News and Info:

IMPORTANT UPDATE:  as-of Monday January 18th, 2010

Lynde and I want to address some comments made in an on-line forum regarding our ability to deliver photo products in a timely manner to our Dog Agility customers. 

I would first like to note that we do a lot of sports photography in the Midwest and that agility is an important part of our business income.  We do process literally hundreds, frequently over a thousand, photo orders every month.   Of those, I estimate that 99% are delivered at the event or within a couple of weeks.  But that remaining 1% is disappointed and we want to get them all done on time.  I would also like say that of those orders not delivered on-time there are a few throughout the course of the year that we have "special" challenges with and are notoriously difficult to fulfill...but we do!  Everyone who has purchased from us over the years has received what they paid for.   

In addition, from mid-October to Christmas, about eight weeks plus we are extremely busy.  (PS - Lynde and I take off work between Christmas and New Years - the only real time off during the year we get).  During that holiday rush, even with extra office help, we can only produce orders needed for gifts.  Everything else not produced at the event or for gifts, gets postponed until after the holidays (January).

Overall we are not perfect, but we are not bad.  We work hard to get all our orders done quickly. 

For those who are interested, I would like to take this opportunity to review this aspect of our photo business in more detail and discuss some of our plans for this year (2010). 

First, Lynde and I have a strong commitment to keeping all of our products affordable!  We hear so many stories of how outrageously expensive some photographers are.  We would rather sell a hundred photos at $10/ea. than sell ten at $100/ea.  When we go to the trouble to photograph an event, we want the participants to be able to actually purchase the pics rather than only look at them and wish they could afford to buy more. 

Second, some photographers guarantee delivery of prints within 7 days (for example) which are usually posted to an on-line photo lab.  We offer the same service!  Our on-line orders (placed through our on-line hosting site called Zenfolio) are normally shipped within 2 days after the order is placed.  These are limited to regular prints, some enlargements and novelty items like coffee cups, mouse pads, etc.  Please note that our on-line prices are slightly higher than in-house due to photo-lab and hosting fees. 

ALSO, over the past six months I have spent a significant amount of time researching and evaluating software that will allow us to get the photos on-line faster (this is complicated by the number of images taken at an event, the high-res size of the files, upload speeds, maintaining the directories, meta data and tagging info, etc...).  I am very pleased to say that as of the first week of this year (Jan 2010) we have begun using software that we believe is going to address all these issues.  We were able to upload four agility events (ICDOC, GAC Thanksgiving, NADAC portraits and GSLAC Vetta plus two figure skating things in about 10 days!!!)  PS - the uploads were paused during our huge holiday business rush.  This software will give us the ability to post all the images from even the biggest events within a day or two (it used to take a week, two weeks or longer).

Third, we also produce a LARGE percentage of all our orders at the event including prints, CD's and some posters.  This is not done by many photographers.

Fourth, I know many photographers don't provide the ability to view the photos on-site.

Fifth, we are also bringing additional photographers with us to do multiple rings during select competitions.

Sixth, and possibly most importantly, we work very hard to provide an assortment of original, unique and "fresh" photo products!  The proliferation of affordable personal cameras (and video) with excellent picture quality means that many people can take their own great pictures so we are constantly updating our inventory to provide new items.  And yes people have terrific photo printers at home as well as the ability to post to on-line photo labs and get prints and many other items quickly.  Plus we have a seemingly endless line of competitors for our work...aspiring photographers, newcomers that undercut prices and other well established businesses!!!  We believe to be success as a "photography" business we need to provide images and products that people can't get on their own...and we do that!   But, because of detailed photo editing, our customized specialty items (like posters) are not easily produced on-site, on-line or fast.  It often times takes a little longer to individually produce these orders. 

We certainly are not complaining about having too much business!  We just need to make necessary adjustments to the length of time it takes to produce the remaining orders after the events are over. 

Each year our business increases a substantial amount and we are making strides with staffing and equipment to keep all our customers happy and continue to purchase from future events.  Most notably we are increasing our pt office staff from seasonal to year-round. 

We also have some plans for improvements to our booth in the works.  We want to move to a modular system of viewing stations based on small form factor (mini) pc's attached to the back of the 19" LCD monitors each set on small individual tables.  Combined with a wireless network will allow us to arrange the "viewers" in any fashion we want and they could be placed anywhere in the arena.  This will also give us the ability to have more than 4 or 6 "viewers" at the booth and to have them in more convenient places for you.  In connection with the Wi-Fi, we plan on adding a server that will allow you to log onto our "network" as a "guest" and view the photo gallery from your laptop or other mobile device...no waiting in line.

We also have a very strong focus on improving overall information sharing and communication.  That means better customer contact details, email tracking and response, phone calls, text messaging, web site contacts and an outreach on Facebook.  We want you to be able to find and see your pictures, order what you want for a great price, get it fast and talk to us whenever needed. 

Lynde and I sincerely appreciate your business and want ALL of our customers to be happy with our service during and after each event.  If anyone is in need of help with a photo order, please get a hold of us.  We will get it resolved.  Often times we are not aware of problems until we are contacted and too many people wait a lengthy amount of time before contacting us.  We are 100% committed to ensuring that every order is given our full attention and is received by the customer.

Of course our web address is:  www.kevindevinephotography.com

Our email is kdevine@kc.rr.com

Our phone is 816-517-6836 (voice or text)

You can find us on Facebook by searching "Kevin Devine Photography" or "Kevin Devine" …lets be ‘friends’ J

Hope to see you all soon,

Kevin and Lynde