We started because photo day got too expensive
Not a very romantic origin story. But it's the true one, and it still runs everything we do.
2015, Mayfield
Dan was working for a big photography company doing the Hunter run. Nice work, decent photos. Then a mum at a centre in Mayfield told him she'd skipped it that year because the cheapest pack was $85 and she had three kids at the centre.
$255 for photos of your own children. He couldn't get it out of his head. Handed his notice in eight weeks later.
Now
Five photographers, all based between Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. We do somewhere around a hundred and eighty centres and schools a year across the Hunter.
The price has gone up twice in eleven years, by about four dollars total. We're quite proud of that.
We're not the fanciest photographers in the region and we've never claimed to be. We're the ones who make sure the family with three kids at the centre isn't the family that goes without.
The whole business model, honestly
No sales team. No commission to centres. No printed order forms to chase. No office worth mentioning. No "professional consultation" phone calls.
All of that costs money and none of it makes a photo better. We took it out and passed it on. That's genuinely the entire trick.
Anyone telling you good childcare photos have to cost ninety dollars is telling you about their overheads, not about photography.
Things we won't budge on
No commission to centres
We don't pay centres a cut. If we did, we'd have to charge your families more to cover it. We'd rather be picked on the photos.
No follow-up sales emails
You get one email when the gallery opens. If you don't order, that's the last you'll hear from us. Ever.
No cutting the day short
Cheap price, same time on site. A hundred kids is still a full day. We don't double-book centres to make the numbers work.
The compliance bit
All five photographers hold current NSW Working With Children Checks. We send numbers and expiry dates to your centre in writing before we come out, along with our public liability certificate. Ask any time and we'll resend them.
We work from your consent list and check it with your nominated supervisor on the morning before we start. If a child's consent isn't clear, we don't photograph them. Simple as that.