How do I book a session/contact you?

My contact info is on the business card above, hopefully embedded in a picture I won't get spammers, we'll see how this works.

It's best to contact me via email, I'm a little sporadic at times with phone calls, who knows when I'll go out back with my kids and not hear a phone for a few hours. Leave a voice mail though and I'll get back to you. My sweet husband recently got me a blackberry and I can check my email on there now, so you know, in theory I can be totally more efficient now. I'm also on facebook as Melissa Luker Riederer, and on twitter under the profile playdoh (guess what was sitting next to my computer when I made the account).

I try to make the rounds of my work email every Sunday night to make sure all the messages in the past week I haven't replied to yet get an answer.

To book a session contact me, we'll trade some information, then you'll give me a relative time frame, as in "early" or "late" of a month. I'll send you a paypal request for the non-refundable $20 booking fee. This can and will be applied to your session fee. I will contact you again within a month of your desired date to start picking possible calendar dates. Once we have a date, time, and location set aside, I will send you a paypal request for the balance of your session fee. You must pay that balance before 48 hours before your shoot or it will be canceled and your session fee lost. To book again you will have to pay another session fee and begin the process over. Once you have paid your session fee, if you have to reschedule for illness or a family emergency you will not be charged any new fees. I do ask that you try to reschedule promptly and that you understand the difficulties that may arise in rescheduling.

I prefer early morning or late afternoon/early evening shoots for lighting. Midday can provide some harsh lighting but is totally workable at many locations. For children who take naps and can be unpredictable, in some situations, we can even pick out a general time for the day and you can be in contact with me that day and let me know what time you think is going to work best. Well rested happy children are key. During hot summer months the bookends of the day can also be the most comfortable.

We can always shoot for after the rain, or snow, or some other condition if you want puddle stomping or snow play, just realize you'll need to be really flexible in scheduling. Autumn leaf color shoots are very popular and usually occur around mid to late october, but we won't know for sure till we get there.

Franklin Park Conservatory and some other locations can provide an indoor option that will be a little more flexible for rainy or cold weather. For those who would like to pick an exact date out in advance the conservatory is always an excellent back-up plan.

Newborn photo sessions are best taken when the baby is less than 10 days old. We'll loosely schedule around your due date. Then just message me when baby makes it's arrival and we'll figure out what will work best after that. If you want me at the hospital, for birth photography or new arrival photography, well then we're going to get friendly with the text messaging so I can know when to join you at the hospital.

All I need really is to know you want a shoot, what kind, and rough idea of when, we'll figure out the rest as we go along. I have no minimum time period till booking, assuming you and I both have the time and the weather/setting cooperates, I'll meet you tomorrow.