To think Venture's prices are daylight robbery?

[Olifin]

I mean the 'artwork' they produce looks pretty good, I'll agree, but...with prices starting at £500ish (and most are double that) for what are essentially just photographs...sheesh!

We only had a shoot because we had a voucher for the session + one print. Can't wait to see her face next week when we tell her we have no intention of spending any money whatsoever

Cynical b*stards. Hate they way they try to make friends with you; getting you in for a slideshow, complete with emotive music, designed to make you want to buy.

Bet there are some MNetters with Venture 'artwork' on their walls. Is it really worth the money, do you think?

Millions of threads on this.

Common vs not

Rip-off vs not

I've got friends who were in exactly the same situation as you. NO WAY were they going to buy any more than their free print (which is titchy btw). They ended up spending £1500.

They can't even talk about it now, have had to bury it deep within themselves.

Good luck!

We managed to only come out with the free print

It's lovely, as were lots of the others, but we just weren't prepared to spend that much cash on pics, especially when we were planning more children and would forever have the "but where am I Mummy?" from the younger ones when the pic was up on our wall forever - not putting it away when it costs that much!

we too managed to have just the free print was is nice but nothing special.

It was actually easy to not buy them as they weren't actually that great

you can pay in bits on a payment plan.my only advice is dont go for the blardy album-it'll sit on a shelf teasing you for years to come saying 'i cost a fortune,now look at me sitting here'!

we had dh,the 3 dc and me done.

then more recently as a mothers day gift myself and my 3 sisters took my mum off for a session-they spent a fortune-i spent nothing!(still in shock from first experience!)

photos are good quality but you can get just as good by smaller studio and ask them to turn up contrastand its £100's cheaper!

We had one done for my dh 40th birthday of the 5 of us. I love it, it's beautiful and I'll bequeth it to one of the kids when I snuff it.

I did have to sell one of my kidneys to pay for it, but hey, who needs 2 kidneys anyway.

It would cost you less to take up a photography course and then take the photos of your DC's sat against a white background with great lighting yourself! And if you can work photoshop aswell, even better!

Ahhh squeaver, thanks, hadn't seen any previous threads.

I KNOW I'll probably want some of the pics but it ain't gonna happen. Nearly at overdraft limit, credit card maxed out and we have no savings! Definitely not doing a long-term payment plan for a bleddy photograph.

We'll just take the freebie and scarper. Waste of time anyway; DD had a tantrum and I am just about the least comfortable person there is in front of a camera so it'll be interesting to see if they've actually managed to get a couple of decent shots!

OMG!!!!

YANBU

im never staring at there ad stand in town again!! thats disgusting!!

I thought the £300 I just paid was ridiculous but thats for six pictures and the shoot!

bratley- great idea. Funnily enough, I've just had my birthday and among my pressies was a place on a Photography course and a subscription to a Photography mag! OH is a graphic designer and therefore an absolute pro with Photoshop. We'll see if we can give Venture a run for their money!

We paid £1200 for a big block print and 2 desk photos.At the time I thought what a rip-off but as time goes by and the children get older the pictures are of more and more sentimental value.

We went to a local photo studio - similar set up but the pictures were absolutely beautiful, amazingly good. The guy was incredibly talented and very quickly got us all relaxed and unselfconscious, took some fabulous shots.

Prices were a bit hair-raising but nothing like what Venture charge - they began from £200.

We did buy a big block canvas one of DD in her fairy dress (about £400) because it was so lovely, but we also had the option (which we took up) to buy a CD with all the photos on it. Cost about £300 because we'd bought a 'proper' picture (would have been £600 odd otherwise), the photographer himself recommended that we go via photobox and get them printed off, as it would cost less. The CD also came in a box that had a free print inside it and we got a free photo as well.

Perhaps there's someone local to you who could do the same? (and if you're in Essex I heartily recommend the Epping Portrait studio!)

Best bet is to get the photos done (not by Venture) and then have them printed yourself.

There are about 100 different companies that will do it for you, and once you have the photos the canvases etc. are essentially a commodity.

Had a fab shoot with company called matabooboo - 30 mins and some really great shots. Then paid £150 for all the photos (there were 80 plus) and we can put them onto whatever we like.
Couldn't recommend them enough but think they may only do the south east. x

venture pics are gorgeous and have to admit i have one!
spent about 650 on it and it will live on my wall for forever - cant possibly afford to take it down!
we had it done nearly 3 years ago and its a gorgeous pic of us and really shows my kids personalities (crazy and serious).
weve had other pics done since which have cost a fraction of venture and were great but venture pic is def better

by the way... dont know how true but i was told by another photographer that venture make frames and as a way of selling them they have the photo side too!

