This is a not a professional studio, not sure why the colleges use them. I have been trying to order my daughter's Grad photos for a week with no luck. read more

Campus pictures at SMU, changed the room and didn't notify students or put a notice on the door. The photographer was rude and disrespectful. read more

Lauren Studios did a great job on my son's graduation pictures! Specially Angela helped me fixing wrong orders on the chat so smoothly! read more

Last week I posted a review regarding my Photos and the disappointment with Lauren Studios. The photos were sent priority mail and arrived on Saturday. When I opened the box, they were all beautiful Thanks for the stellar customer service from Marjorie. She is truly a lifesaver and an asset to Lauren Studios. Thanks so much! read more

I am ready to tell USC to go with another company and warn any other students about this business. Lauren Studios seem like a good deal at first. You think, "Wow! I can get my photos taken for free?! Or at a low cost?!" The catch is that (as you see from previous reviews) they hit you with a big bill later. I understand companies need to make money. I also understand business models. After all, I just graduated from an institution with business top of mind. However, this company is a rip off. I liked my photographer. She did a great job. But, when it boils down to comparing costs...when you get professional headshots, paying upwards of $300 usually mean different looks AND they are all retouched. To target recent grads like this is disgusting. I reached out because I wanted to see if there was anyway possible that I could get my photos at a lower cost or at least a payment plan. Due to covid-19 I 1. Don't have a job. And 2. The plans I had of taking photos on campus with my cap and gown isn't happening right now. That moment captured when you hit the stage and grab your degree also is missed. The only thing I have are the photos from Lauren Studios. USC still had a virtual commencement and I figured the best bet would be to get my photos to commemorate this time and celebrate. I reached out to Lauren Studios to see if they had anything to work with us recent grads. As you see, they feel like for me AS THE CUSTOMER there is NO RUSH to get MY PHOTOS. As you see from the email attached. They don't care. They are money hungry. I honestly feel like USC should drop them and get another company. I don't want my fellow Trojans to be duped like this or missing out on something good to have because we all don't have the funds to pay for photos like this. It feels pretty crazy when you know it's a photo of your face that you can't have. They need to have more flexible packages. Company seems very archaic to me. It definitely makes me upset knowing that during this time they haven't considered those who are missing out on tradition and would love something to remember graduation day. Obviously we don't have over $300 to throw anywhere. Even the basic package is over $200 and you only get TWO photos! Why allow photographers to take all of these photos to push package "deals" that only allow you to buy two? Truly a waste. They obviously prefer to get no money instead of having affordable options and getting some money. SMH read more

Lauren Studios - Session Photography Near Me - Corona, California

Great experience! Joyce was very helpful and thoughtful throughout the whole process with respect to my photo session. Very diligent in communication and coordination. Highly recommend! Also received help from Marj for an update to my order and was very helpful! read more

VERY UNREASONABLE PRICES PLEASE READ: This studio was pushed down my throat by the University of Michigan via about 15 different emails. The rate was advertised as $30 to get pictures taken for graduation, seemed like a pretty reasonable price to pay, so I booked it. I show up to my appointment on-time and the photographer lets me and the other people standing outside the room that he is very behind and that all appointments will be delayed. I waited an extra hour for my pictures to be taken then the photographer let me know that he was quitting after this shoot because of the disorganization of the company. He said that he was only able to get through 3/16 appointments.This honestly should have been the first red flag. I just recieved my picture proofs, and from what I can tell from the somewhat blurry samples, they turned out pretty decent. I must say though that the prices are extremely disappointing. For a un-retouched digital copy of a SINGLE photo it is $274.94? For you to email me a copy of a picture that you do no editing to? For copies of all digital photos it is $349.95 and if you want any re-touching or physical copies, prices DRASTICALLY go up from there. Just thought that I should share some info on these hidden costs. It is basically a scam to order here. It is barriers to access such as these that make celebrating joyous milestones such as graduation unattainable for first-generation and low-income students such as myself. Moreover, the shockingly high prices for these photos are not really advertised by this company nor by my home institution, so it was extremely misleading when I purchased the $30 photo session that I would have to pay so much more for a copy of my pictures. Safe to say that I will not be purchasing any pictures from Laurenstudios, and I will also be providing active recommendations for students to get photos done elsewhere. DO NOT BOOK THROUGH THIS STUDIO unless you want to spend a fortune on your photos. Support a local photographer once all of your graduation gear arrives instead. read more

