Trip to Portrait Innovators

As Margaret just posted, while we were in Pennsylvania, I took Olivia to Portrait Innovators to get some professional quality portraits taken.

I'm totally intrigued by the Portrait Innovations business model. The basic premise is that they offer a $9.95 portrait package. The portrait session consists of taking about 80 shots. Can you identify the loss leader in this picture?

Unlike the photographers who came to take pictures of Olivia in the hospital, they have locked into the economics of urgency. The photographer repeatedly tells you that the photos will be 'deleted forever' if you don't commit now. You need to buy whatever photos you want in the 20 minutes sales session after the shots are taken. We were the perfect target market -- a 5 month old infant (all infants are photogenic,) accompanied by her grandmother. I should note that to this day my mother still regrets not purchasing a pose of my brother when he was about 3 months old. Ka Ching!

We bought way too many shots, but the convenience factor alone was worth it to me. 'Take Olivia to photographer' is about the last thing on my to do list in Berkeley.

I have joked with my parents that next time we visit them in Pennsylvania, Spencer and I will go without my mom and leave with just the $9.95 special.