I had the brilliant idea to get some bedroom pictures taken for my husband's birthday, so I searched Groupon to see if I could get a deal (photography is expensive). I came across 4 Lilly's deal and jumped on it (I have family in the industry and know the worth of a CD of images I can print whenever and wherever). So I book Jessica for the first weekend in April (hubby's birthday is about 6 wks away). By the way, her response time was horrible - it took days to hear back between emails to schedule a date.
She comes, takes pictures, and then at the end of the shoot tells me that she got a huge response from the Groupon deal and is overbooked, so I won't see the images until 8 wks out. That's a really, really long time for a photo shoot turn around, and it's way past hubby's birthday, and I still have to order the prints.
Eight weeks comes and goes without a word (about June 6th). I emailed her a few days later, checking on the status. In response, she sends out a mass email to all of her waiting clients telling us that she is swamped and our pictures will be ready "between July 8th and July 11th"; she includes a coupon for 50% off my next service. As if.
So now we're another month out from the original due date. July 11 comes and goes. I email her on the 13th asking what the status is. She responds days later saying that she's still working on them and to give her a few more days. Keep in mind, I had a photo shoot with her almost FOUR MONTHS ago, and it's almost two months past the original delivery date I was given. We are now on the third due date she's given me.
Over the next week I email her a few more times, the first was pretty direct and blunt that I was fed up and irritated by the way she was running things, and the others were just annoying "when can I see my pictures?" and "haven't heard back, still waiting" emails (squeaky wheel gets the grease, right?). She finally emails back with the images.
The images: they're alright, but the attention to detail is just not there. I, with my untrained, naked eye, can see things that should have been tucked or moved or hidden or tweaked at the shoot that were just missed. The irony is that she brought an assistant. Between the two of them, they should have caught these things. Oh, that's right - the "assistant" just kind of stood off to the side and didn't really do anything. Maybe she should have had her working on editing all the pictures instead of standing in a hotel room doing nothing.
I do not recommend this business unless you have months and months to kill between the shoot and seeing your prints. (ie. take your Christmas pictures in April) read more