People from this business has NO HONESTY. I took their pics when I was in UCI. Their portraits are extremely overpriced, and they know it too, so they send e-mails to us registered under first name "University of California," and last name "Irvine", to make us think that they were the school official. I paid (can't remember exactly, at least ＄75) before taking pics to register because I thought this was the school portrait and that payment should just be one-time. Then I realized there was something wrong until I received those ridiculous overpriced options -- yes my first time payment got me nothing but some bad photos, so bad they didn't even notice me my hair was messy when the portraits were taken. Read other reviews, y'all find how bad their portraits are. I'm just mad because they are pretending to be the school officials. Such nasty behavior must be punished read more

My daughter just got her Senior yearbook portrait taken at school. She was not happy with them. They were rude and did not let her check herself prior to. I'm glad we are not paying for it. We won't be using them for any other pictures. read more

Extremely overpriced. A single unretouched photo is $274.95. They take advantage of students knowing that this is their significant milestone in life, so they push the prices out of the roof. I have attached a copy of the pricing that i have received in the mail from them. I saw a reply from Lauren Studios to someone else's comment that "We are constantly comparing our pricing to other national companies in our business, and currently we are below or in line with their pricing." Well, -The national average cost of a photographer per hour is $175. ( The whole shoot at Laurens studio (15 photos total) was under 25 minutes). -Cost per image $75 to $375 depending on pre-production and post-production editing work into creating the final print (A single unretouched photo is $274.95) Considering the facts above, one unretouched photo should not be anywhere around $274.95. My advice to take your business somewhere else. read more

Lauren Studios - Session Photography Near Me - Corona, California

Our experience with this company was so bad that the district our children attend school in went with an entirely different vendor. Pictures were decent but they lag on responding via email and their customer service is horrible. Between their inability to keep employees and their services being lackluster we are very happy with the new vendor. read more

Angela, thank you so much for helping us with my daughter's senior photos and order. Appreciate the professionalism and quick problem solving. Can't wait to receive our order. read more

Shabnam was great :-) good session for graduation photos and it was fun. Good pictures! Edit - changed my review from 5 to 1 star because the prices are actually insane ... $275 to get the digital copy of a single photo, unretouched! Prints of single images are $60 - $275 depending on size. $60 is for wallet-sized prints. That's ridiculous... Exorbitant amounts that I will not be spending :( I was under the impression that the $25 I spent on this "executive" session would include getting pictures. If I had known that I'd have to spend hundreds to thousands to get access to the images, I would have just gone with the cheapest option for the yearbook. Absolutely a waste of money and time if I can't get the pictures without spending an insane amount. They should be more transparent about the package pricing. Also - the lady (Shabnam) seemed sweet and took good pictures, but she asked me to leave a five star review mentioning her name while she was watching, so I did feel pressured to leave a good review. read more

Our High School contracted Lauren Studios as the default for annual portraits. So we really don't have another choice. The package pricing is by letters. Package A1, B1, C1 etc. Any package under $28 will not let you pick a background. Online ordering misleading on background color for E1 and F1 packages. Sample photo shows simple and plain blue background but paper order form says in small, tiny print that the default background for F1 package is a psychedelic, vibrant, primary color rainbow swirl choice. How many families would really want that busy background as a default? Not to mention every student of low income will be identified easily by their flashy background choice. This is misleading and in very poor taste, Lauren Studios. read more

Lauren Studios - Session Photography Near Me - Corona, California

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I would not recommend this business because I paid to take photos in September, and I did not hear anything back until mid April. However, after waiting clueless for 7 months, Daisy reached out to me. She seemed to really care about the issue and helped me get the photos that were lost during the 7 months. Daisy was great, it just seems like the things that occurred were out of her control; but she made the situation reasonable better. Thanks Daisy! read more

The customer service I experienced with Lauren Studios has been outstanding! I made a mistake in selecting my daughter's senior picture for her yearbook and Caitlyn helped me resolve the issue over the phone. She was so polite and pleasant. We just received her pictures. Beautiful taken but a bit over retouched. I spoke with Angela and she will have the pictures corrected and a new set sent. She was incredibly professional and nice. Thank you for the excellent customer service! read more

