Bair Prints Photography: Arden Bair Ficek

Session Fees:

Session fees cover the time and talent of the photographer. All sessions are at your choice of location within the city of St. Matthews or Calhoun County (a travel fee will be added if the photo shoot is outside the county limits). The session fee is due at the time of our session.

One Subject Session Fee
- Starting at $85
This session covers one subject
time: around an hour

Two Subject Session Fee
- Starting at $100
This session covers two subjects.
time: depending on the ages of the subjects this session can take up to an hour.

Three or More Session- $150 and up
The fee includes up to four people.
Please add $15 for each additional person or pet. Group sessions usually take from 1-3 hours. Various combinations of your group as well as individual portraits can also be captured during this session.

Photo CD are priced after shoot.

Invitations, Specail Cards
& Birth Announcments
Layout design with one picture $25
Additional picture $5
Additional size $10
Additional size w/ layout change $15

You can provide me with a digital photo or I can take that picture for you.

Print Pricing:
4x6 - $5
5x7 - $10
8x10 - $15
Wallets - 8 total same pose - $15

Digital Image Pricing:
Single digital image - $20
CD of the entire session - $100
You may reproduce images from the CD as you wish.

Unlimited time and exposures are included in all sessions and all photographs are color corrected.

Cancellation Fees:
3-6 months notice of cancellation
- 25% of package cost.
1-3 months notice of cancellation
- 50% of package cost.
Less than 1 months notice of cancellation
-100% of final wedding package cost.

PLEASE CALL ABOUT
PACKAGE PRICES FOR
ENGAGEMENTS PORTRAIT,
BRIDAL PORTRAIT
& WEDDING DAY PACKAGE .
803.655.7250

By Lacey and Wesley McKeowen

Rachel did our engagement pictures, my bridal portraits, wedding and reception pictures. She did an awesome job on them ALL and we were very impressed with not only her prices, but her work as an artist. My husband is like every other man out there, he doesn't like to take pictures; but with Rachel as our photographer, he actually told me he enjoyed every minute of it! Rachel is an awesome person all the way around; she is energetic and full of life. I couldn't have asked for a better photographer! Rachel is a very hard worker and dedicated to making you happy! She had our engagement pictures ready 2 days after we took them and our whole wedding ready after 5 days! She is dedicated to her clients and makes sure you are 100% satisfied with your pictures. I highly recommend Rachel's work; she is awesome! Thanks Rachel for everything, we will forever be grateful for your hard work! Our wedding was a success and the pictures were phenomenal!

By Michelle Felkel

As we came to the realization that our children were growing up way too quickly, we knew it was time for a family portrait session. We looked no further than Rachel. We had seen her work in some of our friend's and family's photos and had completely fallen in love with her talent and expertise. Our experience was no different. Rachel was open and willing to get the shots we wanted which included both studio and outdoor portraits. She made our children feel so comfortable and at ease that our session felt more like an enjoyable family outing rather than a photo shoot. Rachel truly captured the love of our family as well as the unique personalities of our sweet Zachary and Lily-Katherine. Through Rachel, we now have beautiful memories that we will cherish for a lifetime. For that I am forever grateful and excitingly anticipating our next session, as my children would say, with "Mrs. Rachel".

By Caroline Thornton

My son, Cecil Robert, is turning two and I wanted a photo birthday invitation for his party. All I had to do was send Rachel a picture and tell her the theme and she took it from there. It was even better than I could have EVER imagined. She knew exactly what I wanted. The invitation looks like I paid big bucks to have it designed, but Rachel is very affordable. She does AWESOME layout and design work and she is so fast! I am so pleased with how it turned out and have received numerous compliments from those invited to the party! Rachel will definitely do all of my cards and invitations from now on! Thanks Rachel!

