Had a great first experience with Jenna for my 3 month old's pics. She was super patient and had a great attitude. Place was not busy at all, but was given a heads up for Christmas time. Best to try and avoid weekends. read more

The place is a mess. Trash everywhere. We had an appointment and still waited over an hour. Pics weren't ready to view for another 2 hours, and you can't just buy digitals over the phone and have them send them. Nope nope nope. read more

Made an appointment and it was useless got there on time and the studio was packed with a bunch of families waiting around. We checked in and were told it be 45 minutes or more even with appointment. I knew I was risking taking portraits at the mall but I assumed it wouldn't be so bad. Wrong. You get what you pay for. Pay the little extra for a private studio. This was embarrassing. read more

Decided to book a session for my newborn, and family portraits. Best decision I could have made, Jenna was very sweet, and helpful. She took her time and was very kind with my baby. All the pictures came out great, ended up buying everything, and even getting a membership. Will definitely be back for more baby milestones! read more

It's the most depressing place to be. I will never step in to a studio again. The photographer is very unprofessional, she didn't even put any decors up for Christmas I had to ask her over and over. I don't recommend this place read more

JC Penney Portrait Studio - This is what Christmas looks like. - Photography Stores & Services Near Me - Montclair, California

I understand it's the holidays, but this was not fun once you got there due to lack of proper service. They were behind and we waited 30 mins past our appt time while the photographer sat at the computer. There was about 4 other parties waiting, so we tried to be patient and understand. Once inside, Kaylee, our photographer basically rushed us through our shoot and we kept doing the same 3 poses, nothing like you see on the site or internet of the cute poses! It was me and my 2 sisters, so we expected some cute poses or such but it was horrible! Then she said it would take about 15 minutes to be able to view them! We waited almost an HOUR. And when I got up to ask, they said "but you need to take your pictures to view them" and the photographer was like "no they're done, they're ready for viewing!" so basically they were looking for us to TAKE the pics when they were already ready. Prices: Don't even get me started. They wanted over $500 for 2 canvas and the digital album! The pictures were so face tuned and the poses were horrible. read more

This location has not had any recent reviews, so I hope this helps. We had a session today, Oct 4th, and the current manager's name is Jenna. I came in with low expectations for many reasons: first, the bad reviews here on Yelp, second, the Groupon was so cheap, and finally, this was just "for fun" because I have daughters, and they missed picture day last year because of COVID, and again missed picture day last week. I ended up actually spending money buying the entire digital album and also prints, because this session was so fun for my daughters, the pictures turned out amazing, and my family loved Jenna! She was the photographer and also did a lot of the ancillary staff work in the time that we were there. I have so much respect for hard workers like her! She also took great pictures and knew how to make my girls giggle and she wanted a natural smile, and didn't settle for fake smiles and tense poses. My girls had fun with her! She was so nice to them! Even though my original plan was to just use my Groupon, as previously mentioned, the session and photos exceeded my expectations. I loved the photos so much that I ended up upgrading, and Jenna STILL helped me get the best deals by going over the current promotions. With the holidays coming up, I am seriously considering a session here and buying gift certificates for my little niece and nephew to be able to take pictures here! read more

This is the best Jc Penney for photos! Jenna is amazing and so are all the staff! We've gone to different locations before and I've always had to retake the pictures or just wasn't satisfied. But this location is great. Very nice staff, they have the most props, and Jenna has magical powers with children! I always want to buy every single picture! Try this location out and get a session with Jenna, but be prepared to have so many pictures to choose from! read more

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Jade was so sweet and patient with my 2 young kids. She was very professional, and the pictures are out beautifully. I used a Groupon for this session, and she did not pressure me to purchase any more than I had already bought. She was, however, knowledgeable and gave me options that were still reasonably priced. I ended up purchasing 2 additional sheets of prints. My experience went smoothly and only took about an hour. read more

Got here about 20mins early was told they were about 10 to 15 mins behind here here for over an hour and still nothing this place needs to stop over booking and get it together everyone here is complaining and frustrated by the time they are ready to take the picture the kids will be crankier then they already are read more

