Why does custom photography cost more?

My prints do cost more than chain stores. Why does custom photography cost more? There is a great article written by Marianne Drenthe that explains what costs and time goes into custom photography.
Here's an excerpt from the article.

http://www.professionalchildphotographer.com/information/?p=6

TIME of the CUSTOM PHOTOGRAPHER:
Approaching it from a time standpoint, for instance let’s imagine if you will that you have hired a photographer who has work that you love and that is travelling an hour to your on location session. TIme break down:
*session prep time (30 mins - 1 hour, includes equipment and back up equipment checks + vehicle checks)
one hour travel time TO session
*15-30 minutes prep time at client’s home
*90 minutes-2 hours with client photographing subject
*one hour travel time FROM session
*30-45 minutes uploading time from digital cards from camera to computer
*30-45 minutes time spent backing up the original images
*2-5 hours editing time to present you with a diverse gallery of edited images
*1 hour prep time getting ready for ordering
*2-3 hours time with client for ordering images
*1 hour sorting through and checking order
*30 minutes-1 hour prep time for delivery
*30 minutes-1 hour getting order shipped
*any additional phone time or time needed for add on ordering, shipment issues, quality issues
As you can see, average client time for a session ranges from just under 13 hours to 19 hours dependent on the photographer’s level of service. This is time dedicated only to your session. When the photographer charges $150-$300 for the photo shoot you are not just paying for the two hours of session time, you are paying the photographer for 12-19 hours complete time for your session.


To read more about custom photography, please visit http://www.professionalchildphotographer.com/information/?p=6
For questions such as "What is custom photography?" "Why does custom photography cost more?"

Trains

I recently attended a birthday party at the Texas Transportation Museum. It's a great place to visit!

Texas State Capitol, Austin, Texas

My family and I had a class field trip yesterday (yes, on a Saturday!) in Austin, Texas. We had a great tour guide. The details inside the Capitol are beautiful. The day was breathtaking.

What is "Copyright"?

Since I'm a member of PPA, I've received a stack handouts about copyright.
This is what PPA says about copyright:

• Important Notice about Copyright Protection

The Copyright Act protects photographers by giving the author of the photograph the exclusive rights to reproduce your photographs. The includes the right to control the making of copies.

It is illegal to copy or reproduce these photographs elsewhere without our permission, and violators of this Federal Law will be subject to its civil and criminal penalties.

We will try to accommodate all reasonable requests. Please feel free to discuss your needs with us so that we may have the opportunity to serve you better.

What this means.

• Copying, scanning, saving on your computer, photographing the image, copying to myspace, facebook, etc is violates copyright laws.
• There are other photographers that do support this law, therefore notify other photographers if the copyright is violated.
• If you would like an image for posting on blogs, webpages, etc, I will email you an image. The image will have my logo. Image will look distorted if printed larger than a thumbnail.
• Please inquiry about images on CD.

Thank you for understanding copyright laws and understanding that as photographers, how we make our living!