PHOTOGRAPHY
We hope this page will help you with any questions or concerns you might have about creating membership pictorial albums and directories.
Please feel free to email or call us if you have any further questions.
What’s this all about?
Why do I need portraits
of all my members?
Member recognition is vital for the success of a private club. Pictorial albums and directories with each member’s photo allows other members and the staff to help put a name to a face. How often do you meet someone for the first time but quickly forget their name the next time you see them at the club? The maitre d’s and wait staffs really like the albums so they can take a glance through it to see who is coming in for lunch, dinner or cocktails. Members feel more important and are more impressed when staff members know them by name.
Is There Any Charge to the Club?
No. There is absolutely no charge to the club for photographing the members. There is also no charge for the beautiful album we will create showcasing the portraits of all those members who participated. Most clubs display the album in the main lobby or in the club library. These portraits are also used for the club’s member directory and for programs like Jonas that has a place for each members photo.
How Can You Offer the Service for Free?
In exchange for creating the album and giving the club a copy of each members portrait for directory purposes and club management programs, we offer the portraits for sale to those members who may want them. However, there is never an obligation to buy anything and we never use any hard sales tactics. We simply show the portraits to them right after the portrait session and if they would like to buy, great. If not, that’s fine too. They will still be in the album and directory at no charge whatsoever.
There a few companies that do this. Why should I choose yours?
We feel there is this big gap with the companies that offer similar services. What we have found is that the portraits they offer for sale to the members are either very expensive, or the quality is very poor. The companies that advertise with portraits of famous people think that is enough justification to charge your members very high prices, though ironically, none of their current photographers are the ones who took those portraits. And then there are other companies who, mainly do church directories and hire unskilled photographers who just want to get in and get out as fast as possible.
Michael-Harrol offers quality portraiture with years of experience photographing private club members, as well as offering adequate prices for those who wish to purchase. The portraits you see on this site were created by our current photographers. All of our portraits are enhanced by a retouching expert to make each member look their best. We also use the finest printers to create portraits of heirloom quality.
What does my club receive after you have finished
photographing all the members?
After we have finished photographing all the members, we will then create a beautiful leather bound album that will showcase all of the members. Most clubs display the album in the main lobby so the members can look through and see all their friends and perhaps put a name to a face of those members they just met. Newer members find this as a great way to get to know their new friends.
Most clubs have some sort of directory, whether it be printed or on line. We will give you a file sized for use for either or both. We can produce a PDF format directory for those clubs who do not have a current directory and make copies for each members if needed. These are very easily printed out for those members who might want a hard copy.
We have embraced the digital technology and use only the finest equipment to produce images your clients will cherish for years. Since our entire process is digitally produced, the wait time for members finished portraits is only about 2-3 weeks. Some companies make them wait up to 6 weeks. After all the members have been photographed, the club album only takes about 2 to 3 weeks to produce. We have heard others taking as long as 6 months! Or not delivering them at all!
For those clubs that need member portraits for their club management program or if you have your own directories, every week we are at your club we will give you a disk of the members that came in that week so you can get those members photos in there as soon as possible instead of waiting weeks, perhaps even months after the project is done.
As an added bonus, we will also photograph all the upper management staff so you can use those images for the newsletter or club website. These can be more environmental type shots to give a more personal touch to the images. Along with full res and web sized files, we will also give each upper management staff member a free package of portraits.
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