Venture photography

ihatechoosingnames

ARRGGH Venture infuriates me! They charge ridiculous prices for the most uninspired and simple to create pictures. Ask any kid to take action shots and then up the contrast and brightness in a photo-editing programme and you've pretty much got a Venture shot. I cannot see these pics as being a lifetime investment..in fact as photographic technology becomes more easy to use and accessible for everyone, people will realise just how simplistic and overpriced they are.

It would be great if more people could support their local photographers who actually care about the art they create..it's just a shame that they can't afford the marketing tactics that the big companies can.

donny_osmonds_mad_fan

ihatechoosingnames wrote: »

ARRGGH Venture infuriates me! They charge ridiculous prices for the most uninspired and simple to create pictures. Ask any kid to take action shots and then up the contrast and brightness in a photo-editing programme and you've pretty much got a Venture shot. I cannot see these pics as being a lifetime investment..in fact as photographic technology becomes more easy to use and accessible for everyone, people will realise just how simplistic and overpriced they are.

It would be great if more people could support their local photographers who actually care about the art they create..it's just a shame that they can't afford the marketing tactics that the big companies can.

exactly that is really all it is, not a lot more when you look at the pictures, the same effects can easily be re created in this day and age.

Cissi

My friends just got some done - they had a voucher, which entitled them to one tiny print, and as others have said, they were given the whole sales spiel with wine, slide show etc and fell in love with the pictures... They actually bought two smallish ones for a couple of hundred pounds, then had them blown up somewhere (Snappy Snaps, I think). They now have two stunning, poster-size ones up. I was amazed that they were able to do that, didn't think the printer would allow it, but apparently it was no problem

poppyolivia

donny_osmonds_mad_fan wrote: »

I am a bit shocked that on a money saving site no one has come up with this idea...

first off though I belong to a large online mum and baby website and have done for 5 years since I was pg with her and venture has been discussed many a time and yes whilst the pics are great the hard sell and the cost has had people in tears as it is very hard to walk away from lovely pictures of your babies.

the money spent is ridiculous, in this day and age with digital technology it is getting easier and easier to capture fabulous pictures of your kids, we decided with some inhertience to invest £600 in a real lovely SLR camera but if you wanted to do white background prints..then buy one of those too and you have always got what you need to take fantastic pictures of your kids for the rest of their childhood.

We have a few photo packages...mainly ones purchased cheap or free through paying for a web domain etc (on tip offs from on here).

we have fantastic amazing pictures of our kids from all over, and will still keep getting them, we can edit them etc and free to print them as large as often as we want, plus with those wonderful pictures we also have the happy memories of the days out associated with the pictures rather than a memory of being in a studio.

you dont even need to spend £600 these days on a camera you can get decent ones for less but I love the multiple shot facility etc...trust me invest in it play with it and you will never look back most likely less for the cost of one session with venture!

Thank goodnes it just wasn't me thinking this!;) Get yourself a half decent digital camera....a photography program for the pc (free ones online)...

take colour photos
change to black and white
then colour select what ever you want!..

I got a fuji S5700 and it didn't cost much and I've taken loads of pictures and they are really good...considering I've only had the camera about a month or so!

I mean..white background, close up of childs face...black n white but leave the eyes blue....gorgeous pic in a size 10x8..£1.20 from tesco!!!:rotfl:

Ok maybe I'm mean but the thought of spending that sort of money is just scarying me!!!:eek:

vickyj

I think it is so god that there are more of us local photographers getting the word out that we too can do "lifestyle" photography. I personally love doing this style and i know many other local bods do also, so come on guys spread the word. I work out on location like many others now do so give your local toddler group a try when you need this style taken (photonix.co.uk) & photonix-kids.co.uk )they will be more than happy as they get about 20% of everyhing spent and you will save a packet !

KeithyT

I'd like to say thank you to all who have contributed to this thread so far. I have to say our (my wife and I) experience has pretty much matched the majority of people so far.

We purchased a Southampton branch gift voucher (£35) for our friends at Christmas and it also entitled us to an hour long session and framed "Gift" photo worth £75 (the equivalent additional product is actually £79 on the viewing night - be aware of that).

