Lauren Michele Poucel is owner and photographer of Tide + Pines Photography and boy what an awesome…read morephotographer she is! She's timely, ENERGETIC and just a fantastic person to coordinate with! We left feeling like she was a part of our dynamic family. It's a rarity when I get my husband and three young, adult children together on any given day so when it does happen - what do I do? BOOK A PHOTOGRAPHER QUICK!! Actually, it took quite a bit of planning to get my family to get a day off together - booking Lauren/Tides + Pines was a BREEZE!! I found out about Lauren / Tides + Pines through a mutual friend and I was happy with the style of pictures taken of her at her event so I nabbed her up quickly before her calendar filled. Her natural style/approach and minimal editing to photography is what appealed to me. We decided to meet at not-so-secret-beach at Ko'Olina at which time Lauren and her bubbly self show up. Unlike most photographers that I've come across, she doesn't really stage you for shots (if that's the style you're looking for). I wanted raw..."semi-staged" photos that captures our family personality and dynamics. Something easy...not stiff or staged because that's just not us. We have the Chandler Bing smiler, the ham, critical mommy, the "i don't wanna smile, my eyes are not even because of these dimples," to the anthro poser. We're just not good photo subjects for any photographer. Lauren makes the photo session seemingly painless!! Really!! Just be yourself and she will discreetly move and shoot while you are in motion. She may suggest places for you to sit or stand but all in all, the shots are up to you - she just shoots them. And shoot is what she does!! She nimbly moves and maneuvers herself in places that allows her the best shots (i saw her in the bush, on top of slippery rocks, tide pools and on the ground in the sand). She's just the easiest photographer to work with that I've ever met and made the awkward photo session gut busting fun and oh so painless. Our proofs were sent to us immediately (within a week). I'm sure that as soon as word is out that she is that good - her turn around time for proofs will increase in time. But for now, we are quite lucky to have discovered such a gem in a field already littered with talented photographers. She was quick to add that if we wanted anything edited she would be able to do it but really, we were just so pleased with ALL our pictures!! It wouldn't have been fair to have her edit 50 pounds off my pictures so I guess "raw" is what we are going with this year. We all looked great and I was happy to see that she did capture the essence of our family.

Have a great session with Tides + Pines. Lauren was able to capture the beauty of my new little…read morefamily. She choose the perfect setting and was great at working with a baby. After the session she did a quick turnaround and the images were easy to download from her website. I hope to work with her again in the future.

This was a genuinely traumatic experience. I have written a very in-depth review on another…read moreplatform. I believe they remove negative reviews, but my experience is very much in line with the other negative reviews re: the Boudoir Project. I went through with the shoot even after their website told me false information. (They claimed no purchase was required, yet The online form told me that the shoot would not take place unless I reached the end of their form to make a confirmation, yet it would not allow me to reach the end of the form without making a purchase). I found several other reviews from people indicating they had similarly been misled. I was wary, but gave the benefit of the doubt and went through with the shoot. It was truly a nightmare experience. I can't write everything due to character limits, but here is what happened: I was told I wasn't allowed to bring anyone with me, so I came alone. They directed me to do some explicit poses. When I told the photographer clearly and directly that I was not comfortable with one of the poses, she told me to just do it anyway. When I would refuse, she would just keep telling me to do it. It was very alarming to me. I was no longer consenting, just complying. One of the poses involved simulating something that starts with an "m". I felt very violated by the ordeal. The operations manager, Kelly, later indicated to me this is how they normally operate, writing it is how they "try to help push women out of their comfort zone". Bomshell's website claims "your comfort is our #1 priority", but clearly that was not the case. This is extremely disturbing to me, as consent cannot be pressured out of someone, and their whole business revolves around intimate photography. so insisting someone perform certain explicit poses when they have clearly stated that they are not consenting or willing to do so is egregious, especially considering that they keep the rights to sell or use the photos that are taken. In the photo review stage, initially the photographer Kelsey was the one going over photos with me. She told me we had to view each photo in turn, and she would not remove one of the photo when I asked. So when Caitlyn sat down to replace here, the first thing I said to Caitlyn was to remove that photo. Caitlyn snapped "NO. That one stays". She was not joking, because she would not remove it for several minutes. Again, this was very disturbing to me; as they were not actually allowing me to choose the photos. Eventually I told Caitlyn I would only take one photo (the promotion said there was one free photo), but she would not accept this. She seemed irritated and said "lets just calculate the price for them all", and pulled out her calculator and calculated the cost of all the photos. Caitlyn began pressuring me to finance four photos with affirm. I kept refusing. Caitlyn resorted to directly commanding me to apply for financing, commanding each small step along the way (as in "take out your phone. Go to the app store. Download Affirm. Open it." etc). When Affirm rejected me, she commanded me to apply to paypal. When paypal rejected me, she wanted me to hand her my card. I didn't have a car, so if I tried to run, I couldnt garauntee I could get away. A few times, I unlocked my phone to try to text or call for help, but noticed whenever I did, they would stare at my phone screen; so I couldn't do it without them seeing. I was always surrounded by either Caitlyn / her employees / her non-employee "friend", Leslie. It was a deeply traumatic experience, and I believe my safety was at risk if I did not comply. I signed the contract (which was just a checkbox on a digital form - I was hoping I could just write "I am not signing" instead of my signature, or cross things out to invalidate it and give myself time to escape, but since it was just a checkbox, I couldn't. I stared at it quite a long time. I the end, felt I had exhausted my options to leave safely without signing; I only signed for my safety.) AFTER the contract was signed and Caitlyn had used my card, Caitlyn asked "I didn't pressure you, did I?" in a sort of tee-hee voice. I was afraid that if I said yes, they might command me to sign something else stating it had been freely signed. The fact she asked tells me that indicated she knew what she had done, and I believe waiting until after the contract had been signed was intentional, as Bomshell and the operations manager state that they never give any refunds at ANY point after a payment is made. They are not honest, and not safe. I ended up making a complaint to the NY Attorney General's office. They keep complaints forever, and when a new complaint comes in, they compare them to the old ones to look for patterns. Edit: I received notice from Yelp that *someone* complained about my review, yet it does not violate policy so it is staying up. They can try to come at me legally for my review, but they'll lose, as what I have written is true.

