But you have to remember they have to pay rental on a business space. That's $$$$. They have to pay gas, electric, water, sewer, phone and taxes just like us. Also, the cost of photographic equipment including studio lighting is $$$$. Plus the owner of the business pays his assistants, receptionist, bookkeeper, etc. They are just trying to make a living like the rest of us.:o)

Oh, whatever. They can make a living off me, but they ain't getting rich off me, as my old grandma used to say!

LOL! You HAVE to put that in a scrapbook! I hope my answer didn't sound snotty. I didn't mean it that way. It's just that I looked into going into Wedding Photography last Summer. The cost of equipment was astounding. I got scared and backed off. But I'm with yous. I won't spend $500.00 on pictures at a studio when I can go down to a Lake Michigan beach and get beautiful family portraits for chump change.

Pam, I did not take your answer as snotty, no problem. I guess I was just upset, because I had asked my mom for a photo of my older brother, and she only had two photos of him, from the age of 4 - 15. She had 5 kids and after she left my dad, (he used to beat her, you could do that in those days) he never paid a dime of child support afterwards for any of us. (you could also get away with this) and she raised us alone. So we barely had money for food, much less photos. She explained to me how one day she had taken the 5 of us to get photographed at OM, and how she could only afford the group shot, and not the single photos of each of us seperately. She explained to the photographer her situation, and he just threw the other photos in the trash can in front of her, rather than let her have them at a lower cost. She said they were great photos and she cried for days. I just don't see the reasoning why they have to BOTH charge so much the first time AND then charge lots of dollars again for copies, and yes I understand how they too must pay their business costs. I cannot imagine how expensive it must be now for single parents with lots of children to get nice photos. Thank God for scanners! Penny

They do have great specials though, which makes them very affordable. Any place you go, you have to pay for re-prints.

I hit a wall when I went to get my daughter's Olan Mill's picture color copied on my own Christmas card paper! Kindos said "NO WAY, not without permission." You have to get a copywrite permission from OM, they give it but it takes 3 days and they were already slammed for Christmas orders. Wish I had known that...it was a week before Xmas! So I worked out a deal with my supervisor and did it on the color machine at work!

Dear Crystal.
I ran into the same problem during the funeral for my son. I only had one professional photo of my son and his dad and it was by Olin Mills. Walmart refused to copy it on their picture maker (It seems Olin Mills had sued them over this, and at the time I didn't have a scanner myself) and his dad and I were seperated and lived states apart. So I had to give his father the only professional photo of Adam and his dad together, that I had. I could have been a jerk about the situation and kept the photo, but I knew how much it meant to him too. As for writing Olin Mills, begging them for their permission to copy my dead son's photo, not a chance in hell. And you can bet I will NEVER again buy pro photos that the negatives are not included in the package. Penny P.S. As you can see this is still a sore spot for me.

Hmmm...I found it "interesting" that Penny's mom had the pictures thrown in the trash right before her very eyes. I understand that the photographers have to make a living, but I'm inclined to think that those pictures apparently didn't cost the photographer too much to produce, or he would have gladly taken less money for them rather than none at all. A couple yrs. ago I went to Kinko's to get my kids' school pictures copied, and they couldn't copy them. I found that "interesting" as well, as there is no name or copyright info on the picture. Bummer. Oh well...we have a scanner now. Got one for Christmas. :o) I still feel badly for Penny's mom. Even though it happened yrs. ago it still stinks.