Frequently Asked Questions

All of my booking for family, maternity, newborn, and other portraits is done securely online on my booking page.

On the booking page you can automatically find a date for your session, sign your contract, answer some questions for your photographer, and pay your retainer. Your 50% retainer fee is non-refundable and is required upon booking. Your final payment is due the day of your session. 

It depends! My focus is on the look you want to create with your images. If you have family land or a location close to your heart, that is meaningful and I would love to take images there. If you don't have a strong opinion, I'll send you a list of three country or city options to choose from to make your choice easy.

All of my sessions are all-inclusive. This means that is the set amount you are going to pay for your session no matter what. However, there are sometimes special or extreme circumstances that require additional fees.

Travel Fees: Client agrees to pay Photographer a travel fee of $0.67 per mile for travel extending beyond 60 miles (120 mile round trip) of the zip code 66002. Any travel extending beyond 60 miles of the zip code 66002 shall incur additional fees for transportation, lodging, and per diems for each travel day to be determined by Photographer and invoiced to Client.

Late Fees: Any invoice not paid in full within 5 days of receipt will be charged a $75.00 late fee and will accrue an additional 1% of the unpaid invoice amount every day thereafter.

Additional edits: As the photographer, I enhance images through corrections to contrast, lighting, color, and light skin editing according to my artistic style. Clients may request up to 5 images to receive one round of additional complimentary edits after seeing the delivered images. Any additional editing requests beyond that will be charged $150.00 per hour by photographer and the edited images will not be released to client until the invoice for additional edits is paid.

Payment methods accepted: Credit • Debit • PayPal • Check • Cash

Online payments with debit, credit, or PayPal accounts are preferred; however, there is an option on the booking page to mark "pay with check" or "pay cash" at checkout. If you select one of those options, you will be emailed instructions on how to complete your payment.

All photos taken by Christa Rieger (d/b/a Storyweaver Studio, LLC) and all digital images are its property, will remain its property, and are protected by United States Copyright Laws (USC Title 17). Clients hereby waive any claims for ownership, income, editorial control, and commercial use of the images. However, Storyweaver grants Client and Client’s agents, including family and friends, a limited, personal photo release of the images which gives them the right to reproduce the images provided for their personal use only and does not allow the images to be altered, sold or published, including, but not limited to, entering into contests or submitting to online blogs or publications, without the express written consent of Photographer. 

I will send you a style guide and it will help you get a general idea of colors and textures. I strongly encourage you to talk with me and allow me to help you with wardrobe. This help is included in your package. Wardrobe can make a session go from good to amazing and I want you to have the best session possible.

I recommend you allow adequate time so that you arrive on time. Your shoot time is just that, your time. Being late deducts from your shoot time. If you have a 60-minute session at 6:00pm but show up at 6:15, you have 45 minutes of shoot time remaining. It’s simple as that.

If you are 20 minutes late, your session will be considered a cancelled and your retainer and session fee will be forfeited.

Outdoor Sessions: If bad weather makes it impossible to take great photos, the photographer may choose to move the session to a different location or reschedule. The photographer will decide based on the weather forecast and will let the client know at least 6 hours in advance. If the client chooses to proceed in poor weather, the photographer will do their best but cannot guarantee the quality of the images. 

Indoor Sessions: If the session is indoors at the Studio (515 Commercial St, Suite B, Atchison, KS 66002), the photographer will continue as planned, no matter the weather. The only exception is if dangerous conditions make it unsafe for the photographer or client to travel to the studio.

Clients can reschedule their session for any reason as long as they give at least 7 days' notice. To do this, they must send an email and make sure the photographer confirms receiving it. The new session date must be within a month of the original date, depending on the photographer’s availability. Each client gets one free reschedule. After that, any additional reschedules will cost $200. If the client does not give at least 7 days' notice, they will have to pay the full balance, and the session will be considered canceled with no option to reschedule.

At any given time I am communicating with multiple clients (during busy season it could be 40 at a time). Email is a fantastic way for me to make sure each client gets the same information at the right time in the process.

Of course I love hearing from returning and new clients via phone! I just prefer phone calls and in person meetings to happen closer to your session so I can serve each client well with the time I have. Please limit your texts or phone calls to weekdays from 8:30am-3:30pm if possible.