Pros: Undeniable photographic talent, beautiful editing, very personable and comfortable to be shoot in front of.
Cons: Impossible to contact or communicate with, unprofessional and immature in conflict, irrelevant imaging, missing package pieces. CONSISTENTLY, as the BBB would report.
I had my senior photos done with this photographer in fall 2011. Our session was mostly very nice- The photographer was super personable and fun (I would comment that she pushed me away from original shooting location, though I did go along with it and was very happy). Though her normal sessions are paid for 2 hours, she asked if I would mind continuing shooting for what probably ended up as close to 6 hours (we were more than happy to continue shooting for her!).
We were told we would have our package of pictures, picture rights, a DVD slideshow, etc. within 3-4 weeks. 6 weeks later we did not have them. We began calling, emailing and Facebook messaging in order to get ahold of the photographer, to try and see if there was a hold-up. We could not get ahold of her as hard as we tried, using any format. Weeks later we finally received a package from her. It contained a disk of 150 beautifully edited images. However, these were not the photos we wanted, or were even relevant to a high school senior. Many were images. We started to notice that some "key senior shots" were missing. For example, we had taken photos in my letterman's jacket that we were VERY excited to use in party invites, but never received. We DID receive some very irrelevant shots- makeup display counters, brushes, and the makeup artist from MAC when I was having my makeup done, etc. There was also NO DVD, which we had really been counting on to play on loop at my grad party.
We attempted to contact the photographer once again, to ask if we could have the extra images we really wanted, as well as the DVD. We offered to pay extra for the additional images, even though irrelevant photos were given where the one's we wanted could have been. Again, we played tag with her for about 3 weeks. She said she would send another disk, so we were elated and felt that perhaps she had just been experiencing a business hiccup. We received the disk in the mail some time later, and to our dismay, it was IDENTICAL to one we had already received. and STILL NO DVD, which we paid for! After trying to contact the photographer again and failing to be able to, we decided to write a Better Business Bureau review to attempt to solve the problem, considering we could not afford small claims court. We wrote everything out, and awaited her response.
The photographer's response in the BBB made us out to look like the bad guys. She was "shocked" that even though she gave us 150 images, taking extra hours to edit, that we would ask for me. She completely ignored the fact that many were irrelevant. We also did not ask her to edit all of the photographs she took, as SHE asked US to shoot over her normal time. It was the photographer's claim that she has "creative control" over which images are used. This was clear to us as far as for her own promotional use, but was NEVER explained to be true for the images WE would receive. If someone is paying you a service, shouldn't they have control over which images they prefer and receive? She proceeded to tell us that her DVD company failed her, and she offered a refund, which we genuinely appreciated and accepted. However, the refund was NEVER sent. All in all, we are out money, exhausted, and feeling cheated out of an experience that should have been an enjoyable right-of-passage-type event. This is a warning sign. Don't lose your money, or control over your important memorabilia. It is not worth it. Please see the BBB page for more. read more