I have to say that Lauren Studios is very professional, accommodating, and overall wonderful to work with. My order was fully placed and shipped to my address very quickly, even after I had not called them to confirm my order for about 3 months! Caitlyn spoke to me through the phone, got my order corrected, and fully placed it in for processing shortly after the call. Really just an excellent service, and that's not even to mention how amazing the photos are! Overall, Lauren Studios is just fantastic and do not disappoint. read more

It is impossible to reschedule an appointment. I had to book a new session and then get refunded for the first one. When I went to my rescheduled session, they had cancelled it without letting me know. I had rearranged my day and gotten fully ready. When I called them, they said the office didn't even know it was cancelled. Extremely unprofessional. It is also impossible to get them on the phone. I can't even believe someone answered, but it was because I clicked the menu option to schedule an appointment. Of course they would only answer to try to make money instead of helping people who have already paid. read more

The pricing for these photos is outrageous. Our graduating student was so excited to order prints after a paid session. We almost fell off our chair after placing six photos into the cart and the total was $600 plus shipping. So when I called in disbelief I was told that one printed photo is $69 plus $15 for shipping. That's $84 for one photo. When I asked how much it is just to receive the digital photos via email, I was told that they charge $295 PER DIGITAL PHOTO VIA EMAIL. The representative suggested I sign up for their payment plan. Most students are already in debt after four years of college looking for a job. It's not right to take such advantage of them. read more

Borderline SCAM, terrrible all around! (College graduation pictures) 1) website: extremely painful to navigate. After spending a good hour, it dawned on me that maybe this is on purpose: exhaust the buyer into just buying whatever package is available, which of course means $$$$$ (more about this topic below) 2) picture quality and options: quality is no better than iPhone selfies. Options of sizes and finishes are vast, but poses uploaded to choose from are not. 3) price: I understand that they need/want to make money. I also understand that the school likely gets a cut for every order, so they probably just pass them onto the students/parents. That said, two things to consider here: first, we live in 2021 where anyone (I really mean anyone) can take professional looking pictures with a smart phone. There isn't a good excuse to charge so much for mediocre pictures at best. Second, they must be terrible business people. They are pissing off potential customers like me who would have spent $$$ (3 times what it should normally be worth), 90% of which would go straight to their bottom line since most of their costs are already sunk when they took the proofs. By trying to charge $$$$$ (5 times what should be), reasonable customers will simply walk away. Just a terrible business model, sneaky, and insane greed! Hope the universities figure out this isn't good for them either. read more

This is an *addition* to the previous review and in no way invalidates what I've experienced. In fact, I realized I left out some more details about the tone and the body language of how the photographer behaved when she said those remarks... but I'm going to move on. Anyhow, back to the updated review~ I've written only several 1-2 star reviews and they rarely get attention. As soon as the first review was posted, senior management has taken immediate responsibility to try to alleviate the situation and have contacted the photographer. So, major props to Michael for taking this head on. I've been told they will try to move forward as a company to improve. I don't know how this would change overnight. But, I'll leave this to future Yelpers at USC for the updates. As for me, I am done. read more

Quality of the pictures is horrible!  This studio took the senior pictures for both of our children for AHS (two separate graduating classes) and for both kids these are by far the worst pictures we've EVER seen of them.  Our younger student is extremely photogenic, one of those people who just doesn't take a bad picture - ever, but Lauren Studios sure changed that.  36 pictures and not a single one is good.  Not one!  Thinking that maybe it was just the biased parent thing, we showed the proofs to our neighbor who is a professional photographer, and teaches photography at a university.  His response?  "These pictures suck.  Who the hell took these?  These pictures were NOT taken by a professional!"  Okay, it's not just us - good to know. Paid the top sitting fee for both students.  We were able to find at least two in the older student's proofs to order, but the younger student's?  The super photogenic one?  Not a single picture worth paying their EXTREMELY over inflated prices for.   We'll order enough to get our deposit from the sitting fee covered, but the pictures that we'll send out in graduation announcements, etc. are going to be taken by someone else.  Anyone else!  Even JCPenney would be a better option!  There is NO WAY we will send these embarrassing, pathetic pictures out to ANYONE.  It is bad enough that one of these crappy pictures will be in the yearbook. read more