I was also baited into believing I had been selected for a 'free' boudoir session…read more I was told a $199 "refundable" deposit was required to hold my spot, informed It would be refunded on the day of my shoot. Come to find out it is not refundable, Had a chat with a woman about my session, after she talks me up for 20 minutes, she casually mentions there is a required purchase minimum of $1600. ("portrait guarantee" as they so eloquently call it). And I've already secured my spot, and the info was NOT clearly communicated to me beforehand. There's nothing wrong with their pricing. There's plenty wrong with multiple women's reviews feeling tricked with this bait and switch, shady business approach. I'm eating the deposit and canceling my session. I do not wish to be associated with a company like this. So disappointing. Seems they do beautiful work, but the business 'promo' feels really shady. I'm clearly not alone in this experience. ***addendum*** I was informed because I was selected, I was exempt from the minimum purchase requirement. This was only made clear to me when I told them I wanted to cancel.

Leo is amazing wedding photographer. I really love his colorful bright images. He is also super…read morefriendly and one of the most easiest and outgoing photographers I worked with. His photo turn around tone is amazing because he works so hard!

My darling bride Suzie and I were under a budget constraint and Leo was a bit outside of it, but…read moreafter viewing his work, meeting with him and viewing some online reviews, it was an easy decision. DO NOT FOREGO the magic of a great photographer when planning your wedding! As the Groom, and I can speak for my Bride, the event went SO QUICKLY that we can barely remember any of it. That is, until you look at Leo's magical work. While he's "present" clicking away, he's not obtrusive in any way. Our wedding may have been different than some in that we didn't have many formal photos. With a few captured, we asked Leo to simply snap away and capture the feelings, emotions, new acquaintances, hugs, clinks, and conversations and the results were more than we hoped for. In our case we had legions of friends from various Provinces in Canada and States in the US. To see them converge at Hayloft on the Arch and mingle - and be captured in delightful moments is priceless. Leo really was, icing on the cake to a perfect, and most beautiful and magical wedding. Thank you Leo for your artistry, passion, energy and talent. It will be forever admired. Love John & Suzie

Stay fresh Designs Art tonights exhibit downtown Syracuse theme Halloween and the Macabre. People…read morecame in costumes- ( then again- maybe they weren't in costume!!! ) Incredible variety of talent , styles and art image's including black light imagery. ( See Pix) A small place where weekly displays are placed to show ( and sell) A good turnout of people at tonights presentation. I'm told, how it works is, Displays are up for -a week. Anyone interested in purchasing sees Tommy, gives there info and when exhibit closes they can be called to purchase and pick up their items. Lovely sweet - or- maybe not!!!- Natalee **o ( see pix) works behind the counter selling drinks ( hmm- I saw nothing Red!) Then there was The Nurse in White- Darin! A few lovely girls with some extra pointy teeth, and even Woody/ Tommy was there. A smaller Venu that was really fun with some great art works and definitely worth a visit.

From the owner: Stay Fresh is a design agency and art gallery located in Syracuse, NY. They serve local and…read morenational clients and their art gallery hosts national and local talent. They handle all types of creative work and have one of the best reputations in CNY for creative work.

Love the attention that the two of them took to make sure that my pictures looked great! I did not…read morerealize I was posing for pictures because they made it very interactive and I forgot what the photographer was doing so thank you. didn't look so stiff in the pictures

my school had this studio for year book pictures this year. the lighting was atrocious the…read morebackground made my skin tone completely orange she told me to close my mouth and mid closing my mouth she took the picture and selected that picture. I went home and cried because everyone will see that photo In my year book. I haven't seen a good photo at my school this year this studio sucks don't select them to take any of your pictures.