Venture Photography - to buy voucher or not??

dundeedoll_2

A relative of mine had 'a Venture experience' and yes, it cost an absolute fortune as she'd ordered some more pics on top of getting the free one.

I recently went to a local (South West Midlands) photographer and it was BRILLIANT!
We had a studio session of an hour - although he did take a couple of pics outside as the weather was fab and the studio is set in the most beautiful countryside - and he was great in getting naturally posed shots.

The whole thing was supposed to cost £30 but they had a special offer on of £15 + a free 6"x8" instead of a 5"X7". Absolut bargain but when we went back to see the pics they were just as lovely as those my relative had done. We chose a nice pic for our freebie which will become a Xmas prezzie and then I ordered 1 other for me.

So I'd go with the 'See if you can find a good local photographer' suggestions.
Good luck!

Doozergirl

A Venture photgraph is worth more than £20. It just is. If you start purchasing more then it's a choice you make.

We had a really good time at ours; my son was in love with the photographer and then when we went back it was really lovely to watch beautiful, beautiful pictures of the children. I cried! But I'm like that Our pictures are prized possessions to me - our free photo is gorgeous and we chose that on the day but there was no pressure - I actually went back in as I was passing to negotiate on our subsequent purchases. We left on the day telling them that we genuinely couldn't decide and they gave us some very tiny thumbnails to go home with to decide.

Yes, people will always take lovely pictures of the children and I have some framed up professionally that were taken by family members and professional photographers but there is something really unique about Venture that others don't capture.

If someone gave me a shoot with a free photo from Venture I would be over the moon. If your mum can say no, then all the better it will be lovely.

sparkleisshopping

annajo wrote: »

Just a thought, have you tried ringing round a few colleges to see if they have any students that are doing photography courses?

I'd second this.... my friend is a photography student and runs her own photography business and she does portraits etc. As a rough idea of price (to compare against Venture) she charges £50 for an hour's studio time, two 10x8" photos and the images on cd if you want to reprint them.

Lil_Me_2

I've been to 2 of these, none of them are venture ones, but similar set ups of cheap deals, free photos and then the hard sell.

The first one was with a lovely guy, I was the last of the day and after telling him I just couldn't afford it he burned me a CD with all the photos on it for free.

The second one I was much better prepared, I went with my sister and £100 in cash. My sister ordered 1 extra photo, and we slipped the guy £50 and we left with a CD with all the photos on .

Lirin

The reason for the white backdrop- very easy to do, can be used over and over, and to make it 'clean' only requires the images to be over-exposed. That's why Venture are famous enough for the very white, very bright style of images- they can test equipment once or twice during the day, and fill more photographic slots.

izzybusy23

I know I'm going to sound like a miserable git here, but Venture is another fad like everything else; magnolia walls, brown leather sofa's, LCD TV's, oak kitchen cupboards with granite worktops... every house will end up looking the same as the one next door, just that the people in the venture photo's will be different; but still the same style and concept.

Sorry, but I do think Venture has become a bit of a herd mentality.

raq

izzybusy23 wrote: »

I know I'm going to sound like a miserable git here, but Venture is another fad like everything else; magnolia walls, brown leather sofa's, LCD TV's, oak kitchen cupboards with granite worktops... every house will end up looking the same as the one next door, just that the people in the venture photo's will be different; but still the same style and concept.

Sorry, but I do think Venture has become a bit of a herd mentality.

HUBBY SAID EXACTLY THE SAME. NOW THERE,S FUNNY:rotfl:

bylromarha

We've Ventured twice.

Our local studio is excellent - always give us lots of time in the studio and also in the viewing when choosing our freebie.

Always end up spending more than the freebie we were only going to get though!

£20 for an hours studio time with a free framed 10 x 8 is very worth it if you think you can resist the hard sell. Much cheaper than anything else you'll find, student or otherwise. It's VERY hard to resist though when you have all these amazing shots in front of you at Venture that you know you won't see again.

If you don't think you'll be able to resist the hard sell, search out a local photographer as they'll be much cheaper.

Doozergirl

izzybusy23 wrote: »

I know I'm going to sound like a miserable git here, but Venture is another fad like everything else; magnolia walls, brown leather sofa's, LCD TV's, oak kitchen cupboards with granite worktops... every house will end up looking the same as the one next door, just that the people in the venture photo's will be different; but still the same style and concept.

Sorry, but I do think Venture has become a bit of a herd mentality.

We are talking about buying a £20 voucher for someone's mum to have a 'free' picture of her kids, not about an entire lifestyle choice!

I have a teal corner sofa that I have never seen in anyone elses house, an applewood & black gloss kitchen, quartz tops; not a magnolia wall in sight, nor any shade close to it. I have a flat screen TV but that's the way they make them these days. I have my own style and also some really fantastic pictures of my kids. Some by Venture, some not.

Can we try to keep it in perspective and perhaps comment on our own experiences of Venture rather than taking to criticise people who have chosen to use them?

izzybusy23

Doozergirl wrote: »

We are talking about buying a £20 voucher for someone's mum to have a 'free' picture of her kids, not about an entire lifestyle choice!

I have a teal corner sofa that I have never seen in anyone elses house, an applewood & black gloss kitchen, quartz tops; not a magnolia wall in sight, nor any shade close to it. I have a flat screen TV but that's the way they make them these days. I have my own style and also some really fantastic pictures of my kids. Some by Venture, some not.

Can we try to keep it in perspective and perhaps comment on our own experiences of Venture rather than taking to criticise people who have chosen to use them?

Woah calm down!!!

You sound very individual, good for you, but I will bet that most people go to Venture simply cos of the herd mentality; like having their houses virtually the same as their neighbours or their friends.

Venture are the other 'must have' like everything else. Oooh its soo cool to have a massive venture black and white photo on my wall throwing my kids in the air, to go with the brown leather sofa, wood flooring and the one wall wallpapered with flowery wallpaper like everybody else!!!

Its a shame people haven't got an individual style and have to use the herd mentality... sorry but thats my opinion. If Venture weren't so god damn expensive I would say they were bordering on chavvy.

Oh and PS; 3 people liked my other post, so its not only me who thinks this!