Was told that I would get photos for around $80. Turns out, that was just payment for the session. I see that many others have had this experience as well. I am disappointed that my school would require us to use this studio just to be in the yearbook. As a graduating student, I don't have $300-$600 to spend on one photo (after the $40-$80 session). The only plus side is that everyone I interacted with was super nice. But goodness, please stop taking advantage of broke students. We have it hard enough as it is. read more

I did my senior portraits with Lauren Studios and Marilyn was my photographer. She was very nice and my photos turned out great! The session was very quick and professional but wasn't rushed. Thanks Marilyn! read more

Seeing these reviews, I am no longer surprised by my experience. I wasn't going to share at first, but as I sit here waiting for proofs from my child's photo session I decided too. For $125.00 I expect a bit more than what I experienced. For one, my child did not even have the option of clothing changes in that price which just as an opinion I think is ridiculous. We were told no one would be allowed in the room but my child, and there would be temperature checks. Neither of those things happened, because nothing was said to me while I was helping them with things. There was no changing area set up, not even a curtain or an upright privacy screen. Nothing. We were told one of the school bathrooms should be open. We couldn't find it so they changed in the hallway. Thankfully we bought our own shirt because each one they provided had dirt and sweat stains around the collars. It was pretty gross to be honest that those were used over and over, and apparently not cleaned properly. How is that for a sanitary issue? Lastly it has been 3 weeks, but I keep getting emails that my child needs to take their photo, even though we already have. Even the website states they haven't made an appt. I can only hope we see something soon, and that the yearbook photo will be given to the school in time. I have heard rumors about the costs of their actual prints, so I am not looking forward to that when they day actually comes. You aren't allowed to pay for photos after the fact either, You are just stuck buying a expensive session, and hoping for the best. It would be nice to pay for a small sitting fee, then choose from there. I have let the school know my concerns as well for whatever that is worth read more

Pretty unfortunate that most of the larger universities in the area use this company for their graduation photo services. Most people buying their grad photos probably don't care too much about customer service or anything like that (more about that later), but even the products themselves turn out to be pretty crap. The final photos came out off-center and crooked, and the proofs don't show that because the proofs they give you are cropped in. Photo resolution is poor and I'm surprised that a "professional" photo company uses sub-$200 entry-level cameras to take their photos with. Prices are, as you'd probably expect, through the roof and absolutely outrageous. No surprises here, be prepared to dish out an arm and a leg if you want to buy their photo packages. The WORST thing about this place is the customer service! They ignore half of my emails and when they do finally reply, comes an incredibly rude and snobby half-assed one sentence message which doesn't even fully acknowledge the asked question. And while on the topic of disgusting customer service, I arrived to my scheduled appointment to a room full of un-setup equipment and nobody there. I waited 20 minutes and still no staff, so I called customer service to ask about it and was told to "just wait" because the photographer was "probably running late". No shit, as if I couldn't figure that much out on my own. It took nearly an HOUR after my scheduled appointment time for someone to come, what a joke! No explanation, no apology. The website/portal that you have to use throughout the entire process is lousily done and full of bugs, seems like it must have been developed by an underpaid and technically impaired intern. As with most photo companies that schools hire, this place is just garbage and an absolute scam. If you're lucky, you'll have paid half of your life savings for a shitty set of photos, else expect to also experience the headache of having to deal with their customer service. Do yourself a massive favor and just take your own grad photos and print them out at Costco. Not even kidding, the photo quality from most cell phone cameras these days is better than from the cameras this place uses, LOL, yikes read more

Grossly overpriced. I didn't want the standard package, just one digital, downloadable photo to add to my LinkedIn profile as a head-shot after graduation. The price: $200 (or 250) for one head-shot! Needless to say I skipped out. After that, all I kept receiving from LS was a barrage of emails saying my photos would be deleted in the next few days or hours. These emails continued so obviously the emails were all a bunch of lies. Stay away from this company. read more

Lauren Studios - Stay away from these liars...emails sent over the years telling me pics would be deleted so I could act fast and purchase. - Session Photography Near Me - Corona, California

Really great communication to resolve issues from Caitlyn, quick and easy to cancel or rearrange appointments

