If you are greeted by someone who smiles back at you when you say hello and answers your questions, if you are given an outfit that you like and looks good on you, if the person taking your picture gives some good creative direction, and if the person taking your money (and this is not cheap) at the end is respectful, polite, and professional...then everything works out well. You certainly can come away with an absolutely awesome photo and overall enjoyable experience.
That isn't what happened to me.
First, I was greeted by a girl who didn't smile at all. Once you discover how much money it is, most are going to ask questions in order to determine the personal value. She seemed annoyed by this. I only asked what scene was most popular, if she had any suggestions, and if the photographer (I use that term lightly) gave any creative direction when shooting.
Second, after we decided on a general idea and she lifted the velvet rope to let us in, we were handed outfits. You cannot look through them beforehand when making your decision, and you cannot look through them yourself once you get in. You can ask to be shown more options (there aren't many) if you feel comfortable doing so. I was highly discouraged by my unhappy "helper" so I didn't. Also, there are only two very tiny dressing rooms with curtains that only close maybe 95%. Someone who works there can absolutely walk by and see you changing through an opening in the curtains if they really want to. In addition, neither the dressing room, nor the room where you get your photo taken has any mirrors. You are relying 100% on them to let you know if anything needs adjusting..but they don't tell you.
Next it was time for the picture, the most enjoyable part. How much direction you gets depends on who is taking your picture. It seems they do have basic poses for each scene. You do each pose once with a serious face and again with a smile. They do take several pictures so you have some to choose from. It seems to be in the area of 10 pictures, give or take. I highly suggest already having an idea of a few poses before actually doing this. I say again - there are no mirrors there, anywhere.
Lastly, after the pictures are taken, you take the outfits off and change back into your cloths and then you get to see your pictures. We weren't thrilled with our pictures. I immediately saw things they could have easily told us to adjust...a leg here, a face tilt there, hold your prop this way, etc. I wondered if they would let us put the outfits back on and try again. Getting those outfits on was such a big to-do though, at that point I decided to just pick one and buy it. No frame, nothing extra, just the print for a keepsake as the picture wasn't that great. We were very disappointed. Regardless, we went back up front and waited for the image to be printed out. While we were waiting, a lady on the boardwalk handed us a coupon but it was only good until 4pm. We figured it doesn't hurt to try, what's the worst that could happen? Our pictures are printed and we hand the man our coupon. As expected, he says we can't use it because it is only good before 4pm. We jokingly ask if we can come back tomorrow and buy our picture then. He doesn't find this funny at all (don't these people EVER smile??). We then (nicely) ask, 'what if we don't like our picture and don't want it anymore?' just out of pure curiosity, to which he responds, dead serious....."Then I will call the police." Can you believe it? In under two minutes this man is telling us he is going to call the police if we don't buy the little 5x7 crappy picture he just printed out! We couldn't help but to start laughing, but he was 100% serious. He continued, "we did the job and if you don't pay for it, I will call the police."
So be warned...once that velvet rope is lifted and you walk in...if you don't pay up, they will threaten to call the police...who obviously won't do anything, but still...THAT is the kind of people you will be dealing with in this establishment. read more
