It started as a dream. To do something he loved, and to be able to provide a living for his family through his passion. It became reality through Treasured Moments Photography and has been for almost 25 years.
Adam started shooting professionally in the early 90’s, learning on the job and beginning to master the craft that would prove to be a lifelong career. It was a rough road for a few years as he perfected the art of “in-home” photography of infants. He would photograph the tiniest, and youngest of babies just as they were getting used to their new homes. It was one of the hardest things he would ever have to learn as a professional photographer. After 3 years of working for several baby photography studios, learning everything he could from the artistic side and the business side, he decided to branch out on his own. He was meagerly confident and completely terrified. Everything he had done until then was in the customer’s home and he realized it limited the number of people he could see in a day. He wanted to increase the daily number of clients he could service, and his pursuit of this idea would change his future and the way he photographed his customers.
One day while driving down the 405 freeway, in Tustin, California, he decided to get off at the Jamboree exit and take a look inside the Babies R Us store that was enigmatically staring at him every time he drove by. It was a huge store! The parking lot was packed. And young families were shoulder to shoulder, navigating the endless number of aisles dedicated to babies. To Adam’s surprise, there was no photography studio. No photo booth. Not a word about photography services anywhere. And the employees working at the baby registry did not have any referrals for photographers either. That same day Adam was able to speak with the store manager. The manager, knowing how valuable foot traffic was, was extremely interested in the number of additional customers that TMP could generate for his store. After explaining that the families would take pictures inside the Babies R Us store and then, on another day, return to the store to purchase the pre-printed packages, TMP, was given the green light. The rest is history.
The first photo shoot in that Tustin, Babies R Us store had 8 customers, the next one had 20 and the one after that had over 40 customers. Word got out. Soon, Treasured Moments Photography was photographing 80+ customers in a weekend at that store. And for years, every Babies R Us store that opened in Southern California after that would call TMP to offer the same service to their customers. At one time, TMP was offering mobile photography services from Calabasas to San Diego, every weekend at a different location, with multiple photography and sales crews, each with their own assignment. It was the heyday for the baby photography business, as it was never done before in Southern California. Treasured Moments Photography was paving the way.
Then came digital. As the technology made its way to the mainstream, many film photography studios had to re-invent themselves, and many of us saw their demise. Transitioning from film to digital was not an easy task but digital was not going away. If you were a photographer, you had to embrace it or close shop because of it. It was an especially challenging time for smaller studios. TMP was one of the few survivors. They figured it out, re-inventing themselves over and over again, several times along the way. At one point, they were told that they would not be able to service the Babies R Us stores any longer because Kiddie Kandids signed a contract with the large chain. The plan was for Kiddie Kandids to put their studios in all their 100+ Babies R Us Stores across the United States. They tried to hire Adam to run all their west coast installations but did not make him an offer that was worth considering. They were never able to install even ½ of the in-store studios they had been contracted to build and eventually, Kiddie Kandids filed for bankruptcy. Less than a decade later, Babies R Us had the same fate.
One of the newer and stronger marketing strategies of TMP was the idea of offering family portrait school fundraisers. This time, he wanted to keep it local, as Adam had started a family and wanted to stay closer to home. The fundraisers grew exponentially year after year for almost a decade at local schools in the South Bay. The studio would donate a portion of the sitting fee and a percentage of the sales back to each school. It was a no brainer. Originally, it started as a parent booking appointments on paper and collecting the sitting fees from families for a one-day fundraiser at a single location. As it evolved, it became what it is today, where sittings can be booked online at any one of the many beautiful locations in the South Bay, on any day, and the school still gets credit. And now, in an ever-changing world, they continue to adjust. Many sessions can be booked online throughout the entire year and of course, private sessions and specialized photography services can be booked by calling the studio directly. TMP is very accessible. This is a full-time operation. This is their day job.
Along the way, Treasured Moments Photography expanded services to include graduates, weddings, special events, head shots, modeling, sports, school, and product photography. Some of his clients were photographed as preschoolers and again as seniors in high school. Volume is not a problem either, as TMP has photographed as many as 1500 children in a single day. This is important as school photography and sports leagues require larger platforms and a solid infrastructure. But the dedication to creativity and the drive to capture more beautiful images than ever always has him yearning to capture the next wedding as well. It's a place that knows no bounds where beauty love and be immortalized.
With their own house printing facility, the quality and turnaround time elevates Treasured Moments Photography to be one of the premier photography studios in the greater Los Angeles area. It is a small business that treats everyone like they are a big deal. And in today's day and age of constant change, pivoting at a moment’s notice, has more value than ever before. Treasured Moments Photography is nimble enough to accommodate just about any request and big enough to deliver under the strictest constraints and deadlines.
Now, a respected, a seasoned, professional photographer, Adam Almeida and his staff are willing to take on just about any event, service or photo shoot and back it up with the quality, expertise and customer service that is bar none. Their goal is always to exceed their customers’ expectations, one click at a time, and have every customer be a customer for life.