Frequently Asked Questions

Proposals to Weddings . . . And Everything In Between

Primarily that is weddings, elopements, engagements, proposals, couples sessions.  As much as we love dogs and families we would rather photograph your dog on the engagement shoot, your dog at the wedding, and your family in the moment on your wedding day!

Investments with Joe and Robin:

$2500 – 9000 for Wedding Photography

$750 – 2000 for Elopements / Mini Wedding Photography

$350 – 1150 for Proposal and Engagement Photography

Please go to our Contact page and fill out a request for information to get full pricing.

The information on that page will help us know what your looking for in photography, lets us check if we are available, will help us begin the process in seeing if we are a good fit for each other, and lets us send you our full pricing.  We will respond within 24 hours to people looking for our services so if you haven’t heard back check your spam / junk email for a reply from ‘Joe and Robin Photography Inquiry’.

1. Reach out to us from our Contact page
2. Talk to us and get any questions you have answered.  We normally communicate via email or phone.
3. Decide if you want us and share specifically what you want.  If we are still available we will send over 4 and 5.
4. Review and sign the online contract we will populate.
5. Provide a deposit using one of the accepted payment methods.  We will send over an online invoice so you can pay by card.  Deposits for weddings are $1000.  For things like Proposals and Engagement sessions it will vary based on the package and how far out it is from the date. We do not take payment without an accompanied contract outlining specifically what you are purchasing. If you have a balance, payments can be made at your convenience or in full when due.  For weddings balances are due two weeks prior to the wedding.

Simple Answer: It will depend on how long we have to shoot, what happens in that time, the editing needs, and how many shoots we have on the calendar.  If you look at reviews you will see people got proposal images in as little as a day and weddings in under two weeks.  Due to high demand we are often days for proposals and weeks for weddings.

Detailed Answer: We strive to meet or exceed couples expectations but those expectations vary significantly.  Proposals typically want images in hours after the shoot.  Weddings are used to it taking months.  Those are two very different extremes and we do not really align to either because we are not like other photographers.  Editing occurs full time for us in house on some high performance hardware.  We edit in layers and do things manually to create consistency across the shoot.  We also seek to shoot better in camera with regards to lighting and getting the needed moments. These things allow us to be faster than others and deliver more consistency.

Due to the nature of how we edit and the speed we can edit at we found it slowed us down to do previews.  You still need to go through the images to find the best, those still need some editing, and then you have the time to communicate and share them out.  What we have found is that particularly for proposals we could get them all out in a similar time to the time put into getting a few out.  When it comes to weddings most want previews because they expect you will be like others taking months.  Other photographers edit here and there after they get home from work.  They are doing a handful of shoots a year so are not as experienced / seasoned with lower end hardware so it takes longer to do the same thing.  More time does not therefore equal more quality.  We have seen the full galleries of others and can certainly attest to our doing more in less time.

Rush editing can potentially be an option for proposals.  We say potential as committing to a time based turn around time when we are actively shooting is not always possible.  This is an added cost and is a stay up crazy late and prioritize over other work scenario.

The Online Gallery Provides the Core Standard Services Couples Want:

1. Image Download in full size digital files.  This allows for faster image delivery.
2. Sharing with friends and family for download and printing
3. Printing on Canvas, Paper, Metal at near cost discounted rates through a vendor who will print it with the right coloring and exposure.
4. Self designed Album in square shape with linen or leather covers at the cost of the materials.

Self Service at cost levels is the idea behind what we offer with the online gallery.  The idea of these additional features is that you can get professional vendor prints, photobooks, and albums without the overhead costs of going through your photographer and getting something custom.  If you want custom we can certainly offer those and offer Canvas, Metal, Wood, Acrylic, in addition to Custom Designed High End Albums.

Our Track Record for Shooting Together When We Planned On It is 100%

While this should be self evident if you book 1 photographer you will not get 2 photographers just because our name is Joe AND Robin Photography.  We shoot 2.5 times what seasoned professionals shoot and up to 40 times what others tell us they shoot in a year as a “full time” photographer. Due to that level of experience the majority of couples do not need a 2nd photographer with us which is a reason it has not been offered in the small shoot packages since 2015.  For normal weddings we average more images after edits with one of us than most deliver with 2+ photographers due to experience and equipment quality.

