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Venture Photography - are the photos VERY expensive?

72 replies

berrycherry · 05/01/2007 13:38

We are about to have a photo session with venture, but I keep getting conflicting advice, and that they are very expensive. anybody out there with recent experience?

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bigknickersbigknockers · 05/01/2007 18:48

I agree with hotandbothered, no toys provided, no fun either but the free one is nice although I wouldnt go there again, just get another photographer to do the pictures in the samr style as venture IYKWIM

carwillin · 05/01/2007 18:54

Where are you? I have a friend who does the same thing as venture at not even a third of the cost and much better imho

You can see some we had done about 18 months ago, here

funnypeculiar · 05/01/2007 18:59

Agree with hot&botherered.
We were given a free photo thingy as a present when I left work. Went in with high hopes ... The session itself was hugely disapointing - very 'staged' - not just 'have fun and I'll take some photos, we I was anticiapting. They encouraged us to bring props to personalise ... but the photographer wasn't interested - used one thing - & that didn't feature in any of the photos at the big 'show' presentation. Didn't feel the photographer knew how to handle young children - spent 40 mins hyping ds up and making him round round, then tried to get him to lie quietly next to his sister and take 'cute' shots ...
The photo we got is OK - very stylish in an Venture kind of way ... but nothing better than loads of other studios will do for a fraction of the price. We expected to find it hard to walk away with only the freebee - but actually none of the others were so amazing for it to be a problem.
Will defn use a local 'copycat' next time

Although I've had mates get some FAB photos (although often with similarly disapointing experiences....)

swedishmum · 05/01/2007 19:00

The guy we had was great with the children - lots of ball pond balls being thrown around, squeaky toy in his pocket, space hoppers, involved children in "taking" photos. They are ridiculously expensive but I view them as art and still have the first set from years ago on the wall. Don't normally do photos on the wall. As dh spent so much (presents for gps etc) they upgraded our small photo into a decent size with better frame (and so they should). You could show the brochure to local photographers. I found it helped to be very specific about the styles I liked.

SherlockLGJ · 05/01/2007 19:02

misspinkcat

Pinkchampagne · 05/01/2007 19:04

They don't provide any bits to entertain the children anymore, it's all changed & they ask you to bring your children something from home to entertain them during the shoot.

berrycherry · 08/01/2007 22:42

had my call today, and booked our session, apparently I should paint my toe nails as shots will be barefeet, take some ballons for kids to play with, and wear either dark or bright clothes...I am dreading it!

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Pinkchampagne · 17/01/2007 17:47

How did the session go?

berrycherry · 21/01/2007 12:47

its booked for next saturday 27th...not sure what to wear, or what to get my dd's to wear. we plan to trake some ballons and some music for dd's to dance to.

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SoupDragon · 21/01/2007 14:38

I can't imagine how you've got conflicting advice about whether or not they're expensive!

Daemara · 21/01/2007 14:46

i think that venture can be good at times but sometimes the pictures are a bit booring and not so great but they have made soemthing digitally eye catching. And very expensive. But then again I am biased, my husband is a photographer (wedding and portrait) , and i do prefer his work in the studio to some of the things you see in the venture dispay stands in the shopping centres. But he is my other half and i probably have to say that . I'll not say the studio name though as i don't want to get in trouble for mentioning it in the threads.

CODNoMore · 21/01/2007 14:47

mention away
we dont care!

Daemara · 21/01/2007 15:36

ok CODNoMore - its Field Photographic in Heanor in Derbyshire.

LadyClaret · 21/01/2007 17:08

Be very, very wary of Venture: I've seldom encountered such a slick business model so ruthlessly designed to seperate you from your cash. Their photos are fine to good (nothing more, really), but their hard-sell is relentless and their prices are extortionate.

Examples of their practice:

  1. If you postpone a viewing appointment (if say, baby is ill) they charge you (the customer, remember) a £35-00 charge. Yet, they kept us waiting for 35 minutes when we turned up on time!
  2. If you agree to buy, you have to sign a form waiving your rights to a 'cool-down' period.

As all these responses advise, use your local photographer who will be cheaper, more flexible, and less ruthless!

berrycherry · 23/01/2007 11:00

soupdragon, no coflicting advise about them being expensive - just if they are any good or not!

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berrycherry · 23/01/2007 11:05

I bought a voucher for £25.00 which includes a "free" sitting and a "free" photograph -which may be all we come away with! I am preparing to be very very strong when it comes to the hard sale - both my dh and I come from a sales and marketing bacground, so we would like to think we can manage a hard sale situation, but we will wait and see!

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WigWamBam · 23/01/2007 11:24

You will find it very, very hard to come away with just the one "free" image. I have never come across a hard-sell done like this - it's not an obvious hard-sell, it's very insidious, and even if you know how to handle salesmen and think you're prepared for it, it takes you by surprise.

You will be left alone in a warm, dark, comfortable room and will see gorgeous pictures of your gorgeous family blown up to fill a whole wall. The soft, tasteful music will relax you, and the darkness will make the colours brighter, clearer and more attractive than they would be otherwise, so that you may well be more taken by the pictures than you think you will.

They will show you the three best images put together as one large picture, designed to make you think how much better the pictures look when you have more than one of them in one frame. This image will come up more than once during your viewing and each time you will find it more appealing.

