Dana Bell

I came across this help wanted ad in the Tyler Paper today.

Our365 has an opening for a strong sales & customer service oriented person to take babies' first official photos at Trinity - Mother Frances Hospital...

The wording on the ad caught my attention and two questions popped into my head.
What makes these photos official?
Are parents and relatives allowed to take photos at Trinity Mother Frances?

Theatres all but prohibit customers from bringing in refreshments so they can sell their overpriced popcorn, candy and soft drinks.
Are the hospitals going to start limiting photos to those that are taken by the official hospital photographer?

Then a third question comes to mind. How much are they going to charge? In this digital photography age, photos are easy to take. Good photos require a little more expertise. Unfortunately, there are many photography chains that replace expertise with workflow in a captive market. The basic package is reasonable. Anything else is exorbitant.

In any captive market, clients are very often pressured and overcharged. I've visited a number of photographers that hold their clients hostage, playing one family member against another with low quality photos that were taken by minimum wage workers at places like Wal-mart. The customer is very often on the losing end.

The best thing is to not play the game. Just stay away.