Can I give 0 stars please. Unbelievable expensive and low quality. I expected to pay a little more for graduate photos, but almost 300 $ for 1 digital photo. Not ethical in my opinion. No thank you! We will take our own meaningful and better photos. read more

Insane, there was no mention of having to pay 300$ per photo you wanted, the price you get quoted is ONLY FOR THEM TO TAKE THE PHOTO. You don't get the picture, don't waste money on any proofs or anything other than the cheapest. read more

I just finished a photo session with Shabnam. She was good at taking the photos and gave me the option to check them out and make sure I liked what we were doing before moving on to next poses or whatever, and she obviously knew what to do to try to get the best photos for you. I was feeling a little shy (i hate doing this sort of thing) and I wouldn't say she's the most outgoing person on the planet--the whole studio seems pretty no frills in general--but she actually turned out to be very kind as I warmed up to her. I think she might come across slightly cold if you aren't particularly friendly and try to make conversation or something. I am giving four stars because I see now from other reviews that theres a lot of issues with pricing. I too was of the belief that these photos were going to be free and all I was paying was the cost of the session which was around 30 bucks I think. Now that Im seeing all these reviews about photo packages that cost anywhere from 200-500 dollars im like...nope! I guess I'll have to see what pops up in the email but I will say that its just fundamentally misleading. I didn't realize that it was a completely privatized practice or I otherwise wouldn't have bothered or I'd just have asked a friend to do the photos. I, like other reviewers, was of the mentality that this was associated with the university (they sent us all an email about it) but it seems like its a private studio that just has contracts with the UC system. read more

Too expensive. Will not buy. Does anyone know why the University of California San Diego keeps bringing them back? Maybe the Rich grads from La Jolla, California keep them in Business. With some much technology this day, save some money. It is cheaper to buy an IPhone pro 14 Max from T-Mobile at $1,200 minus $800 from turning in your iPhone 12 and paying them in payments for two years with no interest. Than buying these pictures. Economic package starts at $175 for only one pose. They do a minimum of 3 poses. $175 * 3 = $525 (The iphone was only $400 and they have it in purple) read more

Customer service was impeccable today. I called several times to ask multiple questions about my orders and they were so patient. They even helped me place my order. Looking forward to getting my son's graduation pics in the mail. Thank you Angela!!! read more

AVOID THIS PLACE! We already wasted $$ and time to get our daughter ready for senior photos. They did not show up to the school. We started receiving texts an hour AFTER appointments that there was "car trouble," but customer service said we weren't even on the calendar despite getting multiple texts and emails reminders throughout the day. Many students were disappointed. Depending on who we reached on the phone, the excuse for their no-show changed. I have heard that they were very unprofessional, but not showing when there are multiple appointments was still a big surprise. I heard that other students did not get the proofs they paid for. This is a terrible company with even worse customer service. I wish our school district had chosen another photography studio. read more

I write poor review once my life time. But Lauren Studio really deserves it. I think they should receive a 0 star! First, the photos they took for us were not good. We were not ready before they clicked the button and took photos for us. They are in a big rush all they want is to get things done quickly! We were not satisfied at all with the results. Then, I had to make second appointment on the other day @5:50pm to retake the photos, but this time, sometime even worse happened: The photographer stood us up for no reason, not only me, there were other two people were waiting for the photographer to show up as well! We don't have their number, the only number Lauren Studios repeated is the customer service number, they closes @5pm, so there is no way we can reach out to anyone. After waiting for almost 2 hours, we had to leave. They literally waste our time, we had make up and drive to the location, 6 hours for getting ready. Next day, I called customer service, and told them we were stood up for the photo session, the customer service person said they don't know who the photographer is and there is nothing they can do about it, only if we reschedule appointments. Lauren Studio did not apologize and make it up to us. So we had to reschedule again, which we didn't want to. They refused to provide refund and forced us to make another schedule! Another week after, we finally took the photos, but still not good result. The photographer said it's okay they can do retouching for us. But they didn't say that costs money. But the point is not this, the point is that they asked us again for more than $335 to get the digital copy! This demand is unreasonable, because we already paid once, our photos belong to us, for not them! And we never been told before we have to pay $335 more to get digital files. This is ROB. But I had to... After purchased for photo session, my friend told me that other places only cost $90, so I regretted and called them immediately I want to get refund before they send me the photo and I accepted the file. They refused and just sent me the file, they also told me, once the file was sent to customers, no refund. I called customer service again, they kept repeating no refund. Until now, I still didn't open the file. Be careful friends. read more

