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Original poster

Question for anyone who has bought Venture Photographs

31 replies

Theresa · 29/01/2008 09:57

Much to m,y horror a friend bought us a venture voucher for christmas. I know the prices and read the previous threads on here (whihc I cant find this morning!) and we went along n Sunday with a very negative attitude. We took no 'props' or changes of clothes and were determined we only wanted the print that was paid for, however we had a brill time and are gouing back to see them next week. We think we may get the 'freebie' of the four of us and pay £95 (the cheapest!) for a photo of each of the 2 children. The album of 10 photos however looks the best 'value' (if you can say value and Venture in the same paragraph!). Anyway regardless of what we do, we want to be able to scan in the photos and get copies but I suspect they'llbe kind of sealed into the frame or photo albuma nd we'll have to wreck them to get the prints out if you see what I mean? Anyone help?
tHANKS

OP posts:
Original poster
Theresa · 29/01/2008 17:29

bump

OP posts:
clarinsgirl · 29/01/2008 17:31

Can't really help I'm afraid as we bought a massive wall picture which obviously can't be scanned...

dinny · 29/01/2008 17:33

think you'll find Venture own the copyright of any pictures...

platesmasher · 29/01/2008 17:33

we went along with a promo voucher thing. we took the free print, very small in a frame. It's sealed at the back and i haven't attempted to take it out.
Word of warning, they get you in a lounge area, dim the lights, play lovely music and show you pictures of your children. You might cry. You'll then be offered the photos on credit. We only got out with the free one because we had NO money whatsoever and had no choice but to walk away.

CaptainCod · 29/01/2008 17:35

they are sealed

clarinsgirl · 29/01/2008 17:37

Platesmasher is right - it is very hard not to spend a fortune when you see the montage of all of these fabulous pictures of the family... That said, I love our picture and in my opinion it was worth every penny.

CaptainCod · 29/01/2008 17:37

nto worth every penny
ok though

Original poster
Theresa · 29/01/2008 17:42

Thanks all, obviously they own copyright but that wont stop me having a go! Has no-one bought the album?

OP posts:
wilbur · 29/01/2008 17:44

I also got given a venture voucher at Christmas which I really don't want due to the cost of the extra prints - I fell for the voucher scam when ds1 was a toddler and was soooo disappointed with the pics. Plus they have phoned, really hard sell saying the voucher will expire, about 3 times to get me to book a slot. I know we have to do it, as SIL will wonder where the pic is, but it's just terrible timing - I wanted dh to buy me a portrait session with a proper photographer for my 40th birthday later this year and now we will have 2 portraits from same year when we have never even had one before. I know that some of the Venture shots can look v cool, but £95 for a 5x7 in not even a v well made frame? Too, too much.

IlanaK · 29/01/2008 18:03

Yes, we scanned ours. They are sealed, but it was fairly easy to unseal them. I know they own the copyright, but we got one freebie and one paid for so I don't feel to bad about it.

Catkin08 · 29/01/2008 20:33

We had venture shots done 2 yrs ago and we got a huge one and a small one. Cost a bloody fortune but was worth it at the time. Of course now that DS has arrived and we have zero money it wouldn't seem like such a good idea!
We took the view that it wasn't so much paying an extortionate price for a few photos because they're more than that. We really felt that they were like personalised art and so could justify the cost. (as I said though, we'd not be so quick to do it now we're on a tight budget!)

I'm not sure anyone can really blame venture for what they do - nobody forces you to go and although the viewing makes you want to buy every one, you can still say no!

Theresa, I hope you enjoy the viewing and come away happy with what you do or don't go for. The pictures are sealed but you can infringe copyright by scanning/taking a digital copy. Most high street copiers/photo shops will not reprint though so if that was your aim you'd probably have to do it at home!!

Original poster
Theresa · 30/01/2008 09:59

Thank you Ilinak & Catkin, we shall be unsealing and scanning!