Another way to think of it is that you are likely on our website because you like what you see. What you see was most often done by one of us rather than both. The perk for you is less cost, more availability, and a faster turn around time on image editing.

Our Packages Align to What Most Couples Want

We leave out the fluff and keep things simple.  Our packages differ based on the different types of events.  For example, not every wedding needs two photographers, an engagement session, or a wedding album so we do not require you to get them.  We do not charge extra for things like digital images with printing rights and the miles of travel in Colorado as those are basics required to get you imagery.  We do not sell information but freely offer what we can to couples who have booked our services.

Go to the Contact page to request more information on our packages.

What are the steps to get you your custom album?

1. 1. We will enable an album design feature in the online gallery allowing you to select your favorite images.  You decide on the size and style.  We have a number of samples and can provide recommendations, show swatches, and recommend against using a pumpkin spice / electric lime album leather combination.
   2. We design the album based on your favorite images.  We include as many of your favorite images as possible.
   3. You review the album design online, make change notes, submit changes for updates.
   4. We update based on your comments and what will look best for the album.
   5. You approve and we submit for printing.

How long does this take?  

We would love to get them to you in a few weeks but it depends on how quickly you get us your favorite images and approve the design. We have seen some people with other photographers take a year to get an album due to their clients life getting busy. We want to enable you to have something to enjoy shortly after marriage.

Simple Answer: We keep your images in 2-3 places through our retention period.

More Technical Answer: All our cameras are pro level so have dual memory cards for instant backup every time we take a picture. We have 2.3 TB of storage in camera between our cameras so never take out a camera card. We always have a backup camera if not multiple backup cameras.  Once off site the images are uploaded to a computer and wirelessly backed up throughout the editing process.  We retain them on a set of 6 mirrored hard drives (RAID 10 configuration).  We will contractually keep images provided for 1 year in RAW format but will likely keep them longer.  Through the online gallery images are retained by the service provider for an extended period of time subject to their policies which may change.  For that reason we recommend the high resolution download of all images upon delivery and retention of your own image backup.

For the Researchers:

We hold $6000-11000 in our hand and can use $1000-4000 in lighting equipment with that camera when we shoot.  We use one Z9, one Z8, two D850, one D810 Nikon full frame camera, 15 pro lenses (F/1.2 and F/1.4 for primes,  F/2.8 for zoom, some specialty), 2 high power stobe flashes with 5 flash heads, 4 on camera flashes, 5 battery packs, 4 video lights, 2 tungsten constant lights, radio remote triggers for flashes and remote firing of cameras, light stands and soft boxes.  Implications for you:  Our cameras are 1.5-2x the resolution of most photographers cameras commonly used and we employ a same quality redundancy of our equipment. Most photographers use consumer grade gear and have 1-2 cameras and 2-3 lenses often of a basic zoom or off brand from what we have found.  

For Visual Learners:

Get a better glimpse of what are shooting look at our behind the scenes gallery on the Photography page.  If you have been to many weddings you would likely find we do things a little different.  We live in a beautiful state so do things to capture the beauty of the mountains and believe the photos of not just you but also your guests will help you relive the day.  For that reason we need the best equipment and lenses for whatever the day holds.

Our wedding packages include travel to all of Colorado at no additional charge.

For travel outside of Colorado and outside the country we charge the cost of travel.  We handle all travel arrangements and add them into the deposit amount so we can book the travel.  For you this is more simple and for us this is vital because we need to ensure our camera gear is not damaged on a flight, can fit in our car, and that we can sleep if applicable.

For Proposals, Engagements, and Elopements (shoots less than 3 hours) we limit travel to an area depending on the package.  The idea is we do not want to drive 9 hours round trip to Aspen, CO or 12 hours round trip to Telluride, CO for something like a 30 minute shoot.  We are photographers that love hiking mountains.  If your shoot involves some backcountry Colorado travel we are all for it but do use our larger package as the travel is more extensive.  We are certainly open to hiking 14ers.  You can find our current list of those we have summited on 14ers.com.