By Amy Kittrell

My daughter, Maddey, recently took an interest in doing pageants. Along with most pageants there is a photogenic competition. It didn't take me long to realize my amatuer snapshot was not going to measure up to all of the other girls' glamour shots. We were going to need some proffesionally done headshots. However, I wanted to make sure my daughter stayed true to who and what she was, a natural beauty, inside and out. I didn't want anything fake or glitzy. I emailed Rachel, explained to her what I wanted. Rachel emailed me back right away and set us up an appointment. I spent several hours the next day searching the internet looking for a picture like I was envisioning in my head. I could find nothing. I again emailed Rachel and told her so. I told her I hoped she could read my mind! To my surprise, she said, "No problem, this will be great". That pretty much sums up the photo shoot. She immediately made both myself and my daughter feel welcome and at home. She made Maddey feel like a princess and a movie star all in one. She knew just how to work with her and pose her. She captured so many awesome shots! My only problem now is deciding which ones to use!! I'm already working on scheduling a shoot with Rachel for my baby Saylor's two year pictures.

By Jan Smoak Rogers

Rachel did my wedding pictures in June 2008, so I have been enjoying my pictures for over a year! Of all the wedding expenses, the money I spent with Rachel was the best money that I spent! I continue to stay in touch with Rachel for more prints and more CDs.
One special feature of the package that Rachel put together for me was the CD of the wedding pictures set to beautiful music and here is why: I had a lot of children in my wedding, and for Christmas last year I gave copies of the CD. The kids love to watch the CD over and over and over again because they can see themselves!!
It was a joy to have Rachel with us on our wedding day and somehow she managed to record it all!!!

By Christine Goodwin

I just had to let you know how wonderful I thought the pictures are that you took of the three children in Beaufort. I was so sorry I could not be there, but looking at the pictures this morning, I felt like I was. You captured Joshua and Sarah Grace as I see them, and they really seemed comfortable with you, and that means so much. I really look forward to meeting you, and you can be sure that we will be asking you to memorialize more times for us in the future when we can be in SC. Thank you for sharing your gift.

By Rebecca Battle-Bryant

Rachel, There are no words to describe the emotions my family, especially my husband, experienced when they viewed the exquisite pictures you took of Vivian for our Father’s Day Surprise. No one could speak during the DVD you created of the pictures you took of Vivian.
It is evident that your gifts as a photographer and artist created magic when capturing not only the many moods of Vivian, but the full context of the scene encompassing the photograph.
You were very professional, yet created instantaneous rapport, with Vivian and me. Her comfort with you was evident by her willingness to be photographed for a several hours in intense heat.
The quality of your work and talent is beyond question. You made believers out of all of us! We will continue to ask you to capture all our special memories.

By Rebekah & Michael Felkel

Rachel, you were my obvious choice for shooting my and my husband's pictures for our engagement and wedding pictures and my bridal portraits. I don't feel comfortable having pictures taken of me, so who else would help me feel so calm and at ease with such a daunting task ahead of me? Your professionalism and courtesy were just added bonuses to your affordable pricing! :) Thank you also for being so willing to travel to our desired destinations and being thoroughly equipped for the job whatever the circumstance brought us!Excitedly looking forward to the next time we can create more memories.

