The short answer–yes.

But since this is a blog about photographing your children on your own with what you already have (for me, my trusty point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot SD110), I feel I have to justify why I would advocate lugging your kids down to the neighborhood photography studio for some professional portraits. (Read: the long answer.)

From the time my daughter was born, I had grand visions of getting her all dolled up and having studio portraits taken to document her growth. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of documenting going on at Flickr, but I think I also wanted more of a milestone marker every few months than what I was doing on my own.

Here’s the truth though. You get what you pay for, folks. Yep, you heard it from me first. I researched all kinds of options, and while I would have loved to have a professional photographer shoot Sophia at a fancy studio or a beautiful park, our budget leaned more towards one of those family photo factories from which we seem to get coupons in the mail every week.

I decided to try out our local Sears Portrait Studio for an inexpensive solution to documenting Sophia’s growth at three, six, nine and twelve months. And I have to say, the price was right.

This isn’t a full report, as I only tried Sears and not all the many similar studios, such as JC Penny, Target or even The Picture People. And it wasn’t for lack of magazine and mail coupons, I can assure you. It was primarily due to the convenience factor — there’s a Sears around the corner from my house. But I have a feeling the experience would be somewhat similar in all of these locations.

There are pros and cons to visiting these kinds of studios. So before you go, continue reading to find out if this kind of photography is what you’re looking for.
Pros:

As I mentioned before, the price is definitely right. These studios try to lure you in with things like seasonal promotions, offers of no sitting fees, free 8×10 with purchase and portrait sheets as low as $2.99. You really aren’t going to find deals like that with a more intimate, professional photographry studio, so this is a great solution if you already take a lot of photographs of your child on your own and just want to add some professional-looking photos to the mix without a huge price tag.

Another pro is the ease of the whole process. I can call even the day before I want an appointment and usually get right in at my desired time. And at Sears (again, not so sure about the other places since my experience is just with Sears) they shoot digitally, so you choose your photos right from the computer screen. They can crop or add vignettes or sepia right there (all for an extra charge, of course). And because they shoot digitally, I can go online once I get home and order more from the comfort of my own home and without a pesky sales person to deal with.

Cons:

I am such a sucker for those gimmicky backdrops and props. I knew when I put Sophia in front of the fall leaves (see photo above) or the spring flowers (see photo left) that it would look cheesy. But I still couldn’t resist. There is something about those crazy backdrops that appeals to me, however much I know I should just opt for all plain backgrounds for a timeless look. But, like my brother said when he saw some of her 6-month portraits, “She could easily be a baby being photographed in the 1970s.” In fact, I was probably photographed in front of some of those same backdrops! I’m such a sucker for kitsch.

Another disadvantage to going to the budget-friendly studios is that you never know who you’re going to get to photograph your child. In my case, they have always been very young and relatively inexperienced photographers who thankfully had the forsight to simply take tons of pictures of my daughter to ensure I would find at least one I liked. I lucked out with a couple of these photographers, and struck out with a couple, too. Luckily, my daughter smiles mostly on command, so that helps matters a lot. But you really are going to get better shots and poses from a more seasoned and professional photographer. Like I said, you get what you pay for.

Overall though, I’d have to recommend a trip to one of these studios, but mostly if you are patient and willing to deal with coupons. I’m pleased with my daughter’s portraits, even if I did choose cheesy backgrounds at times. No matter what though, kids are cute, so document this precious time whenever and however you can — goofy props and all!

The portraits pictured are from Sophia’s photo shoots at Sears during her 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th months. More here.