FAQ
Q: How long have you been in business?
A: We have been in business since 2006. We started off as Michael Alan Photography but made a name change to Paramour Photography at the end of 2009 for a variety of reasons. First off, everyone and their mother seemed to be spelling “Alan” wrong and searching for “Michael Allen” instead. Lastly, my wife Rebecca has always been a huge part of the business. On that note, I always thought it was selfish to have the business named after myself alone. So with that, we switched the name to Paramour Photography, LLC. Same great photos and same great customer service… just a new name.
Q: So why the name Paramour Photography?
A: “Par amour“ directly translates to “With love” and we feel like that pretty much sums everything up for us. Everything we do, in both our lives and business, is done that way so it was very suiting for us.
Q: So if you shoot weddings too then why aren’t there any on this web site?
A: This site is dedicated only to our portrait photography. You may visit the following web sites for samples of our wedding photography:
Buffalo Wedding and Portrait Photographers – Flash Site
Buffalo Wedding Photographers – Blog
Q: Do you shoot film or digital?
A: We are 99.99999999999% digital. 
I still love film very much and have a hard time removing it completely from our work. At this time I only shoot film at portrait sessions when our client books our “nostalgia collection.” We are still 110% digital for weddings because it allows us to instantly show clients their images faster. We also really like to keep the experience of your portrait or wedding going strong well after it is over so shooting digital really helps us to get you your images faster.
Q: What type of photography do you specialize in?
A: We are wedding and portrait photographers. Our portrait specialties are pretty diverse; We photograph newborns, children, families and do high school senior portraits as well.
Q: Is your style “photo-journalistic”?
A: I really don’t like to pigeon hole our style into one set genre. It seems in this day and age that photo-journalism is all the rage but many people don’t really understand exactly how it plays into a wedding day while “posing” seems to be getting a bad rap. I don’t think that posing is bad, I just think that there are bad poses! So to answer this question, we really photograph in a hybrid style. We want to make your photos the best that they can possibly be so we will do whatever it takes.
Q: How are your portrait sessions done?
A: Our portrait sessions are pretty diverse as well. We offer three options for portraits. We can do the portrait session in our home studio, in the comfort of your own home or even at a location of your choosing. We typically reserve our studio portraits, or your home, for newborns and children. This is because we can control the temperature and your children are more comfortable throughout the shoot. High school senior portraits and family portraits work great when we do the portrait session at a unique location. This could be a beach, park or anything that appeals to you really. We take a relaxed, “lifestyle” approach to our portrait sessions. We really like to stay away from those say cheese smiles and the way we photograph takes care of that.
Q: Do you offer discounts?
A: No, but we do have special promotions throughout the year. If you frequent this site, join our mailing list, become a fan of our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter then you can get the low down on these specials. Other than that, we base our everything we do around our brand, quality of our work and premium products. This does mean that we are not affordable to everyone but if we lowered our prices then we would not be able to offer the same personal customer service that our existing clients know and love from us. We do realize that everyone has a budget but it is all about prioritizing and deciding on how to make that budget last. Your photos will last a lifetime; Well after the flowers have wilted and the cake has been eaten.
Photography is forever, invest in an artist!
Q: Do you charge for travel?
A: 9 times out of 10 we do not. We start charging when you when you select a location that is outside of a 60 mile radius from us. We do charge for travel, lodging and food expenses in our destination wedding coverage. That is all rolled into our prices. We do strongly advise that we arrive a couple days in advance to ensure that we make it to the location on-time for your wedding and so we can scout out various locations for your portraits.
Q: What if we would like to go to more one location for pictures on our portrait day?
A: No worries. We have no problem traveling to a couple different locations. Just keep in mind that traveling will eat up some time so we may not be able to spend a lot of time at each location.
Q: About how many images should we expect to receive?
A: Typically, our clients receive around 30 to 40 from their portrait sessions. We strongly feel that these numbers can tell the story of your portrait session perfectly while not being too overwhelming for you. We have the whole “quality over quantity” mentality. For portrait sessions, we found that it really eases you in your image selection when ordering images and products at your viewing session. A viewing session is when you come to our home studio and view the images from your portrait session. You then select what images you would like prints or products made of. Simple as that.
Q: Do your packages include a disk of images and copy release form?
A: You may either purchase the disk of images from your portrait session or receive them as a complimentary gift when your print purchase exceeds a certain value. Once again, the disk of images received are all retouched, in high-resolution and include a copy release form so you may reprint them whenever.
Q: When should we expect our album and products from our portrait session?
A: We really like to keep your portrait experience alive even after your portrait session. With that being said, we like to keep the ball rolling and expedite the production of all our client’s orders to ensure that you receive the finished products as soon as possible.
Q: What type of albums do you offer?
A: We provide a couple of different options. We like to say that we offer the Mercedes and Royls Royce of albums. Both are of the highest quality but come at different price points. Our digital flush mount albums have been most popular over the years but we do offer a very classy matted album as well. There are no ovals or heart shaped designs so don’t worry, it isn’t the same as your parent’s albums. Our motto is, if it isn’t a right angle then it’s a wrong angle! Therefore, your matted album will be very chic and will only have rectangles and square openings.
Our album design for both albums is very clean and elegant. We like to showcase fewer images in larger sizes rather than the album being too cluttered and yearbook-like. To offer more images in your album, we simply include more pages than what other studios offer. More pages mean we can showcase more images in a clean and elegant manner.
Q: Do we get to see our album design before it is made?
A: Absolutely. As mentioned above, you choose your favorite images and then we design the album based upon your selections. By doing this, you can pretty much guarantee that you will be wowed by the album design on the first run. We publish your album design on our online proofing gallery for you to view and make modifications. This is great because you don’t have to keep coming back to us and make changes in person. Instead, you can log in whenever you have a free second. We then make the necessary modifications and then get it sent off to print when you give us the final ok.
Q: How long does it take for our album to be designed and printed?
A: We like to have your album designed for you within two weeks after you select your favorite images for the album. Once you okay the album then we send it off to get made. The album production is dependent largely upon the time of year. If it is an off season then it may take as little as 4 to 6 weeks for the album to arrive on your doorstep.
Q: Do you shoot Nikon or Canon?
A: We are Nikon users tried and true. We did use Canon in the past and really had nothing but issues. Nikon is at the top of their game and their equipment is rugged and of the highest quality possible. It really does reflect that in the images to give you the best image quality.
Q: Do you shoot in RAW or JPEG?
A: We shoot in RAW. Since a RAW file is basically a “digital version of a negative”, it allows us to have a lot of flexibility when it comes time to edit your images. This just guarantees that the images of yours will be of the highest caliber. If you happen to receive a disk of images then they are converted over to the highest resolution JPEG for you.
Have a question that wasn’t answered here? If so then contact us at paramourphoto at gmail dot com and we will add it to the site asap. Thanks!
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