We went though all the aforementioned shock when we found out the prices (we asked and were told what the price ranges were when we booked our session slot). I was very negative at that point and was prepared to not bother and write off the voucher price. Unless you are a professional sportsman or successful career person i think 99.9% of the product prices are absolutley unrealistic. My wife calmed me down and we decided that we would go through with it and at least get the one free shot. As the days passed we eventually planned to use the 2 months grace (you know what I mean) we get on our Council Tax monthly direct debit to put towards some extra photos - as that money was already budgeted for.

The session itself was great fun, we had our two dogs (Boxer and Springer)with us and we were made to feel very relaxed and just let the dogs be themselves. The photographer (very young but very good) made us feel at ease and we used all our props (dog toys, Wii remotes, soft toys etc) to try and create some unique photos. He took about 160 in the end. We really enjoyed it and felt that part was almost worth the voucher price anyway.

We had our viewing last night and we did not particularly get given the hard sell. As soon as we were asked had we thought about the frames etc we liked, we told them straight that to be brutally honest while all were lovely they were way out of our price range and we would only like to purchase additional 7 x 5 entry level "Gift" products at £79 each. The girl explained that they didnt actually sell those (even though they are included as a range in the catalogue), and I said quite firmly "but you will sell them won't you" and she replied "yes".

Well the photos looked fantastic of course on the big screen (I also noticed the CCTV camera pointing at us!) but we whittled down the 30 or so we were presented with to 5 (4 plus the freebie) and I double and triple checked that the ones we wanted could be properly ratio'd into 7 x 5 format and that the cropping was all in the right place before I finally signed and paid (did have to pay the full amount there and then). So now it's a 6 - 8 week wait for the final Gift frames to be ready. We spent just over £300 which worked out to just over £60 per photo when you reckon in the free one.

We came away quite content and happy although I realise that is still one hell of a lot of money for 5 smallish photos, but they are unique and a great memory of a fun photo session. All staff were polite and obviously they would love to sell you the big stuff but if you go in with your eyes wide open, clear about what you want and can afford, and you cross all the t's and dot the i's you should be OK.

Thanks again everyone. i'll report back if they mess up the framed photos!

LilMissEmmylou

for £50 i got 4 photos X3 (3 prints of each photo) from a lovely local photographer in Lisburn (N.Ireland). I say check out your local stores, they are likely to do just as good a job at a fraction of the price

mwa

This brings back bad memories!!

We had a session last year and had a great time with our 8 month daughter. When it came to viewing the pics we got really carried away and ended up spending £1900 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't ask me how, we are normally so careful. Luckily we had the money saved up but it would have been better spent elsewhere.

I would just say to anyone thinking about having a Venture 'experience' to really think about how much they can afford to spend. We got 4 x 10x8's which were £300 each plus one huge one which was £700 and a tiddly one which was a 'bargain' at £95...

I actually feel a bit sick when I look at them now, I have to admit.

mwa

leoetal19

i can vouch for the fact that thye are a. lovley and b. expensive and even if you go with the cheap vouchers theyre is pretty much pressure-subtle and emotional to but more-a presentation to music etc-all designed to make you BUY
as long as you go with a strong will and exact idea of what to spend ur ok-i hvae 6 gorgeous piccies of my kids that i will love for ever but at a cost of over £1200 in total!!!

tinkerbel

I bought my bf a £25 gift pack thing for valentines last year and we went to the nottingham branch and had a really lovely size. We went to the viewing fully intending to only walk away with the free one but we did eventually decide to use the value of the free shot towards one the size bigger, so we had to pay an additional £40.
The photo was great and we both really enjoyed ourselves, though did feel very uncomfortable at the hardsell section (we are both students and last year I was still at school even so we blatently didnt have much money!)
All in all we paid £65 total and had a great time and now have a lovely photo so much that we are planning to go again this year (you can only use the voucher once per year) having read through this thread however I am now slightly pertubed (sp..) and am thinking about looking for a local photographer in the Manchester or Stoke sort of area!
If anyone has good/bad experiences or reccomendations would you please send them to me please! Because I have tried looking but I dont really know how to know if someone is good at venture style photos and that crushed apple place looks good but with the price of petrol/trainfare factored in it might not actually be cheaper!

ooo another thing, before we went, we knew that we wanted a photo that we would have struggled to make ourselves, so we chose to have a half black and white photo and half colour photo and we really sort of planned it out. I am so glad that we picked this sort of thing as it really sticks out and is special looking