Frequently-Asked Questions
We know you have questions so we did our best to anticipate what you'd like to know! If you don't see an answer to your query, you can certainly shoot us an email! If you're interested in our photo services, email Ken here. If design is your interest, send email to Kim here!
1. Can you give me more of an idea of what you do?
Sure. Our parent company is True Focus© Group but underneath that we have two divisions, one for photography and the other for graphics/web, art, and administrative. Ken is the photographer in the family and he photograhs and sells his own stock photos to book authors, stock houses, as well as prints and canvasses. He photographs special events, does simple photo retouching, and heads up financial investments.
Kim is the artist and graphics person and what she does is very versatile. She paints digital paintings from photos that either Ken takes or customers give us. She provides our clients with graphic and web services as well as admin support. So you can say we're very busy around here!
2. Would I be working with Ken or Kim?
That would depend on if you're looking for photography stuff or you need a graphics or administrative person. If it's photography, then Ken is your person, if it's graphics or administrative, talk to Kim.
3. Your artwork on the website is beautiful, do you actually take the photos yourself and paint or do you use photos taken by other photographers?
Thank you and yes we do. We don't use other people's photos and the only time the artwork is someone other than us is when a customer comes to us to transform a photo of theirs to a painting for canvas printing. But then, the final piece becomes their property. We may use it in our portfolio to show our work but other than that, the work you see here is ours.
4. How much does it cost to hire you for my project?
That would depend on the project. If you want to purchase a photo/painting transformation done, then visit our customized canvassing page by clicking here. If you want to purchase Ken's photos, visit his photo gallery here. For stock buyers who want to purchase a photo from Ken for the purpose of using it in a book or some other media, contact him for pricing.
If your project is more administrative or graphic service-oriented, contact Kim for an estimate. Just tell us what you need and we'll contact you to discuss your job.
5. What would be the turnaround time for completion?
For ordering prints and canvasses, we ask you allow up to 4 to 6 weeks for processing, printing, and shipping. For projects, again you will have to contact us to describe your job and then we can give you an estimate.
6. How long have you been in business?
Kim has had her own thing for a lot longer, since 1999. Ken joined on full-time in 2006, so I guess you can say we've been around the block a long time!
7. Why should I choose True Focus© Group when there are free software that can do the job I need?
While yes, there are free services out there and software for consumers to create graphics, websites, and what not and we're not knocking them, we've even tried a few of them ourselves. But, what we found was the control for producing a decent website is out of your hands and there are limitations to using certain features.
Also, though you don't have to have a background in graphics, it does help to know and understand HTML, graphic design terminology, and photo terms. Finally, if you design your website on a free service, then your files sit on their servers even if you buy your own domain. So what happens if that company's servers go down because a storm hit their area? Your website goes down with it! And, if the company goes out of business you could likely lose your files forever if you don't have a backup. With us, we back up your files and give them to you so you can take them anywhere you please.
Another example is that using software that you can print your own flyers, newsletters and what not is tricky when it's time to print. It is a totally different animal when you design something to when you print it. We've had customers that designed a cute flyer but the printer they chose couldn't print it right because the technology from the software didn't match the printer's equipment. This is a common challenge for consumers who are not graphical professionals.
Since this is what we do for a living, we take the headaches out by working with our customers to give them what they need and the work belongs to them when we're done. And, we also give our customers individualized attention making the partnership more friendly and smooth.
8. What would you need from me to work on my project?
If your project is website-related, you can visit the web division page here to review what we need from our customers. We normally ask that you give us as much detail about your project and what you hope to accomplish so that we'll know how we can help you. We thoroughly consult with every customer so that we can work through all the steps before we start any project.
9. Do you design websites?
No we do not, but we have can refer you if you need this service. What we do is take your existing website and nourish it by keeping the content updated to increase recurring traffic and we manage the site to ensure it's working properly at all times.
10. I'm interested in buying camera equipment, how does your camera store work?
It is powered through Amazon.com and you can simply click on the item you're interested in and add it to the cart just like you would shop on other online stores. When you're done shopping, just click the view cart link to check out and purchase your item. Amazon will send you an email confirmation and receipt of your order with shipping details. Also, when new camera and photo equipment is added, our store will reflect that. If you would like to receive email updates when new equipment is added, visit the camera store and sign up for updates and we'll add you to our mailing list.
11. Do you guys shoot portraiture or weddings?
We do photograph special events such as corporate luncheons and what not. We also photograph nature and scenic photos for home and office decor and sell those in prints, canvasses, and gallery wrap to photo buyers, consumers, and business owners for home and office decor.
If you're interested in booking us for an upcoming event or you want to learn more about our special events package, click here. We do not photograph weddings or other portraiture work at this time.
12. Do you always keep a copy of my finished projects in your files?
Yes we do, just in case anything should happen and a customer needs to come back to us to retrieve project files.
13. What if I have a rush job?
That's no problem, however there is a fee of 10% which is added to the total agreed-upon project amount.
14. What are your hours?
We are open Monday - Friday 8 AM - 6 PM ET and closed on Sundays and all major holidays. Our photo eStores are open 24 hours a day for purchases, customer support is 9 AM - 6 PM ET Monday - Saturday and closed on Sundays and holidays.
15. What is the best way to contact you?
The easiest and fastest way to contact us is via email. We carefully and constantly monitor our email system and normally we respond between 24 - 48 hours to every inquiry. Visit our contact page to email us.
16. How does your payment structure work? Is there a deposit that must be placed down to hire you?
If you want to hire Ken to photograph your special event, we have a written agreement that is both signed by Ken and the customer and it outlines the total cost along with the specifics. He discusses payment with the client in the consultation session. If you want to hire Kim for a project, you can email her for an estimate. She also is available to work with on retainer.
17. Can you explain more about your graphic services? I see you mention layout design, what exactly is that?
Layout design is a specialty of graphic design that we decided to go into early in 2009. We found that the majority of our customers came to us with materials that another designer had created but they needed these documents whether it was brochure or presentation, updated or maintained as in a newsletter. This market has not really been tapped into and so we delved into it hands down. That being said, we decided to scale back on designing marketing materials from scratch but we do still produce some graphic work. Feel free to visit our design division for a complete listing of the work we do.
18. Do you have a portfolio of your design work?
Yes. To view our entire design portfolio, click here!
19. If I want to use your images for publication, how much is it and how many times can I use it?
All our images whether photo or art, are protected under federal U.S. copyright laws.
If you wish to use any of our images or artwork for any editorial, publication, or promotion,
please contact us for rights usage fees.
Still have questions? Contact us and we'll do all we can to help you!
