Venture Photography prices - OUCH!!!!

[CarolynUK]

A few weeks ago - I bought a voucher for a Venture session and a framed 7x5 photo - cost £25.

Last night DD and I went for our session, and they began the hard sell even before I've seen the results. Having seen the price list I was given - I honestly cant see me buying ANY more than the photo which was included in the offer.

How on Earth can they justify charging £75 (yes £75 AFTER a 20% discount!!!!!) for a 7x5 framed photo and £115 for a 10x8?

Boots charge around 50p for a single print that size and the little frame shop across the road from the studio where we went will flog a similar frame to those on offer for a couple of quid! So I'd love to know how they can get up to that level of pricing.

They will only sell the pictures either framed or in albums as well - and the answer was a flat no when I said I wanted the pics for scrapping so didn't want or need the frames/ albums anyway! You'd think their marketing gurus would realise that not everyone has the sort of money they want, and they'd sell more if their prices were more realistic and their attitudes more flexible!

Their loss - not mine....

[leeann21]

i have had a venture photo aswell and have to say i left with nothing but the one i had the voucher for , it is a complete waste of money and they are so hard selling it is unreal !

[Linda B]

I'm afraid I fell for their hype! took all my family along for the session which was great fun. Gave the 'free' pic to DD, went 1/2 on a pic for DS as they wanted a bigger one (both framed for hanging on the wall not freestanding). I went a bit mad and bought a large framed pic of all our family - totally over the top price which I daren't tell DH - It is a lovely pic, well framed, and everyone comments on it BUT verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry expensive

[CarolynUK]

I'll tell him Linda - I have the price list!!! Their work looks gorgeous - but their prices are ridiculous!

Needless to say the scanner will be working overtime as I produce my own pics for the rest of the family from my included pic......

[kim]

I know their prices are high- but the photos we had from there remain my favourite ever taken of my children. I could have spent a fortune- but could only afford 4 7x5 photos. THe one I really wanted would have been nearly £500 - but I had to admit defeat.

But I really posted to say that there was NO hard sell at all with our session, or my sil's who paid for ours. They showed us all the photos, then 'reshowed' me a few times quite happily. She went to check whether the photo I wanted could be printed in the cheaper format. But she then left us to ponder which ones we could live without and we were offered payment plans too. But although I did order more than I went with the intention of, it was purely because I could not choose just one!

[__TJ__]

hope you bought the copyright then carolyn or they can nab you ( hypothetically of course they would have to catch you first) i did an ideal world POTD at NEWid in london and the day was excellent,(£20 including an 8x10) the make up the whole experience was fabby and the photos were horrendously expensive and the nice italian sales man ( meant to make us all melt and part with your cash i bet) was lovely and after about an hour of me telling him i would only buy the photos on cd and not pay £50 for a 6x4 no matyter how lovely the piccys were, he finally gave in and sold them ( and the copyright) to me. £200 yes, but i got 30 photos of me and my mum that are fully fabulous and i use them all the time.

venture work on the rpincipal that they are making art and they charge you for the image not the paper and ink used to make the actual physical photo. i would never pay their prices ( spesh afetr BEV posted how to get a venture -like shot with a black sheet and persevereance) but that said i have never seen a venture pic i didnt like so i guess they get you coming and going.

[smilerbabeuk]

i got a free venture session and 7x5 photo, but they must have taken around 300 pictures while we were there, and the viewing only had about 50. of that 50 there were only 2 i really liked. i figure that 2 out of 300 is a figure even i could get if i took 300 pictures. i did upgrade my freebie to a 10x8 and pay and extra £40 for the privilege though.

[BevS97]

you aren't paying £75 for a 5x7 print, you are paying for the talent of the photographer who took the photograph. The alternative would be to pay a huge sitting fee for the photographers time and then a lower per print price.

If you know Tara Whitney (american scrapbooker), she charges $800 just to take the photographs, then I think you get a disk and get your own prints. You are paying for TALENT not prints.

