Venture photography

[louise2011]

'Won' a sitting & 7x5 photo. My friend had photos done with them & they really are beautiful. I nearly keeled over when she told me her order came to £850!

I really want to get some lovely pics of my children & also of DH & I before we become too decrepit!! I would love them to touch pics up so I look young & beautiful. (this may take some time).

I have spent an evening looking at lots of local photographers work & haven't been impressed with many. I few I liked seem to charge a fortune even for the sitting!

Question is- can you really just take your free photo or is this impossible to do? Will I need to take out a bank loan to fund these pictures?

[ViviPru]

Its a swizz. They give out 'free' photo shoots then you have to spend a fortune on prints. Local photographers will generally include the price of a disc of hi-res images for you to share online and arrange buying your own prints.

[HoneyandHaycorns]

We had a venture photoshoot a few years ago, having "won" a free photo. We never attended the viewing session afterwards because the salespeople were so obnoxious. They insisted that dd could not attend the viewing, but refused to allow just one of us to look at the pictures. Clearly, they feel that the hard sell works best with both partners present.

If you're really confident that you can withstand the high pressure sales techniques, then go ahead and get your free print. But be aware that quite a lot of people I know have been pressured into spending hundreds of pounds that they couldn't really afford.

IMO, the prices are outrageous. And having seen how this company operates, I personally wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

[GhastlyBespoke]

It's damn near impossible to take just the free photo.

We had a photographer come to the house to take ours. The kids were very relaxed on the surroundings and the price was reasonable. I think this was because he was just setting out, making his name and building a portfolio so I took a bit of a chance with him.

They were great though. It is possible. If you specifically want Ventura style photos you may have to prepared to pay Ventura prices.

[ViviPru]

They're naff as the naffest naff thing too

[GhastlyBespoke]

Venture/ Ventura? Whatever they're called

[UmmOfUmbridge]

I love mine. We got a big collage done but you can get smaller prints cheaper. I was impressed by the quality, it's like a work of art! Once in a lifetime thing for us. We're not rich but now we've stopped having babies (at 5) and with the eldest approaching 16 we wanted something special. The dc all had a great time posing too!

[HoneyandHaycorns]

Can I ask how much you paid, umm?

[UmmOfUmbridge]

I don't care who thinks they're naff either! I love looking at it which is all that matters :)

[jaggythistle]

we have our a4 sized desk frame and that's all.

the photos look pretty, but i was so outraged to see the price list that i was determined to tell them to feck off before the viewing (slide show with emotional music while you watch your beautiful dc).

the only way to buy the photos is at a viewing session and the prices are just stupid. you can only buy them framed. you only see a price list after the photo shoot.

we got our voucher as a 'corporate gift' when buying something else.

wouldn't go near them on purpose.

[louise2011]

Thanks everyone, think I may give it a miss. My DCs are gorgeous & know any photographer should be able to get nice shots. It was ME I was worried about! I will need a lot of touching up. Shouldn't be so vain but tired of looking at rough photos of myself. Not about to put us on a beans & toast diet for the next year to fund it though

[HoneyandHaycorns]

Think I read somewhere - probably on MN - that they insist both halves of a couple attend the viewing because they believe that the female will be seduced by the sales pitch but will need to get permission from her DH before agreeing to buy.

[JasperJohns]

They are so naff - contrived and a total rip off.

[UmmOfUmbridge]

I'm embarrassed by how much we paid!! We has been given some money from fil so used that. It was £1300. We did get carried away but when someone shows you beautiful pics of your dc it's so hard to say no! We got a disk with all the images too.
I've had pictures done by local photographers and there's no comparison IMO.

Bloody hell I sound like I work for them! I don't! And like I said, it's not something we will ever do again, but I was delighted with the finished airbrushed article.

[HoneyandHaycorns]

£1300

I'm bloody glad you like them so much!

[UmmOfUmbridge]

I know... I've never even admitted the price to my Mum.... She loves it too but she'd kill me!

[Tryharder]

Avoid like the plague.

A lot of photographers nowadays do this sort of work at about 1/3 of the cost. I had a session done with Venture years ago and was shocked at the hard sell and emotional blackmail. The photos are bog standard and massively overpriced. Do not go near.

[HoneyandHaycorns]

Don't worry umm, we won't tell.

[sweetheart]

Can I ask where about's in the country you live? A friend of mine is now a freelance photographer but used to work for Venture. If you are local I'd be happy to recommend her.

[loubloutwinmum]

We used them about 6 years ago when my DTD's were 2.5 and we were bought a gift voucher for £500 as a present. The images were really lovely but the prices were very very high! We ended up spending another £600 on top of the £500 voucher. Although very pleased with the images, would not use them again.

We recently had a photo shoot with a local photographer, who came to our house but used lights and back drop and the photos were amazing. She only charged £50 for the session and the print prices ranged from £25. We splurged £200 on a large framed print we fell in love with. But I would not use venture again and any decent photographer can touch up images and get the same "look" as venture. The photographer we used said Venture franchises are closing down all the time - hardly surprising. Hope you find a good photographer and get some lovely pictures without breaking the bank!

[valiumredhead]

Any decen photographer can do similar style photos for a fraction of the price.

[valiumredhead]

decent

[pootlebug]

Their ethics are atrocious....

Give out free or cheap sessions in shopping centres etc - to anyone who has kids. Slushy music and emotional blackmail when it comes to the 'Viewing' of your photos. Payment plans over time so that people can 'afford' ridiculously overpriced pictures that they can't really afford. Bleugh. Avoid like the plague.

[notso]

For the cost of the venture pictures you could hire a body double, get the £5.99 Max Spielman photo package and still have change for plenty of wine and cake

I really don't see the appeal of them, they just seem like too close, off centre or 'jauntily' posed photographs on a white background.
If you ring a another photographer and ask for this I'm sure most would do it for you.

[yellowraincoat]

I find it so weird that people want professional photos of their family in some contrived grinny grinny pose.

Utterly surreal.

[parttimedomesticgoddess]

I would think about signing up for Groupon offers. The only thing you have to 'put up with' is an email or 2 each day with the offers of the day. In the last 12 months, I have seen 3 or 4 offers from local photographers who offer 'Venture style' photos and the Groupon prices have usually been around £25 for the session and 5 or so prints...