OP posts:
mogs0 · 31/01/2008 22:23

I haven't used Venture but went to a similar photo place last year which my sister organised. My 2 sisters, ds and I went. It's not my thing at all and we decided before we went in that we'd choose 1 picture each then copy them. The sales bit was the same as described before and the prices were so high I nearly fell off the very comfy sofa! The sales guy kept offering us different packages which seemed more and more reasonable as he went on (ha ha!). We ended up with a cd each of about 25 pictures that we were allowed to re-print as we wanted. It still cost a fortune but because it was split 3 ways (the 2 sisters and I) didn't seem quite so harsh. We've printed loads for Christmas/birthday presents so it was possibly worth it but the traumatic memories of having to drape my arms over that armchair are all too vivid!!
BTW all the prints we've had done were printed by truprint and have been fab!

dirtygertiefromnumber30 · 31/01/2008 22:29

oh god, i was sucked in. thought id just leave with the freebie print, ended up spending £1600 on two farking photos (credit)

have just finished paying for the bloody things and everytime i look at them i feel ripped off and annoyed.

ive taken great photos of the kids over the years that I could have enlarged and got professionally framed which would have looked every bit as good.

rosealbie · 31/01/2008 22:29

We did the venture thing with a freebie studio session which my ds and dd loved (we took their wheelybugs with us) but my dh always insisted we would just get the free print and we did. It is lovely.

I would have cracked and go the lot if dh hadn't been with me as they really do the hard sell.

choccypig · 31/01/2008 22:38

WOuld advise don't do it.
I "won" a free session plus photo and ended up paying £95 for 2, because it felt so cheapskate to only get the "free" one. Thought they were quite nice until I went to collect them, and found the framing had chopped off DS foot on one and even worse his MOUTH on the other one. I actually cried (putting it on a bit) in the shop and they said they couldn't do anything about it but would let me choose another one to frame instead and give me the missing mouth one out of the frame, so you could just about see his smile. So I took home the two crappy ones in the frame, and never bothered going back to collect the new one. And what a suprise they never called me to say the replacement was ready. I actually feel I got away cheap. One of my friends has one whole wall covered by a (admittedly quite nice) photo which cost c£1000. Another fiend got given a voucher for c£200 and ended up spending another £1000.

Flo23 · 31/01/2008 22:38

Ours weren't Venture, but exactly the same set up. Ended up being well and truly sucked in and spending way more than we'd intended(see platesmashers post). We do have 2 beautiful pics of ds1 aged 6 months, and one of the 3 of us but now what about ds2 who has since arrived!?

If we went again would resolve to be v strong and stick to a budget and that be that.

kbaby · 31/01/2008 22:46

You are prob better off finding a photographer in your area who does decent pictures that you can afford to buy more of. It is very hard not to say no when you are shown so many lovely pictures.

We had some location ones done by someone who was advertising an offer. We had 60 pictures on a disk for £45 we are now free to do whatever we want with them. Admitidly not all of them are perfect but theres at least 15 good displayable pictures. Well worth £45.

Pinkchampagne · 31/01/2008 22:46

I spent over £800 on 3 pictures last year. The pictures are lovely, but definitely over priced.
The frames are sealed, and I haven't tried to remove the pictures.

GrinningSoul · 31/01/2008 22:47

we had ours done about 6 years ago, pre-digital age. we loved the photos, knew what were were getting into, felt that price was comparable to a studio session elsewhere BUT really really hated the fact that they didn't offer an option to buy several small photos at a reasonable price but had to choose one or two. what a waste...

so - imagine my delight a few years later when they wrote and said - we're going digital and chucking out all our film stock. you can buy all your negs for £50! huzzah. so now i have exactly what i wanted, an album full of really really lovely photos. if only i could get the same again for my dd. oh well...

divamummy2 · 01/02/2008 22:02

its definately overpriced. we given 165 voucher and spent 1500 for set of four glass framed photos. not worth every penny but because its picture of family, you ended up having them whatever the price is.

moljam · 01/02/2008 22:04

we brought album couldnt say no-such lovely pics!still paying it off now-luckily you can pay in monthly instalments!

moljam · 01/02/2008 22:05

btw i wouldnt go for album again as they just sit on shelf coming out occasionaly.we do have the 1 freebie framed 5"7

wordgirl · 01/02/2008 22:09

I think I must have a heart of stone because I managed to come out with just the free photo! There is no way I would pay hundreds or even thousands of pounds for a photograph, no matter how lovely.

B1977 · 01/02/2008 22:10

at prices they are printing money not photos! Didn't know it was that much! The ones I have seen are nice but they often have hair over the child's face / child looking up at balloon etc and I then think, nice shot but if I was your mum I would want a picture of your actual lovely FACE IYSWIM