[CarolynUK]

you aren't paying £75 for a 5x7 print, you are paying for the talent of the photographer who took the photograph. The alternative would be to pay a huge sitting fee for the photographers time and then a lower per print price.

If you know Tara Whitney (american scrapbooker), she charges $800 just to take the photographs, then I think you get a disk and get your own prints. You are paying for TALENT not prints.

Ah but they say quite clearly on the voucher that the price of the voucher was a £100 discount on the individual costs of the session and photo (which should have been £125) - the session is £50 and the photo £75. So having paid for the photographer's time in the session fee - it does seem OTT to charge so much for so little.

I will say that I did a session with Lizzie Orme through the Scrapaholics 18 months ago - she took 159 photos in 20 mins and handed me the CD afterwards - copyright free - and it was nothing like these prices - you can see the results in several LOs in my gallery

[wickedcaz]

If you know Tara Whitney (american scrapbooker), she charges $800 just to take the photographs, then I think you get a disk and get your own prints. You are paying for TALENT not prints.

I'm in the wrong business!

[erisindevon]

I know what you're saying - it does feel very expensive. But as Bev and others have said, you're paying for the time and artistic talent, not a print. The overheads in running a studio are not tiny - everyone who works there expects to get paid

Personally I've never been for studio photo, but I adore photyography and click away all the time, and the result is that I have some fantastic photos of my kids. Would be nice to have some good ones of me or the whole family, but I think a bit more experimentation with my tripod and timer are probably in order.... I reckon a white sheet hanging up in the living room would make a great backdrop.

Venture's work is excellent though. I LOVE their style. That said - there are lots of indie photographers who do equally fantastic work at cheaper prices. I spent last night looking through UKCheryl's online site to pick up a few composition ideas. And Kirsty (Wannascrap) is brilliant too! If you don't live near either of them, I'm sure there must be someone similarly talented in your area?

Eris
xx

[Jo Lucy]

I had a similar experience after entering a 'prize draw' at a wedding fair. I'm sure they picked up on the fact that we didn't have a photographer for the wedding, so it wasn't really a surprise when I found out I had 'won'. (It wasn't Venture, but a similar set up.)

I had a super morning at the studio, with make-up & hair (although I wasn't totally convinced by the style the girl did for me - I think the 'hair' part was more of a sideline!)

Out of nearly 300 photos, we shortlisted about 50, then she showed me the pricelist. After I had picked myself up off the floor, I called my OH, and eventually we agreed that I would spend about £100. Of course, for that I didn't even get a sniff at the CD or the contact sheet, but I did get three great 6x8" prints (they 'upgraded' my free one by a size so they were all the same).

It was a great experience, and I felt fab all the rest of the day wandering round town & catching my reflection in windows! The photos are an excellent qualilty, and I received some lovely comments about them. I don't regret buying them, and was lucky not to get hard sell. I'm sorry for your bad experience, Carolyn, and agree that it does seem that the prices are over the top. I hope you enjoyed the photo shoot though, and the photo you chose

[welshscrapqueen]

You need to get yourselves down to UKCheryl's in Lakeside - we had a brilliant session with a moody 19 year old and a surly 15 year old ( my 2 darling sons ) and they loved it and laughed the whole way through. - and Cheryl was really accomodating
www.feelgoodphotos.com

[vandamk]

Another recommendation for feelgoodphotos!

We had a lovely time there, and got the pictures on a CD. I had lots of 5x7s and 8x10s printed by photobox. This way I don't mind giving them away. if we run out I just have more printed!

Cheryl's pictures are very good! We had lots of poses. DSs on their own, and together, me and DH on our own and together, all of us, whatever we wanted. I'm very pleased to have spend the money with her! Two of the scrapped pictures are in my gallery.

Karin

[Laura456]

I don't know if i'm allow to post this but as it is far enough from feel good photos!

Anyone in the north east wanting modern photos - check out
www.dunelmphotography.co.uk

Beautiful work - in your own home so less overheads and the couple are great with kids (they have three girls 7yrs to 14 mths) Also some of his work here

Laura xx