Then someone will come in and go over them again with you, picking out the ones you really like - and you'll then be left to look at them again. Even if you don't chose the image of the three pictures together, this will still appear with all the others you choose.

You will be relaxed and happy at this point and no matter how tough you think you are, you will want more than one of the pictures. They will then offer you a discount on their price list if you pay for your pictures there and then, and will make a big thing about how much more they will cost if you place your order at a later date. It's so easy to get carried away at this point, even if you had agreed not to fall for the marketing ploys.

The staff will use language like "images" and "works of art", designed to make you think of something permanent and timeless, rather than just a snapshot which you would change every six months if it was in a plain frame. They will correct you if you refer to them as "photographs" or "pictures", and they will stress the value of having original pieces of art work in your home.

They will, at this point, be falling over themselves to be nice to you. They will offer you coffee, compliment you on how well your children behaved and how great their images look, pass comments on how lovely you look in the pictures as they "help" you choose the best ones to look at again, they will speak softly and politely, nothing will be too much trouble for them. This will all change once you have signed on the dotted line and they have your money.

I hope that you can be as hard-nosed in the face of beautiful images of your children as you think you can ... because I couldn't.

tomps · 23/01/2007 11:26

I only used Venture because I had a 'free' voucher. As many have said, it's much more staged than natural. But boy do they do a big number at selling time. I had a hangover when I went back to choose pictures so was feeling a bit emotional anyway, then they turned the lights down, put on some uplifting ethnic lovey family music and slowly showed me a series of pictures of an apparently happy and loving family. Boo hoo. Fortunately they had cunningly doctored most of the photos to make it look as if I had a double chin so I didn't feel obliged to buy them all. Fortunately also I remembered that dp had had such a strop on the way home after the shoot that he got out of the car and walked home, so I didn't really wany any reminders of that 'special' day !

berrycherry · 23/01/2007 11:38

lol at double chin tomps!! I doubt I will be able to be hard-nosed! I hate having my photo taken and I am getting very nervous...have spoken to my dh about high cost, and he jsut said that if they are worth it we will get them, but if they are way too expensive, we will just go to the lovely woman who did our last photos and "recreate" the moment!!! more importantly, I still haven't decided what to wear (something slimming), and what to dress my dd's in......

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pelvicflawed · 23/01/2007 19:10

Really intersting thread - we've got our photo shoot on Saturday (bought a voucher at a party before xmas). Good to be prepared for the sell afterwards!!! - hoping we can be really hard nosed afterwards (if we can do it we think we'll get our desk top photo and take it to athena and get it put in a better/bigger mount to make it look more dramatic/artistic). Well thats the plan - lets see if we can do it!!!- good luck with your session berrycherry - god haven't even thought about what to wear and what hides my post baby stomach overhang thats still there after 8 months!!!!!!.

Pinkchampagne · 23/01/2007 19:26

Agree with WWB - it is VERY hard to walk away with just the desk top image, after seeing the most gorgeous images of your children on a huge screen, with background music playing at the same time. (ours was Steriophonics, so not so soft & relaxing!)
My last session was just meant to be so that I could get a nice picture for a present for my parents, not for myself...I ended up getting my parents pic & three for myself! The four pictures cost £840, and this was a "buy 3 get 1 free" offer!
Be prepared!!
As for what to wear - bright colours look good, as the background is white.

youngmumoftwo · 23/01/2007 19:32

We were very disapointed. Similar story to those already posted.
We bought a £25 voucher which gave us a free photo. We arrived, and had to wait a while, but we were ok with that. The lady was very nice, and the session was fine. When we went back we were whisked into a dark room where music was played and a large screen projected all the wonderful pictures. We had a lady talk about each one, and after an awful lot of erming and arring we asked if we could thikn about the prices of the pictures, which they said we couldnt. We explained that we had no idea how expensive the pictures were and that we were getting married the following month, but they said that if we didnt order today, all the images would be deleted. We couldnt even offer any photos to our parents as we would have had to describe them over the phone and then explain how much they cost. We agreed to buy one for about £400. As soon as we got in the car to drive home we regretted it. My husband has worked in sales all his life, from lower end to large business sales now, and he was gutted that he had been a victim of hard sales. As soon as we got home we called to cancel the order and we were told that it had already been sent to print and that it was too late.
The picture isnt that good. We have some done by a local photographer who came to the house, we paid her £50 for the session which was about 1 and half hours. We then had the sheet to choose lots of pics and pass round the family. Much better and nicer pictures.
I would never recommend Venture, when I see them in town, I pray that they will try to talk to me and I shout "No you rip people off and use hard sales tactics"!!!

youngmumoftwo · 23/01/2007 19:34

oh and I now have another little boy, so my £400 "work of art" is now out of date and I feel bad having it hanging on the wall as my little one isnt in the family portrait. Remember that, that they can date easily if you may have more kids.

pointydog · 23/01/2007 19:43

blardy blurd. Can't believe how much you are forking out for some snaps. Paying it off in monthly installments!! Going into debt for a photie.

You know it makes no sense.

morningpaper · 23/01/2007 19:47

Really, get a friend with an expensive digital camera

Get a sunny room with white walls

Remove snot and food residue from children

Take 200 snaps

There will be 20 which are FABULOUS

Print them out at Bonusprint

Total cost £20

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