While the prices are a bit iffy, the customer service is unmatched. From the photo session to completing a purchase, they were patient and kind with all my questions/requests. Shout out to Stefany who helped me understand the package I bought and really went out of her way to make sure I felt confident in the process. read more

*Btw to all the upset students, don't just complain here. Go to your school's student government that plans yearbooks/portrait photos and complain there if you really want to change contracts/studios or they way we take photos :) I took 10 photos for $15 and found out it would start at $200 if I wanted to order prints. Initially, I was upset like the other students here. I was turned off by the pricing and took a few days to reflect whether it was worth it. Here's why I ended up ordering a package anyways: 1) Due to COVID-19, my graduation is virtual. I won't have the opportunity to do my own photo-ops or even wear a robe + tassel. The photos I took with the studio were the only opportunities I had to wear a cap and gown. So I do feel like I had no choice but to buy it. 2) The prices are not targeted towards us, it's targeted towards our parents lol. That's why they ask for your parents' emails when you sign up. They send multiple emails to your parents to purchase too. I would not be able to afford the photos as a student. In the end I asked my mom to pay for it. I worked hard to not have her pay for my education (got scholarships & jobs), so she was happy to foot the $330 bill for my photos. 3) Portraits are not the only businesses that target your money. Diploma frames and cap/gowns are quite expensive too. Diploma frames cost $150-$300. Ofc you don't have to get one, but we all know everyone does. Cap & gowns are rented, you don't even keep them, just the tassels. Essentially, you will end up paying a lot of money one way or another when you graduate. You don't get a lot of value for the money paid, but it's all emotional/sentimental costs that will drive you to pay anyways. 4) They have early discounts. $50 off $300 if you order early. 5) I had a good experience with my photographer, she was helpful and friendly. My thoughts for how Lauren Studios could appease their angry student clientele: - I understand the business model, but perhaps you could add a few extra items in the packages, the kinds of things that people get from Costco, JC Penny, CVS, etc. We can easily get large canvas prints, calendars, photo books, etc. from those places and spend less than $100. Obviously people will be mad if they pay $200-$500 and only get regular prints. Hope you can add a few more products to the packages in the future. - Should offer 6-month/12-month payment plans. Low-income families will not be able to afford those $300+ packages. Sure, they can order individual photos for $70 each, but that's even worse value for money paid. Many family members want those photos, not just the students. Especially during pandemic times when some of us are already struggling financially. read more

THANKS FOR MILKING MONEY OUT OF STUDENTS, Lauren Studios It truly saddens me to give criticisms against a business. I know thriving in the business world is not a joke -- but Lauren Studios is quite a joke. They are the official graduation yearbook photographer contracted by UC Berkeley, and I don't understand why. 1) Poor quality pictures, poor quality sessions 2) GROSSLY OVERPRICED on all products (digital, printed, retouch, etc.). And for what? For a mediocre, money-oriented service :( 3) It is a hassle to get a session appointment because of their hours (that they were available in our campus--it was very selective, 10-5 on TTh, when I have class all day? I actually had to skip classes to attend the photography session) 4) The website isn't very helpful. They need to haul that thing. I wasted so much time trying to figure out which size/package/combo I need and which one is being referred to by the selections. I had ordered two products because the first order wasn't what I needed, the order website wasn't very informational/user-friendly. On my end, I think I spent money I would otherwise not have spent (what a waste). On their end, they probably think it was a good business. Totally unsatisfactory read more

Made an appointment with them just for it to be the same day as a whole fraternity. Why book others the same day and not acknowledge appointment times??? Nevermind the fact the frat guys saw a woman waiting and didn't have the decency to let her go first. What a great experience and waste of $5. read more

I had a li bit of a hard time navigating and choosing my pictures. So, I called them and the girl that helped me was very nice. She not only had the patience of walking me thru the site, but also help me in choosing the details on the pictures. At the end, their site had a glitch and she made sure from her side, that I will get the right frame that wasn't a choice to pick while I was doing online. The only thing to complaint, is that the prices are high and when you have more than one kid, I would like to have a discount. Everything else was good. Now I just have to wait for the pictures. read more