Portrait Studio Nightmare

I took my boys to get their pictures taken today because we had the most ADORABLE little 24 month size outfits that were given to them when they were born. I was so proud of myself for getting them both out the door without any major issues... amazingly, I even looked halfway decent, just in case I had to get into the photos to make the boys cooperate. Even though we just transitioned this week to one nap, the timing was perfect and they were SO well-behaved when we arrived at the studio. I've had some bad photo studio experiences before, so this was really exciting to me!

It was all downhill from there...

First of all, the session was accidentally double-booked. The other mom was this snotty (normally I don't say things like that but she was really rude) mom of ONE 7-week-old baby, peacefully sleeping in her infant carrier. Since there was only one photo area, and the photo lady remembered talking to the other mom on the phone last week, she decided to let her go first! I was not thrilled but I was okay with that, thinking that it can't take THAT long to photograph just one sweet little sleeping infant. I was wrong. They must have photographed every inch of that baby in 15 different poses. It took 75 minutes!! In that time, my sweet little angels decomposed into what we call around here "high-level demons" (some term from a ghost hunting show my DP watches...? ). We found EVERY Thomas the Tank Engine and Elmo item in the store, and were carrying all of them around in our stroller, both kids pooped, they were hungry but I didn't want to mess up their outfits, they have learned to climb out of their stroller harnesses so they showed off those skills, they're almost 2 so they know how to tantrum... the list goes on. It was HORRIBLE! Once we finally got into the studio, the boys were literally like Energizer bunnies. They just ran back and forth, back and forth all over the place. Jacob ran laps. The woman tried to compose these "perfect" little scenes and the boys whipped through them like tornadoes. I wanted to shake her and say "Look-- Quick!! He is smiling and looking at the camera! Take a picture!! I don't care if all of the **** stuffed bunnies are perfectly lined up-- I just want a photo of my kids' cute faces (and maybe the outfits too)." After an hour and much frustration, we ended up with 22 photos of the tops or sides of my kids' heads and 3 in which ONE child at a time was making eye contact.

The only reason I even bothered with all of this was that I had a coupon for $3.99 photo sheets and a free 8x10. I'm seriously wondering if it was worth all of the torture!

Our previous photo sessions have been similarly frustrating, and I think next time I will forego the frustration, save the money I would have spent on a couple of trips to a studio, and just hire a professional to take some candid shots. *sigh*

Please tell me I'm not alone in this horrific experience (though I don't wish it on any of you!).

 

Oh, yes...We went to JC PENNY and I say that big b/c I will NEVER go there again! So we schedule the appointment and get this LONG lecture on all the rules and regulations...Do this, dont do that, fine so we get there and ofcourse they are not ready for us, in fact it took about 15 minutes for them to even acknowledge we were waiting. The boys were 5 months at the time and if we didn't hurry up they would need to eat again. SOOO finally we get in...and she puts them on this slippery material, we get a great pose the kids are smiling and she doesn't snap the picture! then she insists I take off their cute sandles I bought for the session, OK fine...again rare occasion the kids are smiling..Hurry take the pic! Nope, for some reason she would snap to late, like it was going to get better! All the delayed picture snapping was giving me a headache! Not to mention I was working up a sweat hiding behind that stupid slippery matteral! So then its time to pick the pics you want bla bla bla, i was so tired by then and the prices were just stupid we just got a few, but you could buy the disc for 99 bucks, too much I thought. So later they had a deal where you could get the disc for 1/2 off, well ok I decide to get it...The stupid pictures were like 300x300 pixels, what the h*ll am I supposed to do with that? I am so mad at them. Walmart has always done a far superior job at half the price and half the headache! Thats my story!

 

QUOTE(twinboys07 @ Apr 1 2009, 12:32 AM) [snapback]1253468[/snapback]
It took 75 minutes!!

I never EVER would have waited that long!! :angry: If it was more than 15 minutes past my appt. time, I would have rebooked and raised a stink to see how they could accommodate me. We have waited before, but never that long. That is just plain wrong.

And yes, we have taken the girls about 18-20 times to get their pictures taken so I have my fair share of nightmare stories!!

I'm so sorry for you. :hug: How frustrating!!

 

Erin, :hug: I'm sorry you had a rough appointment. You have the patience of a saint because there is no way I would have waited 75 minutes! Like Michelle I would have walked out. The last time we did portrait studio pics was when they were 6 months old and we are hoping to do them again before Easter. If we do, we may have a horror story to share. I don't forsee the kiddos being too cooperative, plus Sophia has not been feeling well so the whole Easter pic thing is up in the air right now.

 

I can't believe they made you wait! I had a couple bad experiences at Picture People and I will never go back there. The first time I went was for 1st b-day pics. I waited 45 minutes and the girl just sat on her a** expecting the babies to just sit there! My babysitter went with me and the photographer had her blowing bubbles as I'm chasing after 2 babies. There was maybe 3 good pics. For the price they charge, I was so mad! I went back again and specifically requested someone because she was so energetic with some of the babies she was photographing. Well, she never showed up!!! I'm going to try Penny's but now after reading this, I'm wondering if there are any good places to go! I'm sorry you had such a bad experience!

 

I would CALL and complain--they may refund and/or reschedule you at a reduced fee. We had a double booked experience at JCP and I called and we got a reschedule and extra photos for our trouble, not totally worth it adn I will go somewhere else next time--but I would not have waited either!!

I have had good luck at Olan Mills! Very cute and never had a bad wait---but I HATE that they do not have a plain white background (it is light greyish).

KC

 

75 minutes! That is just ridiculous. My kids would have acted the same way as yours -- actually, probably much worse.