Decided to give my mom a family session for Christmas since we've never had an family portrait before and we are all adults now. Was so excited for this experience. Then we got there. The wait is awful. Had an appointment at 4, they said 15-20 minute wait. That turned into an hour wait. For a customer oriented establishment, no sense of urgency at all. Everyone in my party is older but the party before me (who was also waiting a while) had mostly kids under 5 and the kids were so fussy. I felt sorry for the parents. If you are looking for a fun and bonding experience with your family, this is not it. Once your turn comes you just want to leave and get it over with. My equivalent to this experience: being in an airplane filled with fussy children for over an hour. read more

I cannot understand the low rating others have given. We had an 11:00 appointment. It's the Christmas season, so understandably they were a little behind. My grandson 18 mons was a bit cranky. The photographer was patient and did her best with a difficult subject. No complaints from me. read more

Horrible horrible service! Never again will I book an appointment at this location. We arrived at our scheduled appointment on time and the "photographer" told us she was behind and asked to walk around the mall and she would call us. Mind you, we had 6 children with us waiting to have their photo taken, one of whom is autistic. We walked around the mall for 50 minutes and she still hadn't called so we decided to go see if they were ready. When we arrived the "photographer" was sitting at a computer and she didn't know who we were. She asked if we had an appointment and I reminded her that we were there for our earlier appointment. She told us to have a seat where we waited for another 15 minutes but by then the kids were in a bad mood so we just left. Never again! Not to mention the photographer looked seedy and did not have the proper customer service skills. I doubt she was a real photographer. read more

We had an appointment, arrived 15 minutes early, and an hour after our scheduled appointment, we still had not started taking pictures. We had 10 young kids, which was disclosed to them when we made the appointment over the phone. 10 kids who were restless after waiting so long. Rescheduling was not an option since we flew in from the Bay Area to take family pictures. We escalated to the manager, but that made no difference. Such a nightmare, not only for the lack of respect for people's time but also lack of urgency after seeing us wait for so long. I do not recommend this location at all. read more

I've been coming here for 3 years. We take my son's pictures every six months. The first time here we were set up with Angie and right away I was convinced I wanted her to take my son's pictures from here on out. His first visit was when he was 3 months old. She was very patient and understanding. understandably he did not want to be moved around constantly but she made the whole process comfortable. She pays so much attention to detail. She will retake a picture until shes sure its wonderful. Unfortunately one day Angie was not available so we were set up with someone else. I didn't feel the same about her technique and she seemed rushed. Needless to say every appointment thereafter I was sure to request Angie. read more

I took my daughter here today for her 6 month portraits. I was so angry after the experience that I actually created a yelp for this location just so I could review it. The experience started off well enough. We only had to wait 10 min past our appointment to start the shoot. She asked us to sit the baby on the floor and step away so we don't get in the way of the lighting. My daughter like most 6 month old babies is still working on her balance. After a few poses the photographer Angie sat her up facing the wall and proceeded to coerce her (using what looked like a duster) to look over her shoulder. She kept trying to get her to look further back to the point where my baby lost balance and fell backwards hitting the back of her head on the floor. I guess I was most upset because as I saw it I ran to try to stop her from falling while Angie who was literally within arms length just stared with a blank look on her face. She fell so hard it made a loud thud and my baby is not a cryer and she was wailing. I picked her up immediately to try to console her but she was crying so hard her dad had to take her outside the studio. Still Angie just stood there unbothered. No attempt at an apology. Didn't even ask if baby was ok. I asked her if they have a thick blanket or mat that babies could sit on. She said no. We had to stop the shoot because my baby was still crying and I wasn't going to sit her back down on the carpet. So needless to say our whole experience was ruined. We didn't get many shots to choose from and the shots that we did get were mediocre at best. I called our pediatrician and was told to monitor the baby's behavior for the next 24 hrs to make sure she doesn't have head trauma. I asked Angie to speak with a manager and she said she wouldn't be there until Monday. I should have asked to speak with the store manager. I am never ever ever using this studio again. And best believe come Monday I will be making a call to speak with a manager. read more