DMSI, will you be the final piece of puzzle?

[Shannon]

If he's got the skills that pay the bills, then sure why not? Better than $300 photoshoot

I didn't mean to sound ignorant with my comment but I guess I did. I defer to you in photography, as you are an expert in that area

The problem these days is that 99% of "photographers" are really GWCs. The 1% who have the study and skill and experience and understanding to truly do great things, nobody is willing to pay anymore because of all the GWCs.

That's why I stopped doing professional photography work. Nobody was willing to pay me what my time, knowledge, understanding, skill and experience are worth. $300 for a 2 hour modeling portfolio shoot? As a wedding photographer, my lowest end package was $1,250. The "standard" packages most people wanted were $2,500 and $5,000 respectively. They wanted it for free... or, they wanted to spend $500 or less, if they were willing to pay at all. Once, I had a friend ask me to do their wedding and never bothered to deal with payment. I wanted to see what they thought my time and skill was worth. They paid me $200, for 9 hours of on-your-feet be-everywhere-at-once one-shot-one-kill no-second-chances photography and a week of post processing. $200 covered the wear and tear on my genuinely professional equipment, and my gas.

Another time, I had a "friend" beg me for months to photograph their wedding, and then when I relented, they told me they could only pay me $300. Several days before the wedding (by which time most real professionals have already started investing time and effort and money into preparing for the wedding photography) she called me up and said, "Never mind, I have a friend who will do it for free." There went my time and money - and that "friendship".

There's a lot more to it than just point and shoot when it comes to truly professional level photography. We may make it look easy, but it's not. It's a lot of time, effort, money and expensive-ass equipment and training that make it possible.

Now, cell phones are "good enough" for most people. Nobody cares. So let them have cell phone pictures and the likes. I have better things to do with my time.

That's the other side of the story.

As a matter of fact, I saw wedding photos and other bigger packages offered at the price you mentioned, when I was searching for suitable photographers. Many wedding packages were offered at around $2,500 or more, and the cheapest I saw was around $1000 something. Even groupon stuff was expensive for wedding.

If I marry a girl, and I have the money to spend, I'd definitely go for it. After all, you only take one wedding photo (at least for that marriage), and it's something you keep it for the life time. I'd definitely want the best, not just good enough, as I will want to remember that day, reliving the joy and happiness from the special bonding ceremony with the woman I love. (I sound like some hopeless romantic here, but I'm not liking how I pulled this one. I feel that I can make the language better. Oh well. ) Of course, that comes with an assumption that I can afford it.

I suppose for online dating profile photos, a thing is that you only get to really use them for a small amount of time. It's not something you'd keep it for a long time. Isn't it the case that you need to constantly update your profile photos? Assuming this is the case, it'd be quite burdensome to keep paying those price (several hundreds or thousands) to get the photos on a regular basis for average dudes. I suppose that's where the hesitation comes in for spending lots of money on it. Also, I think that many people who resort to online dating are probably average people, while the rich people who don't feel that it's costly are more likely to resort to some sort of professional match making service.

Nevertheless, I respect the works by photographers. Hey, it will be very hard to work with all the lighting, people with awkward poses, taking caring of the equipment, and etc. (This is in part somewhat related to my past experience of taking a film making class. It's different from photography, there are some similarities. Hell it was still quite difficult, and frustrating. Fun, nevertheless.) I have even a higher respect for those who do natural photos. I knew one who did wild photo shooting, and man it sounded like a very tough work which required huge amount of patience. (But the reward is priceless though. Those beautiful pictures of natural shots of animals, scenery, and etc. )

Anyway, I hope that this professional will deliver some great results. (Based on the reviews, he should. Everybody was happy with him.) As this is my first experience of doing online dating, (well any type of dating to be specific, other than speed dating, which I tried once or twice), I can use any help and advantages I can get. (Including the photos, of course.) I suppose what I lack the most are lack of experience and lack of actually getting out there and doing stuff like this. So, I'm content, and I think I'm off to a good start. (Even if I were spending a little more than possibly necessary.)

But a question arises. Is this DMSI's effort in pushing me, and getting me the experiences I need to achieve its goal?

You are a very smart man, getting good quality photos done for your dating profile. Most people don't ever have a clue how much they lose out on because they use crappy imagery. For this purpose, I recommend getting professional work done whenever you change significantly in how you look, or about every 3 to 5 years. In the mean time, you can supplement with an occasional cell phone pic or whatnot for newer stuff.