Answers to frequently asked questions. If you can't find the answer to your question here, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Q. When and how much do we have to pay?
Q. When will are wedding album be ready?
Q. Why can’t we have the negatives?
Q. What, exactly, does “copyright” mean?
Q. Is there ever a way to get permission to copy the wedding pictures?
Q. What equipment do you use?
Q. What is the difference between a proof and an enlargement?
Q. How much time do you spend photographing our wedding day?
Q. You say that we will receive previews that are ours to keep, how will they come?
Q. Will you hold a date for me without any money down?

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Q. When and how much do we have to pay?

A. Hawley Photography requires a reservation fee of $300.00 to reserve your date. One half of the remaining balance must be paid no fewer than 14 days prior to the wedding date. The remaining balance must be made when the preview prints are picked up. Acceptable methods of payment are cash, personal check, money order, cashier’s check or bank check. Sorry, credit cards are not accepted at this time.

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Q. When will are wedding album be ready?

A. Your complete wedding album will be ready for you six (6) to eight (8) weeks from the time that you sit down with Hawley Photography, and decide exactly which photographs you would like to have in your album.

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Q. Why can’t we have the negatives? The picture’s are us, and we did purchase a wedding photography package.

A. There are several reasons:

1) Professional Portraiture is an art. Art is not something that can be processed and printed at your local drugstore with the same beautiful results as can be accomplished at a professional lab.

2) Hawley Photography must retain complete creative control over how the images are printed and presented to the clients.

3) Hawley Photography keeps the negatives in archival storage materials to preserve the quality and life of the images. This is just not something that the average person does.

4) The images are copyright protected, and Hawley Photography must retain ownership of the negatives to protect their legal rights.

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Q. What, exactly, does “copyright” mean?

A. Copyright is simply a legal term that means that the person or business entity who creates an item, owns all rights to it. Anyone else who attempts to copy the item is subject to prosecution. (It’s the same thing that would happen if a person stole the formula for a national brand soft drink, or used the logo without permission. Just because we buy a can of favorite soda, it doesn’t mean that we own the formula or the logo!) Taking or copying something without permission is stealing no matter how we look at it.

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Q. Is there ever a way to get permission to copy the wedding pictures?

A. Hawley Photography understands that a need may arise that they may be unable to fulfill. In that case, a client must contact Hawley Photography with a request for a written copyright release. Gaining a copyright release from Hawley Photography allows you to copy the image(s) ONLY as specified on the copyright release document.

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Q. What equipment do you use?

A. We use 35mm equipment for documenting your wedding story. This allows us to focus on what is happening all around us rather than having to be distracted with the mechanics of a huge, unwieldy camera and missing those moments.

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Q. What is the difference between a proof and an enlargement?

A. A proof, or preview, is an unfinished print. No attention is paid to the individual characteristics of the photograph. An enlargement is a print from a negative which has been individually analyzed for color correctness and composition and printed to it’s maximum potential.

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Q. How much time do you spend photographing our wedding day?

A. There is no set amount of time that we will stay with you, we will start at the Bride’s home and continue to the wedding, formals, and reception. This is why it is important to feed the photographer(s), it is very likely that we will be with you 8-11 hours. When we feel that we have done everything that needs, and should be done we will talk with the Bride and Groom to make sure there is nothing else that they would like before we pack our gear.

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Q. You say that we will receive previews that are ours to keep, how will they come?

A. They are presented in a preview album, in chronological order. There are re-order sheets in the album, next to the corresponding print, so it makes ordering your enlargements easy.

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Q. Will you hold a date for me without any money down?

A. I cannot hold a date without a reservation fee. The prime wedding season is quite short, usually May through October. That means that those 6 months are the hot dates. Photographers generally book their year 9 months to a year in advance. This means approximately 24 dates per year that are considered the most desirable. That’s not much! For that reason I cannot guarantee services without a signed contract and a reservation fee.

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