LIBBY
GARGANO

I am located in Fort Dodge, IA!

Since I specialize in multiple genres of photography, I offer a variety of packages. You can find all of my pricing + packages on each correlating page of my website.

My turnaround time depends on a couple things: what kind of session you’ve booked and if it’s busy season. I pride myself on delivering beautiful, thoughtfully curated galleries as quickly as possible while still maintaining my work boundaries. Typical turnaround times range anywhere from 7-25 days for sessions and 4-8 weeks for weddings, but you will receive a more clear timeframe when you book.

The Grey Collective is a safe and supportive place for the LGBTQIA+ community, for BIPOC, for women, for all marginalized communities. I always have and I always will stand against sexism, racism, fascism, homophobia, transphobia, and hate. And I will never shy away or feel as though because I am a business I shouldn’t be sharing “personal” or “political” things. This isn’t political. I am a photographer and a business, but I am also a person, and if you don’t want to see the human side of me then I certainly am not the photographer for you. My business is me and I am my business. And I will always do whatever I can to create a community here that knows they are safe, celebrated, important, and cared for.

My photography style is warm, cozy, heartfelt, and deeply family-oriented. I really try to embrace natural light whenever and wherever I can, especially that golden glow during outdoor evening sessions. I truly love focusing on genuine connections. Letting natural interactions, like letting kids be kids, be at the heart of my style so the emotion in my work is real and relatable.

My color palette remains pretty consistent whether it's an outdoor session or studio session, with a preference for earthy tones, soft neutrals, and warm lighting, but I'm never afraid to step outside of my comfort zone and work with color!

I'm a big fan of making sure to capture the polished smiles and the candid and playful joy.

Throughout the last 8 + years of running this business, I have photographed everything you can think of.

As I’ve grown and established myself a bit more, I’ve realized that doing it all is not for me. So I really tried to figure out what I’m the most passionate about photographing.

Babies: whether it’s a maternity session, newborn session, or Fresh 48…I absolutely love everything about documenting this season of life for families.

Families: I truly love working with families that have children, however, families in any form are welcome: extended families, all grown adults, blended families, etc.

Boudoir + Self Love:
This is something that is near and dear to me as self love + body positivity is something I’ve struggled with as a plus size queen all my life. Helping women feel empowered and beautiful fills up my cup immensely!

Weddings: Those who have been following me for awhile know that I used to take on 25-30 weddings a year. Since starting my own family though, it’s become extremely important to soak up as much time with them as possible, especially while my kiddos are little and at home. Weddings take me away from home a lot and for longer periods of time, and while I do love to be a part of so many special days, I have cut back quite a bit. I am only taking on 4-6 weddings per year so I can spend more time with my husband + girls.

Other: I occasionally take on creative branding/headshot sessions and plan out holiday/seasonal minis each year.

A few things off the top of my head:

The experience and results I offer are unlike any other options in/around Fort Dodge.

I’ve been Voted Best Photographer in The Messenger’s Reader’s Choice Awards 3 years in a row (2022, 2023, 2024).

I tend to think I do a good job of making everyone feel comfortable and welcome at their sessions.

I absolutely thrive in “chaos” when it comes to children. While parents might feel stressed that their kids aren’t “cooperating” and won’t stop running around, that’s exactly what I enjoy about my sessions. I don’t want them to be statues with forced smiles. I want fun, interaction, dance parties, tickle fights, booty-bumping, and all of the real moments!

I want to be personal and relatable. I don’t think a photographer should be strictly business professional. I often share tidbits of my personal life on my social media pages + also openly and proudly vocalize my stances on certain topics that others find controversial. I am my business and my business is me. I want us to get to know each other so we can feel comfy around each other and have a relaxed yet fun session.

I give previews to every single client within 2-4 days of their session.

I give full printing rights with everything I offer. I do not force anyone to buy products through me, but will give a list of labs I highly recommend when I send your finished gallery.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE what I do and am so happy that I feel passionate about who I’m taking on as clients + what I’m photographing.

All of my clients will receive digital galleries with full print release as their final product. Unless you are booking a boudoir session or a special mini session, I do not cap the amount of photos you receive. I basically give clients all of the good ones. On average...if you were to book a half session, I would tell you the minimum would be 30-45 images and if it were a full session, I'd tell you the minimum would be 65-80 images. It honestly depends on so much and each client's session is so different. Weddings, I always say to ballpark 50-75 photos per hour, but again, it depends on so much throughout your big day.

I offer a variety of “mini sessions” throughout the year. These particular sessions are discounted from my standard pricing for a few reasons: they are a shorter session (typically 15-20 minutes), the turnaround time for the finished gallery is usually a week or less, there’s a cap on the amount of photos clients will receive, and I offer a limited amount of spots for these.

You can expect motherhood minis, personality minis, fall minis, and holiday minis every year. And occasionally some other options.

I also sometimes post for model calls if I’m needing to advertise for something I’m going to be offering, have a creative spark / vision I want to fulfill, etc. These are always heavily discounted. Watch for these specials and model calls on my social media pages.

I require a signed contract and a 50% nonrefundable retainer for everything I offer. After that I'm more than willing to put the remaining balance on a payment plan. Otherwise the final balance for sessions is due 24 hours prior to the scheduled session and for weddings: one month prior.

Step one: Make sure you’ve looked over my portfolio and social media so you know what my work looks like. You can also always ask to view a finished gallery if you’d like! Feel free to read a little bit about who I am and about the experience I offer my clients. If all of that looks good to you + you connect with it all/me then…
Step two: View my pricing + packages, make sure what you're looking for fits your budget.
And finally…
Step three: Fill out the contact form or send me a direct email to get the party started! Once you submit the form, you can expect to hear back from me within 24-48 hours.