Venture photography

Dan_Thunder

I can't believe the prices that they charge, what a gyp! Considering that you can get a very good Wedding Photographer to follow you around all day, take all your photos and give you over 30 high quality prints mounted in an expensive album I don't see how people can possibly pay that amount of money without being mentally deranged!

I shot my friends Wedding as a favour/wedding present last weekend and - aside from the time - it only cost me £60 for a really good boxed album, twenty 8x10 & 40 7x5 prints and mounting tape. I'm !!!!!!ed if I can work out how it can cost £2500 for a few photos!?

If I was a professional photographer I'd be hanging outside Venture every day handing out leaflets doing it for half the price!

Dreads_The_Postman

My mum had been going on for ages about getting a family photo done professionaly. I bought one on the Boots packages, and we booked with Venture. It was just as most posters have described already, but I would like to add that for us, it was an extremely uncomfortable and almost humiliating experience.

At the time, I was thirty, Dad 65 and Mum 63. The photographer had us doing all sorts of stupid and humiliating things in order to get some "great [read: distinctly average] shots". We're not a particularly outgoing family, and being layed out on a white floor with his socks and shoes off, while his daughter and wife were made to tickle him, must be one of the more horrific memories of my poor dad's life.

The presentation was pressurised, and we got the family shot (three of us looking distincly unimpressed), and my parents bought another one of me on my own for £200 (me looking pasty and overexposed).

Fair enough, most people go to Venture with young kids, but sometimes a family like us comes along. I do think they should tone down the whole "Yeah - let's have some wacky FUN!" thing they do, in those instances.

Justie

Dan_Thunder wrote: »

I can't believe the prices that they charge, what a gyp! Considering that you can get a very good Wedding Photographer to follow you around all day, take all your photos and give you over 30 high quality prints mounted in an expensive album I don't see how people can possibly pay that amount of money without being mentally deranged!

I shot my friends Wedding as a favour/wedding present last weekend and - aside from the time - it only cost me £60 for a really good boxed album, twenty 8x10 & 40 7x5 prints and mounting tape. I'm !!!!!!ed if I can work out how it can cost £2500 for a few photos!?

If I was a professional photographer I'd be hanging outside Venture every day handing out leaflets doing it for half the price!

yes but you don't have to pay studio costs, pay for lights, pay for premises and staff etc. Doing favours for mates isn't really comparable. Venture ARE expensive but then a lot of their premium products (large canvas, the PVC block things etc) look very good and require a greater standard of printing etc than any of us could reproduce ourselves. Most of the Venture cost comes in the post production and framing costs. As with all professional photographers you're paying a premium for the bits that aren't easy to do in a DIY way. That said I'm sure using a local photographer to do a similar modern style would be cheaper but Venture have done well at prmoting their brand etc...

Dan_Thunder

I do understand that the actual photo print is probably the cheapest part of it but, as you say yourself, pretty much any photographer worth their salt can replicate their aesthetic style at a fraction of the cost. Their prices are just taking the p*ss!

MeNikki

Yes a studio set-up is expensive, yes rent can be expensive, yes props can cost a lot of money; but.....I do not see how a few picttures printed on A4 could cost anyone £2500.

The wife of a good friend of mine had a make-over photography experience given to her by friends (which I believe wasn't a cheap deal either as loads had pitched together) for her b-day. She went along had her hair and make up done couple of pics taken and few weeks later my friend was presented with a bill for nearly £2500.

He went through the pictures and rejected a couple of blurred/out of focus/overexposed ones etc and still ended up paying way over a £1000.

I dunno what company that was with, but I know he was least impressed with the quality and he also mentioned that the hair and make up chosen didn't suit his partner at all. But she was never given a choice or any imput in how she wanted to have her hair and make up done.

For a £1000 you can easily get your hair and make up done the way you like it, go to a local photographer and have more input in the outcome.

Or why not contact your local camera club and see if they have members with a little studio set up at home or who would for a lot lower fee more than happily agree to set up in your home for the shoot.

In my camera club we got a member who has got a small studio set up in his loft and who every year organises a portrait evening in the camera club. He told me he's taken loads of portraits for people that they go and use for family or even promational uses (in the case of the band he photographed) and as long as he can showcase some of the pictures during competitions or club evenings, his prices are more than reasonable.

