Church Pictorial was founded in 2004 by Charlotte based photographer Sean Rivinus. Sean had been a hobbyist photographer for 22 years. In 2003 he had started taking his passion for photography and turned it into a full time business. He came across the Church Directory market after he had been working for one of the national directory companies and felt there was a better, more efficient and cost effective way to produce directories for churches. Using his experience with the national company, he went about to create a program that addresses three main challenges to the churches.

The first challenge is the amount of time volunteers had to spend organizing members and then registering members on the picture days. To help alleviate this, he decided that Church Pictorial would do all of the scheduling for participating churches. This includes registrations on picture days. No more trying to find volunteers to work 8 hours days, for free, during the week.

The second challenge was the amount of time families spend waiting to get photographed on their picture days. The national company he worked for scheduled families at 10 minute intervals and it was not uncommon for wait times to exceed 45 minutes after a scheduled appointment. One of Sean's pet peeves is being on time. Since we are doing to the scheduling, we can assure there is enough time planned between appointments so families are photographed in a timely manner.

The last challenge is the sales or presentation piece. A church directory company pays for the complimentary directories through sales. Most churches understand this and members usually expect that they will be offered the opportunity to purchase portraits. However, most people don't need a $300 package. We would rather have everyone purchase a little bit vs. trying to get just a few people to purchase big items. We tell all of our participating families our pricing up front. This allows them to make an informed decisions as to their portrait needs. Our smallest print price is $20.00 and that includes taxes and shipping charges. Our most expensive item is a 16x20 Framed composite print at $149.00.

We know that that with these three challenges addressed, that churches will have a more enjoyable experience with their directory programs. If you want a turnkey program, with a local contact and personalized attention, then we know that Church Pictorial is the company for you.