You may have seen this company recently advertising in the SCMP etc about their lifestyle photographs which look great because of the white background. I had some family photos taken a couple of weeks ago and the photographer was great with kids, using balloons etc to make them laugh. $500 sitting fee redeemable on purchases. BUT the cost of buying photos is expensive. A 7"x5" desk photo is $2,160. A framed 10"x8" is $5,130. If you want 4 pics of 4"x4" framed in the one picture its $13,860. An album with 10 pics of 5"x5" is $13,050. Ouch. You can only go once to order your photos after the session, and in that one hour session you have to decide - puts the pressure on. IF you want to think about which photos you have framed, it costs $500 for another appointment to tell them what you want. I'm going to shop around further. These prices seem exhorbitant, or does it seem reasonable to others?
Venture Photography
- Thread starter hoping4b
- Start date
Gosh, that is expensive!!! And I have already paid $500 and booked for a session :-(
I know that for many of the other photographers, they charge a fixed fee per hour at the studio, but then, they give you back all the negatives, or at least let you have prints for the photos (ie. 3R, 4R...) for a much more reasonable price, say around $70 per print or something... Gosh, if only I had known that it is so expensive, I would not have bothered to book Venture...
I know that for many of the other photographers, they charge a fixed fee per hour at the studio, but then, they give you back all the negatives, or at least let you have prints for the photos (ie. 3R, 4R...) for a much more reasonable price, say around $70 per print or something... Gosh, if only I had known that it is so expensive, I would not have bothered to book Venture...
Last week, I go to the BB exhibition and find out Venture. Oops, the package is very very expensive. I also visit their website. Personally, I find the photos are great and seems more stylish. However, I really cannot afford it. Besides, I also find some similar photographers at much lower price.
rani
Administrator
rani
Administrator
mamaS said:
MamaS,
We have a list of photographers here:
http://www.geobaby.com/directory/hong-kong/services/photographers/
Sitting fee is approx $2000 and then you pay for the prints etc.
Another option, there's a Photography group on Geoexpat. You could see if any of the members would be up for the challenge:
http://www.geoexpat.com/handshakes/clubs/photography/
I have also paid $500 for a session, being so attracted by their photos at the web! If I had read your threads earlier I would not pay ... sigh! I guess I can't do anything now but go for the session and take the photo included in the package and nothing more!
Suzannal & hoping4b, can you tell me more about the session? What should I prepare as I'm taking my two daughters, one 4 yr old and one just 8 months.
Suzannal & hoping4b, can you tell me more about the session? What should I prepare as I'm taking my two daughters, one 4 yr old and one just 8 months.
mlam, just had my session today with my 4 month old boy. I have to say that we all had a great time. The photographer was really good with my baby, and he actually laughed and had a great time generally, and sustained throughout the one hour session, much to my surprise.
I have to say they are not really like your typical photographer, and I understand that their product is really expensive. With them, I suppose you should not think of them as "photographers", as the end product will probably be more like one piece of artwork, from what I understand.
Well, just bring in whatever you would like to be photographed, especially bright colours, as they will look great with the white background.
I will have my viewing session next Sunday. Will let you know how that go.
I have to say they are not really like your typical photographer, and I understand that their product is really expensive. With them, I suppose you should not think of them as "photographers", as the end product will probably be more like one piece of artwork, from what I understand.
Well, just bring in whatever you would like to be photographed, especially bright colours, as they will look great with the white background.
I will have my viewing session next Sunday. Will let you know how that go.
Thanks suzannal. It sounds great. I plan to have family photos with them i.e. me, husband and 2 daughters. Hope they can capture our best moments since both my daughters (4 year old and 8 months) are a bit shy with strangers. Looking forward to hear more about your viewing session.
I had my children's photos taken by them and whilst the photos were good I find them too expensive. The package of $500 on promotion may seem very attractive at first but when you think about the fact that any additional prints you would like to order have to be in their frame and that their frames are really expensive, it works out to be a very expensive session. Personally I think you can get equally nice photographs at a much more decent price. The fact that you can only have prints framed in their frames is rather off putting. Incidentally the stand of one of their frames broke within 2 months !
Just had my viewing session. The photos are very nice, and I ended up purchasing a few of them. Actually, they gave me the price list during the photo session, so my husband and I had a week to kind of decide which size we want for our home.
During the viewing session, it starts with kind of a slideshow presentation of the photos they have picked. They then help you go through individual ones to decide which ones you like / dislike. There was no sales talk / pushing for you to purchase anything. It is just that I am sure you will always end up purchasing something, given the photos are quite nice and all.
The thing is, I think you really need to know where you would like to put your photos and how big / how many you would need before you get in the viewing session. Otherwise, I don't think you can make the decision in one hour. If you go back later, that means more expensive photos, as anything ordered during the viewing session is 10% off.
During the viewing session, it starts with kind of a slideshow presentation of the photos they have picked. They then help you go through individual ones to decide which ones you like / dislike. There was no sales talk / pushing for you to purchase anything. It is just that I am sure you will always end up purchasing something, given the photos are quite nice and all.
The thing is, I think you really need to know where you would like to put your photos and how big / how many you would need before you get in the viewing session. Otherwise, I don't think you can make the decision in one hour. If you go back later, that means more expensive photos, as anything ordered during the viewing session is 10% off.
sillyfunkydandy
New member
i had my session when i was pregnant, i went with my hubby.
the photographer is british i requested for it. he is really nice but the pictures are not as good as i would like. i ended up taking only one picture that is included in the $500 package. it is a good deal if u can stick with the one photo. Also, my 5R photo is upgraded to a 8R photo because of a credit card promotion. then i went to another studio for more pics. I also took my new born abd baby pics there too. Venture's studio lighting is simple and use mostly post processing to largely enhance the images.
the photographer is british i requested for it. he is really nice but the pictures are not as good as i would like. i ended up taking only one picture that is included in the $500 package. it is a good deal if u can stick with the one photo. Also, my 5R photo is upgraded to a 8R photo because of a credit card promotion. then i went to another studio for more pics. I also took my new born abd baby pics there too. Venture's studio lighting is simple and use mostly post processing to largely enhance the images.
i had a session with them too - a package for $600 then ended up spending 1K! sad...because i don't think the photos turned out so good but when you decide against buying anything, they will push you to buy....in our opinion the frames were way TOO expensive and so we only bought a photo album (standard 15 pictures) instead...it's really hard to buy 1 photo...seemed too expensive to pay thousans of dollards just for one....anyhow, we won't be going back anymore...for my daughter's first b-day we will go to Moments instead (since my sister uses them and the rates / picture quality is much better - at least from what I've seen of her pictures compared to mine)....
stick with a budget and don't get swayed...honestly thinking about it now - if it means you don't get 10% off if you need longer to decide, I"d pay 10% more...because at the end of the day, you might not even go back...
stick with a budget and don't get swayed...honestly thinking about it now - if it means you don't get 10% off if you need longer to decide, I"d pay 10% more...because at the end of the day, you might not even go back...
I have avoided using them because I don't like the way they do business. In particular, only one hour to decide, choose now or you have to pay extra, heavy sales tactics. I think that is just wrong. It might be legal, but it is still wrong. There are plenty of excellent photographers in HK who are much easier to deal with.
We have used Moments Photography in the past and have been very happy with the photos. They are posted on the internet and you can view and order at any time. You certainly don't have to use their albums or frames.
We have used Moments Photography in the past and have been very happy with the photos. They are posted on the internet and you can view and order at any time. You certainly don't have to use their albums or frames.