I haven't seen Aimee (ladybenz) here in awhile, but she lives close to me and is a photographer, so she came over last summer to take one-year portraits of the kiddos. And OMG, we were both sweating buckets (it was 100 degrees outside) after chasing the two of them and trying to get them to sit still for ONE photo. They just wouldn't. And this was at our house!

She did finally manage to get some great, very natural-looking shots outside, including one that is my favorite picture taken of the kids, ever. I think that one picture was totally worth the entire fiasco.

We have had to wait for a long time at Portrait Innovations -- once up to an hour, but I think it was before the little ones were born, and we just had Nadia. I vaguely remember taking her next door to iHop to wait it out. :lol:

 

I would definitely call and complain - that's outrageous!

I'm probably done with professional pictures for a while too, not by choice though but because my two melt down as soon as we put them down to take the pictures. I really wanted some 12 months shots but oh well

 

I agree with everyone else- call and complain. That is ridiculous to make a mom of twin almost 2 year olds wait while a sleeping infant takes 75 minutes. WTH?! I'm sorry you had such a lousy experience. I've never taken the girls for professional pix since DH and I take so many pictures at home. I'm tempted now that they are older, but after reading your post, I think I'll just wait until they are in school :wacko:

 

I've heard the worst stories thru JC Pennies, Sears, and other professional studios... makes it a scary thought to try to get your kids pictures taken!!! I would love to be a photographer cuz I'd be the one making sure your kids clothes were straight, they were looking all in the same direction, and give them enough time to settle between shots. I'd give enough time between appointments just in case things were hectic... but that would just be me. I'd also let people see their pics and if they wanted to do re-do's then I'd let em.....

 

Oh..so sorry about your studio nightmare!! I can only imagine that this is how it would turn out for us! For that reason, I have never taken them into a studio for portraits. My SIL does photography on the side...so thank goodness she comes over does this for us!!

 

When the boys were around 6 months, we took them to Walmart. I will never do that again. Same thing happened to us with the appointment. There was one person who did everything (front desk, took photos and did the photo orders) so that made our wait even longer. Once she was ready for us, she pulls up a table and tells us to make sure they don't roll off! I did not like the idea that they would be put on a table, but that was her only idea. After about 15 minutes, I just gave up. She showed me what few pics she had taken and they were all awful. By then, they both were having a meltdown so all I wanted to do was get out of there as fast as I could.


I use Portrait Innovations and they are really good. They have mulitple photographers and certain people that work just at the front desk and also people who just take the photo orders. I try to make it so they are the first appointment which seems to help.

 

Yes, the last 2 for us have been nightmares. I really want to do easter/spring pics but now that they are even more insane, I am scared to do it. Last time they were either trying to yank the background down, run out the door or run around the studio. We barely got pics of them actually looking at the camera. Plus, it was hot as heck in the studio so we were sweating our butts off. It was truly miserable! I'd love to hir someone to come to my home and do it here but that's not going to happen...

 

Good for you for biting your tongue - I probably would have said something to that mean other lady. We do not do studio shots anymore and instead we have a photographer that comes TO OUR HOUSE and takes candids. The pics are great and the experience as a whole is much less stressful.

I am sorry you did not get the pics you want. Can you find someone to come to your house and try again with the same outfits?

 

We had a very similar experience around November. My sister and I decided it would be nice to have my girls and her baby all photographed together as a Christmas presents to grandparents. We made an appointment and showed up a little early like I usually do. There was ONE poor guy working in the studio. He was having to photograph and do the sale afterward. And to top that off, some idiot had scheduled what I think was at least 4 appointments at the same time. ERRRRR..... I felt bad for the guy, he said he got there that morning and saw all the appointments and didn't know what had happened. He was a very patient guy and was handling the stress very well I must say! (There were a few upset people...) Had it been just me, I would have left. But this was the only day my sister was able to do it so we opted to wait. OVER AN HOUR later my babies were screaming. We got one semi-decent photo of the three of them and that was it. We left with screaming babies.

 

For the boys 1 month, 6 month, and 12 month photos-we went to a photographer's house and she did them there. It was GREAT! I loved the experience-relaxed, laid back, go with the flow kinda thing. The 12 month we did do at a local park in the fall. Nicholas was walking, Anthony was crawling.

Well-I got a coupon for Sears so I thought I would take the boys in their Easter outfits and have their photos taken. My friend has taken her daughter there and loved it. So we gave it a try-much to my dh's dismay...

Appointment was at 3-perfect right after nap, etc.

The photographer was ALONE as well-so the phone rings-she answers it(provided we weren't taking photos). Customers come up to pick up photos, etc...she goes and helps them.

The boys went in opposite directions. She said to us, "Have them sit right there in the middle." YA RIGHT! It was quite the workout. She did get some really cute single photos of them, but the ones of them together were not the greatest. It took us an hour to take the photos(with a break due to fussiness) and then another hour once we were done going through them and picking what we wanted. So it was a two hour process! CRAZY! I will say for that amount of time they did pretty well, but I was exhausted trying to keep them contained, keep them happy, giving them snacks....

I like the photographer's home MUCH better and would hesitate to bring them to a mall type studio again. Not my cup of tea!

 

Glad to hear I am not completely alone in this insanity!

The only reason I stayed for 75 minutes was because I knew I would never come back if I left. The place was 45 minutes from our house, so the chances I would attempt all of the morning antics to get them both out the door, unstained and happy were pretty slim.

Even now, I'm still kind of seething over the whole ordeal. One free 8x10 (the "gift" they gave me for putting up with such BS) was NOT worth it!