Simple Answer: Yes – We Prepare to Shoot Your Wedding.

We think the reason for getting the question about ‘checking out a wedding venue’ is making sure your photographer is prepared.  Assessing preparation is subjective and differs in methods between different people.   Some people prepare for tests by studying weeks ahead, participating in study groups, some sleep on their books, and others cram the night before.  We believe effective methods are best illustrated by the output of the photography and reviews.   Often we see the assumption that the most effective preparation is going to a venue in person before the wedding day.  We are open to doing that but have found it added no value to how we shot the wedding day due to the differences in weddings we cannot control.  These differences include: weather, lighting, setup, rooms used, schedule, and guests.  Our perspective is that the key to the quality of photography is being able to adapt to variable changing conditions.   We go into this more in our Colorado Venue Experience planning blog.  What we find is effective for us is to review the many resources available to us online prior to the wedding and to help you develop a wedding itinerary with good flow that will allow things to occur in the allotted time.  On the day of the wedding we often arrive early and would then use that time to plan things out based on the conditions of the day.  This method is one that allows for an effective use of time balanced with a readiness for your wedding day.

Simple Answer: For 99% of Couples . . No.  Our “shot list” is everything you spent money on and everyone you invited.

More Details Answer: Not all photographers are the same in style and experience.  A good principle to practice on a wedding day is to trust your vendor to tell you what they need rather than listen to a 3rd party about what someone else needs.  At our level of experience 99% of what is communicated is all standard stuff.  Outside of that most people come to us for candid and natural looking photos.  Working from a shot list will create the opposite with getting you traditional posed photos.  Additionally, it will increase the the time to take photos taking you away from your guests and will lessen the amount of photos cause time is spent working from a list.  This is part of why we think other photographers deliver 50-75% of the images we normally deliver.

The most common shot lists is a family / group shot list.  The problem with these are that most people will lump names together in tons of combinations when creating lists.  While this might make sense to you it is of no value to give it to someone like your photographer who has never met your family or friends. If you must (lose sleep at night kind of must) have this kind of thing we recommend giving this kind of thing to a pushy friend or family member who knows the people. We find though when you have a list for something like pictures of family that the flow is not as good than our standard flow.

You are in the 1% if you require things + things together in photos or people + things together in photos.  We will get photos of the things in the way that seems best but we may not put certain things together if it doesn’t look right.  We will likely not get a person and an object together by default unless that is how the day unfolded. We believe you hired us to do what we do as you see on our website but if you require us to do something different we are not opposed.

As Many as You Want Within the Time of the Shoot

If you book a 2 hour shoot that means we are with you doing whatever you want for 2 hours.  We can get in the car and go wherever you want in that time and you can change clothing as many times as you want.  The impact for you is that the more time spent traveling and the more time you change clothing the less time we have to shoot meaning the less photos you will get.  We are not sure where this idea came from in the photography industry of limiting the places or clothing choices but it poses a core business problem of having an unlimited duration to the photography shoot.  The problem for a business is this means you may run late to another shoot or not be able to take on additional work.  We believe in keeping things simple, balancing that being flexible to your vision, and meeting your preferred price.

There are three non cash ways to provide a little extra out of gratitude:

1. Apple Pay Cash to 303-704-9459.  This is an iPhone to iPhone messaging payment method.  (Apple Instructions)
2. Venmo to 303-704-9459, JoeandRobin, or [email protected]
3. PayPal: https://paypal.me/joeandrobin.  This is for all others or if you just want to send it via credit card.

While this might seem like an odd thing to read in the frequently asked questions section it is a common question which is why we include it.  We are doing what we love and appreciative of whatever amount.

You can reschedule to an available date / time without cost provided we have not left for the photography work.

Our availability is limited by other bookings and is frequently changing.  When you book with us you prevent our taking on additional work which is why deposits are non refundable in addition to any payments toward the balance.  If you need to cancel and cannot reschedule the same type of photography you can allocate the time to another type of photography session.