete that job successfully. Of course, we don’t consider those priorities right now because we may tell ourselves, ‘that’s down the road’; that’ll happen in 3 to 5 years. True. But the point is, those tasks still will need to happen. How much will that cost? What is the implicit costs of your time and the explicit costs of buying paint or varnish, parts and material, and labor in case parts of the wood needs to be replaced? So, what we’ve learned about building a pergola and a porch on the back to the house is that those structures need to be maintained and maintained after spending the initial large investment.

What is it about your pictures will have to be maintained? Again… These are images that were created during your wedding. These were images that are custom in nature – no other images exist like them in the entire world. Even when we create your images during your wedding day! For example, when I photograph your bridal party and wedding couple pictures on your wedding day. Even when we photograph many pictures of the same moment to make sure all eyes are open and looking at the camera. For example, I may prefer the way that your head is turned slightly in one picture but I prefer the way your arm in bent in another picture photographed 3 seconds after the other. Even though I’m essentially photographing the same pose. Again…professional luxury wedding day photography is a custom product and service.

What is required for my professional luxury wedding photography team to successfully deliver your digital pictures, heirloom album, and print enlargements; what is involved - I left your wedding after Grand Exit. I’m done, right? Going back to our porch and pergola example earlier. Is it as simple as cutting a piece of wood to a size and hammering it together? Is it as simple as spending two days on a job, completing it, and knowing after you completed the job that’s it, I move onto the next job and I’m finished with your wedding? Those activities require prior experience and ability, investment in tools, skilled craftsmen who understand how to use those tools, and people who want to work! We all are familiar with some people who have high prestigious degrees and are lazy, or “educated derelicts“ as Calvin Coolidge once called them. He went on to say, hardwork and perseverance are the biggest key determinants of people being successful; not their intelligence or degrees. For example, we all know people who have the ability to do more than they currently are doing, but don’t apply themselves. If you employ a person similar to this you may get annoyed because you always have to remind that person to do their job, and you think to yourself, ‘why am I even paying this person if they’re not doing their job!’ And, let’s look at that same perspective from the photo perspective.

When you hire my team, you hire professional wedding photographers in Houston who care deeply for their wedding clients. This is why we invest in our self-training and keeping our skills, gear, and knowledge contemporary with the times. We want you to have the best and nothing short of Classic-chic, expressive, timeless, and elegant memories. We have photographed many weddings with many wedding couples. Do you know what one thing I can say is similar to all of those couples and weddings? No wedding nor wedding couple are the same. We’re all unique and one-of-a-kind! Again… this is a custom product you are investing in. In addition to, obtaining the many years of experience over many professional luxury weddings photographed in Houston, Dallas, Austin, and New York. I have perfected my abilities through countless hours of practice on my time and not during weddings. I have invested in hiring mentors who photograph $20,000 weddings for rich people. I have studied books, created my own study outlines, and have perfected my posing and lighting one-on-one with professional models I will hire. This is all my personal investment I do not charge to the client. Instead, I perceive my practice and experience building as necessities and expectations before I photograph luxury weddings professionally

When I photograph your wedding, you hired me and my team. You hired me for a service, product, and the attainment of memories that are both candid and posed - custom in nature. I provide a service that allows for your pictures to be created. I consider the foundation for your pictures to be made as a personable customer service approach because if there were no foundation for your pictures to be made, I would not have the success I have had in my past weddings and the comprehensive coverage captured and happy past clients. I describe my service as Personable Customer Service Approach because we begin from a perspective of generosity and servitude. These two important ideologies pervade David Baker Studios because we make strides to connect with you and learn who you are and connect with you on a personal level. Next, after we learn about your interests and get an idea for your basic style, we begin learning about what you want to do during your wedding day through one of two of our Planning meetings. After I understand what you want to do, I create a timeline for you to review based on my professional wedding photography experience of photographing many weddings and being familiar with how much time is required or how much should be allotted for between events and how much each event can possibly take. Then, after we finalize all of those important logistical plans. I begin contacting professional wedding photographers within my professional network who I am personally familiar with who I know have the professional luxury wedding photography experience and knowledge, required skill and ability, and who are able to complement my unique style, and they must be able to be reliable because I expect them to work on their own during the wedding day. So, a big part of delivering a wedding where the clients are happy is finding the right labor to help me photograph during your wedding day. Going back to the construction metaphor example. I have to find someone who has the experience, tools, and able to be personable and has a good attitude and is patient, kind, and hard working to you on your wedding day. This is required when I choose Second Photographers for your wedding! Because I choose to invest more before your wedding and go above and beyond, contrary to what some professional wedding photographers in Houston do - which is - hire based on minimum experience. That’s not my style. If I hired that way, I might as well tell them to use their iPhone. Nope! I can’t stand working with people who act like everything they do is something I should give them credit for. Meaning… Some people want you to thank them just for getting out of bed. That’s not the way I work. Of course, I show appreciation and thank them and treat them the way I want to be treated. But you know what I mean. My second photographer and I, have both spent many years and over many different events and our own personal time practicing and perfecting our skills that we are able to execute during your wedding day. When we go to your event during your Planning meetings, we help you conceptualize and create the timeline where you can include those events you want, all the while, allowing for enough time to create all of those important family and group pictures and for you to have time to collect yourself, instead of, bell-to-bell action. Some weddings can be very fast-paced. My team and I are comfortable during fast-paced weddings. But for you, I prefer your wedding day (for you) to be relaxed, so you can spend time with your family and friends and celebrate. Just like the roofer: you don’t hire a roofer for him to come to your house and say, ‘alright, now I need to figure out how to do this’. No! When you hire a roofer he comes to your house and knows what to do. He guides you through exactly what he’s going to do. He knows what he’s gonna do. My team and I are will guide you through your entire wedding process. We offer augmented Planning and Guidance services not because we have to, we offer these services because we want you to enjoy your wedding day, instead of, worrying about what to do next and if you look good in your pictures. We do more than photograph you: we help you with planning, guiding you through your entire wedding process, and we pose you in a way where your unique and expressive personality’s are still seen in the picture.

When you choose David Baker Studios, we are your premier Professional Luxury Wedding Photography company and studio in Houston. We are also Professional Destination Luxury Wedding Photo Studio that has photographed weddings in: New York, Pittsburgh, California, Florida, Dallas, Austin, and Galveston. When you choose us for your wedding day. I meet with you, at least twice, to learn about you, what you want to do during your wedding, so we make enough time in your timeline to not have to rush through your day. Then, I meet with you another time for us to create a timeline when it gets closer to the wedding day. I put a lot of emphasis in planning and service because like I said earlier we’re all unique.

After your wedding we’re still working on your wedding… I go through all of your images, including my images and my second photographer’s images. I back those up and make sure they’re safe. I go through and choose the best images out of all of the images, edit those, deliver those to you, we design your album, and we enlarge your prints for delivery. These are your heirlooms. This is your legacy in a picture. And we put emphasis on print over digital files because digital files can be deleted. But your printed pictures is how we have record of our family over many years and generations. This is the same emphasis I place on your pictures: hang them on your walls and turn the pages in your album.

What is the value of your heirlooms and pictures that would be created during your wedding? Are you investing in a memory and product and service that you will cherish and hold onto and perpetuate your legacy being passed down to future generations as heirlooms? Again… What is the value of your professional luxury wedding pictures? What price should be paid for a priceless heirloom?

For more information on our professional wedding photography. Contact Us!