The Woman Behind the Mask - A Blog By Artist Janet Kozachek

People who read my writing or look at my paintings sometimes conjure up images of what I might look and behave like. One person who read my essays for a mosaic magazine told me that she was shocked when she met me in person because she had envisioned a dowdy old woman who shuffled along in enormous orthopedic shoes and wore her grey hair twisted into a bun. Actual photographs didn’t help dispel such visions, however. I would try to dress decently and look alert for a photograph but invariably I would end up looking somewhat haggard and without a substantial amount of mental acuity. Part of the problem was that I am a person of perpetual motion and attempts to sit or stand still were awkward at best. Photographs froze my discomfort like an insect in amber - only the insect was better looking. Indeed, this is probably why I had always hidden behind my artwork. So when an article appearing in a national newsletter required the dreaded portrait photograph - I was hoping to get by with just the photographs of my paintings - I asked various friends to please take a photograph of me, lamely handing them my digital camera. After viewing the results I thought that I would try working with a creative, professional photographer. Working with Rachel Bair Ficek from Bair Prints studio changed everything. The first improvement was the change of environment - I was photographed working in my studio. Someone like Rachel who clearly understood how to pose people in various settings was a big step towards getting decent shots. Then we got creative. I mentioned to Rachel that in my interview I referred to some of the dance and yoga exercises I do to counteract all the time I spend in stillness at the computer or at the work bench. So we did some shots of yoga poses outdoors. Then we did a series of art photographs which were essentially various permutations of my becoming one with the art work. We started with my wearing one of my mosaic masks and doing dance steps and contortions with it. Then we moved on to my storage area where I cartwheeled around the room - obviously seeking to dispel the woman in the orthopedic shoes myth. I learned a lot about the aesthetics of photography from Rachel this week. I noticed that she did not adjust photographs for lens distortion but retained the bent walls and even celebrated them as part of the reality of looking at the world through the fish eye. It gave me the impression of seeing things from the bottom of a lake. Rachel was also extremely clever at lining up shapes to create lively compositions. Some of this I am certain was a result of a good photography education. The rest was what we all envy - a talent! http://kozachekart.blogspot.com/

By Janet Kozachek

Some time ago, when Rachel was doing publicity photographs for me, I mentioned my book of poetry, Monologues: Poems for a Hundred Paintings. The book, which is now complete except for the final editing, is a collection of poems for a series of square figurative paintings. Rachel gave me a photograph of her beautiful golden-haired child, Arden, to inspire my work. Finally, after some months, I looked at this photograph again and made a painting from it on an 8" x 8" panel. To capture the ephemeral delicacy of the toddler grasping for pink flowers, I chose to paint her in subtle pastel hues with tiny strokes of a palette knife. I painted thinly in areas to allow the amber color of the panel to shine through. Like most of my panel paintings, this one was labor intensive, particularly in the preparation. I used three coats of rabbit skin glue, then eight coats of marble dust gesso - polished to an ivory finish. The panel was sealed with a home-made ruby shellac which imparted a golden glow to the white gesso. I used a medium with Venice balsam in it so that the paint would be enamel-like, easy to shape and carve through. I wanted the child to look like a delicate painting on porcelain or a precious ivory keepsake. I had been studying enameling on porcelain lately and the sumptuous colors made their way into my painting. If this painting is reminiscent of Renoir then there is a connection. Renoir painted on China as a decorator before he worked in oils and his use of stippled brush work with pastel colors in his paintings reflect that. So the result of this delicate albeit anachronistic painting is not that I was looking at Renoir but that I was looking at what Renoir was looking at and saw the connection to the warm memories of babies.

Arden Bair Ficek - One Year Old

Keeping memories affordable with beautiful pictures of those special moments in your life.

Bookings

My Life Verse:

Engagements Portraits

BRIDAL PORTRAIT & WEDDING DAY PACKAGE

Moving Pictures

Invitations & Special Cards

Birth Announcements

Session Fees:

testimonial

By Lacey and Wesley McKeowen

testimonial

By Andrea Taylor

testimonial

By Michelle Felkel

testimonial

By Caroline Thornton

testimonial

By Amy Kittrell

testimonial

By Linda & Jon Wilkinson

testimonial

By Jan Smoak Rogers

testimonial

By JohnJoe & Beth Salazar

testimonial

By Christine Goodwin

testimonial

By Rebecca Battle-Bryant

testimonial

By Rebekah & Michael Felkel

testimonial

By Emily Springs Barrus

testimonial

The Woman Behind the Mask - A Blog By Artist Janet Kozachek

A Painting of the Photographer’s Child

By Janet Kozachek

Newspaper Advertisments

Bair Prints Photography