I, myself have taken some pictures of my niece and nephews during a birthday party of one of the kids. YES, no studio background, no controled lighting, etc..... The parents were completely over the moon though with the A3 enlargements. I even got the comment that the pictures were so much more personal and portrayed the kids the way they are, much better than some 'professional' pictures both sets of parents had ordered.

Nevertheless I do recognise the fact that equipment costs money and so does marketing. A family picture or any kind of portrait should be a pleasant experience though.

darich

Dan_Thunder wrote: »

I do understand that the actual photo print is probably the cheapest part of it but, as you say yourself, pretty much any photographer worth their salt can replicate their aesthetic style at a fraction of the cost. Their prices are just taking the p*ss!

This is a typical response from someone who maybe takes pictures but isn't a photographer.
As an experienced photographer with some top of the range equipment there are some "aesthetic styles" that cannot be copied without certain facilities and knowledge.
Having a pocket digital camera and taking snapshots doesn't make the owner a photographer but with the drop in prices and everyone having one these days, more and more people seem to think it's easy to simply press a button. The reality is that most people don't know what apertures, exposures, ISO, flash sync, reciprocal focal length, macro etc etc are, never mind know how to use them. Do you have any idea how much good quality gear costs? And what it can do that cheaper equipment cannot?
Not all cameras and lenses are the same - i have a bag of gear worth more than many cars on the road - and i'm not even professional!

Besides, if "pretty much any photographer worth their salt can replicate their aesthetic style at a fraction of the cost" then why are some known worldwide and most others aren't? Why doesn't everyone photograph at the same standard as these world famous photographers???

shop-to-drop

We went to Venture a few years ago as we wanted a nice pick of our 3 boys together. However when we went to view their wasn't a nice enough one of them all together and we ended up buying individual supersized picks. They are gorgeous but cost £500 each. As we were spending so much we ended up buying more to give to grandparents. Over £2000 later we left the store shell shocked at what we had just done it was so easy and uncharacteristic of us to get so carried away. The pictures are so admired and gorgeous but for a long while I couldn't enjoy them knowing how much they had cost. Afterwards I thought why on earth hadn't we just paid for another session to get a better picture of them all together it would have been much cheaper.

Just be cautious of getting carried away. Luckily we had the money but maybe we would have been more wise to spend it on a family holiday. I certainly wouldn't go into debt to buy them and in retrospect I would have set a budget before going but we were completely green about the costs them. Also these days it is quite easy and affordable to get digital images we take ourselves into really impressive pieces of art. So I think that Venture is no longer so unique and so can't justify their prices so well.

Hope you enjoy the show and make a good decision on your pics.

greenishfingers

I've had three different sessions at Venture for DD and DSKs (all were free alleged competition wins). I've been really impressed with the results, and if I was rolling in cash would buy loads of them. However I'm not, so I never take a cheque book or cards with me meaning I'm not able to be tempted. After I've been shown the AV presentation I tell them I only want the free one, and I haven't found any pressure applied on me after that.
I would recommend them if you feel strong, but just walk away if you don't enjoy sales pressure!

meester

is the free one worth having? or is it just like something taken with an amateur camera?

the prices are amazingly expensive..... But people won't willingly sign-up if they know the cost, so they have to sell it as £25 (allegedly reduced from £125, to imply that's the cost), and then charge double later.

Terry_Tibs

moo842 wrote: »

hi there
we had our photos done yesterday by venture photography, and our going back for our veiwing tomorrow.
my problem is i don't really want to pay there prices but i know i'll get sucked in when i get there! i just wandered if anyone had managed to get money off the pictures by haggaling? if so how much did you get?

When you go to view your photos, dont take any form of payment with you, just tell them you forgot your bag(after the viewing has finished), be really enthusiastic about the photos and choose out a selection of sizes etc you like and get the price. Go home slepp on it and see how you feel the next day, and whether you want a discount , if you do , just phone them up tell them you want the pack (only that pack) but you only have XYZ to spend then say nothing and see what they do, I got 25% of doing just that.