Venture photography

Staciep88

I've used venture and it is rea;;y expensive but the photos came out lovely! Me and my family were all in this big white room and we were told to just run around and pretend we were doing various things. There was one where we all lay in a circle and we all had to tickle the person on our right and it came out so nice cuz we looked like a family of fun! Much better than all sitting in a line. They will take 100's of photos and then invite you back to scan through the ones that they have picked out to be the best...only problem was... we liked them all! Really great and friendly service. We have to BIG photos on the wall and a seperate photo album with all the rest in. Would deff reccommend!! Hope thats some help to you xx

neddyw

I went for the 'experience' yesterday. The photographer asked me what stlye photo I wanted. When I asked if the one I wanted was expensive he laughed and said "of course not!" When I finally got a price list its £1800!! A snip!!

It is really wrong that they let you get your hopes built up about the fantastic artwork you'll get and then tell you that it will cost you a couple of grand.

Anyway, I have posted a comment on their website telling them how disgusted I am and may be if everyone else who has posted a comment on here did the same they might :rolleyes: do something about it.

suckmaster.burstingfoam

I run a photography business, and would not hesitate to say that we produce better photos than Venture for a fraction of the price. Don't be fooled into thinking that you're getting more because you pay more - you aren't. Venture don't have access to some special secret technology or knowledge.

It's just lazy photography, and any photographer worth his or her salt would turn their nose up at it.

We charge £80 for a one hour session with two A4 prints and a CD of medium-resolution images. Additional A4 prints are £30. We're actually fairly expensive for this neck of the woods, but we know we're worth it. If you're being charged three figures for a tiny print, then run away - because very few photographers are really worth that.

(Rant ends)

Bromley86

We're leaving for our viewing in an hour. We have quite definite ideas about what we want (basic 7x5 portraits), so that won't be an issue.

I was wondering if, as with many similar operations, if the discount that is only available at the viewing is actually available a week or two later?

Bromley86

Back from our viewing.

We went in early to check out two other "normal" photographic studios. Both good and we really liked one - especially the frame and mount.

Went to Venture. Kept waiting for 40 minutes with no one checking in on us to apologise. Actually, after 25 mins someone came back from lunch and said he'd tell our guy that we were waiting, but even he didn't bother to come back down and tell us what was going on. The wife was in a foul mood .

Saw the pics. They were okay. Some good, some not, but as we only wanted one best picture that we were going to order three copies of, that was fine. The one we chose was great.

No hard sell. Well, there was selling going on, but nothing like timeshare etc. Having seen the frames at the local photographers and at a frame shop over the road, I was totally underwhelmed by the Venture frames. We weren't interested in wall art, so I can't really comment on that aspect (other than the usual "seems expensive").

There was a huge problem though. The chap was plesantly honest when we said we wanted the cheapest frame option as our parents would just reframe to match their other photos. He pointed out that there was a chance that the photo would stick to the glass as they often put them in slightly wet to help stick the photo in place. Obviously this didn't work for us, especially as if something had gone wrong then we couldn't get a reprint from a digital file and would have to shell out another £119.

So we left with our free photo (in 4-8 weeks ).

We were given the prices after the shoot and no hard sell at our local branch (Tunbridge Wells). Having seen the photos, the other local studios are much cheaper for comparable quality (at least for what we wanted - an informal portrait), you can buy the digital image and the frames are better.

Easily worth £25 for the free photo. Go in knowing exactly what you want and don't be sold to.

suckmaster.burstingfoam

That's good advice.

tbain

I went to Venture about a year ago to get pictures done of our three sons. The hours photo session was great, the photos have a real contemporary feel to them and they took some great pics of the boys. I have three really gorgeous photos of them in my living room which I am really pleased with.

The bad points were the price, there were so many photos of the boys that I loved but could not afford to buy which is difficult, and I spent over three hundred pounds on just three pictures. My husband hated them and nearly had a heart attack at the prices! I am banned from going back as the temptation was there to buy a couple more!. In the future if I want pics of the boys I will find a contemporary photographer but with much cheaper prices.

pandora205

We had a wonderful set of photos taken at Centerparcs Whinfell by Pret-a-portrait.

As I have older teenagers who aren't so keen on family pics I was doubtful about having these done but it was a real fun experience with lots of natural shots. I nearly bought the lot (DVD for £200 with about 100 shots I think) but in the end had one framed portrait and bought the DVD with 10 shots for just over £100. Now, 12 months later, I wish I bought them all........

They were very professional and lively. The kids love them and they are quite flattering too (or at least so many were taken it was easy to choose a good set).

Now I just print them off myself or take them into Cosco to get them done for a few pence.

tite_wadd_so

Hi Guys

Just to let you know Crushed Apple have done some research and have since introduced a few more deals. We now offer gift packages whereby getting a price reduction if you by small gift images together. We also sell a hi res DVD of images from your session. AND we do great wedding photography from just £750.

All this from a top end studio within a beautifully converted farm house in 30 acres of landscaped gardens on a private gated complex, and we are still half the price of Venture!

Noticed their prices must have gone up again. According to the voucher on their site the gift frames start from £95 now not £75.

Anyway check us out at www.crushedapple.co.uk for great photography in great suroundings at great prices.

Crushed Apple

clairehi

We had pix done @ Venture in 2004 - at this time local photographers and the like of Olan Mills were offering fluffy rugs and blue cloud background so Venture had something new to offer. they put on a ludicrously hard sell,
threatening to delete pix we did not buy on the day. we bought 4 images costing around £300 iirc- for 1 hr studio time plus everything else, maybe not that bad but an independent photographer would have given us all the digital images for that probably. also, the pix did not really live up to the model images we had previously seen, they were a lot more run of the mill.


we got some nice pix but they were heavily photoshopped (OH is keen photographer so can judge). much is dependent on the photographers assistant encouraging you into different poses.

since then, local family photographers have raised their game, as the Venture model is not hard to copy. they had the idea first but they couldnt stop others from copying it. you can judge for yourselves whether they get better results than others. bear in mind Venture is a franchise and they obviously have to cover their franchising fees as well as other costs.