I have them, and I have to say, I truly adore them!

Yes, they're very expensive but my God, they're so beautiful. Mine are worth every penny to me

I used to work for Venture. I did Venture Direct which was the home parties offered to customers (who had spent money, not the ones who only took their freebies!!!).

I first heard of Venture when I was pregnant with DS1 when I "won" a voucher after filling in a form in the local supermarket. We went along for the shoot when DS1 was 13 days old & ended up paying £795, which we paid on a payment plan, for an absolutely amazing image of him.

It was after this that I started working for them.

I had only been there 3 months when I got married. As a gift, the other staff clubbed together and gave us £100, plus the owner of the studio offered us a free shoot & as many pics as we wanted from the shoot at cost price.

We ended up with £2000 worth of images (about 4 or 5 pics) for £200 !!!!

So, therefore YANBU to think that Venture's prices are daylight robbery.

BTW - The 7x5 image they give away as the "freebie" supposedly retailing at £95 (it was £75 when I worked there 5 years ago) actually only costs a couple of quid to produce & the tacky black frame it comes in (again, when I worked there, you got a choice of colour) only costs £10 !!

ActivityApple - Venture do employ photographers, but they also employ salespeople. The photographers don't usually do the viewings of the images, this is the job of the salespeople, so your statement is incorrect.
Just wanted to point that out having worked for them.

We had a free voucher for a print with them when dh bought his car.
Alarm bells rang when they wanted me to secure the appointment with a credit card, when I asked why when this was a free voucher sitting, they gave me some shit and I cancelled it and told them what I thought.

The fact that they stand in Asda's and target those with less money is also something that pisses me off, I have often seen them telling young mums how they can do a payment plan to pay for it.

Now i just sneer at them whenever I see a stall, its either than or I say 'fuck off you skanky bastards' so I think the former is better

I cannot believe people are idiotic enough to spend so much money on photographs, and to have the cost on credit.

I used to work for an (independent) photographer, and the costs of the photos/production/mounts etc is absolutely minimal. Of course there is a mark up to me made, however to spend this much is mad.

You would be far better off going down the independent route, choose someone who is BIPP accredited and say you want photos Venture style. It will be far cheaper, and you will get a far better qualified and experienced photograoher, as opposed to (mainly) inexperienced Venture photographers.

YANBU.

We were offered a free shoot & print but never went cos we knew it would just be a hard sell and we couldn't afford their stuff anyway.

FWIW this weekend we had a photoshoot with a lovely lady who does them a couple of weekends every 3 months (she hires a room at the Royal Armouries and sets up a white area for the pics). It cost £30 for a 20min session, including a cd of ALL the pics and a letter from her releasing the copyright so you can get them printed anywhere you like. They are just as nice as the Venture ones I've seen and affordable enough to have done more than once.

mosschops30 - The reason Venture ask for a credit card (and this should have been explained to you) is because, believe it or not, they are actually very busy, so therefore charge £25 if you fail to turn up to your appointment or give less than 24 hours notice of cancellation.

This £25 was always then offered back to you in credit at the time of viewing your images if and when you re-booked your appointment.

Hope that clears this up. I agree that their prices are extortionate, but they are not out to scam you and if people didn't actually pay their prices, they wouldn't still be in business.

Also, for those of you who have actually had a Venture session, I'm sure you will agree with me that although they do tell you the options of the different size prints & payment plan etc, they do also let you know that you are in no way obliged to buy anything. It is not the hard sell those of you who haven't been seem to think it is.

I hate Venture photos. I think they're tacky and formulaic, as well as massively overpriced. We had photos taken of our DTs when they were about 7 months, and the photographer came to our house, spent about an hour playing with them, and then, when they were comfortable with him, followed them around with a camera for another half hour or so. The resulting shots were beautiful - natural, unposed and really showed their personalities. They are wonderful, and I love them. We paid £50 for two 10x8 pics, and my sister bought us a third. We were not charged for the actual session. I also have a fabulous pic on my living room wall (also on my profile here) of my DTs (now aged 3) which was taken by a very talented friend, who has done a couple of photography courses, and tends to bring her camera when we go out for the day. I would much rather have these lasting mementoes of actual occasions where the kids were having actual fun than a contrived white-background shot taken by a complete stranger and then photoshopped.

Sorry - rant over.

The trouble with those so called 'natural' ones is the chance of getting 3 or 4 DCs looking at the camera at once is very low without doing somthing 'formulaic' like blowing bubbles.My DB had some done of his kids which he could have done himself