We had our newborn daughter's pictures taken on Thursday 1/14/21 and Desiree J. was our photographer. We were so impressed with her customer service and experience with the whole baby handling skills! We booked online and it was a breeze! They take a $20 deposit and then apply it to your account in the end. *this location is inside the Buy Buy baby off Almaden and 85* My husband and I literally handed her (baby) over and she managed to handle the rest. I really enjoyed watching her work and get creative with all of the poses. We appreciated her taking her time and being extremely detail oriented with each shot. These are beautiful pictures! we now have captured this very special time with our rainbow baby. You can really feel the love and passion she has towards her job. She had another gal working with her who was also very helpful and pleasant. In the end, we ended up buying every shot taken! We will definitely return and capture the milestones to come. COVID precautions were taken and we felt comfortable with measures taken including hand hygiene. Thank you again Desiree! -Carina, Baby Gia & Alfonso read more

Our little one didn't give our photographer much to work with but he did a phenomenal job and captured photos that we adore! He was kind and patient through tantrums and was super creative with ways to get our little one to cooperate! read more

These people are the worst. I did not know i can make an appointment online and I called and left a message several times nobody called me back trying to make an appointment. finally me and my husband and two little kids walk in then they made us sit for almost 4 hours and they keep saying we have to honor the people who have an appointment it makes sense but one of their customer who made an appointment didn't show up but still they made us to sit and didn't take us in. when I ask them they told us we need to wait for next appointment what the heck??!!!! what's the point of waiting for hours????? two little kids who were really tired and out of patience. they were so rude and not respectful at all. Even after hours of waiting, when i left they didn't even apologize. So sorry for those stupid and dumb people. read more

I heard this place had mixed reviews but we decided to give it a try. We came here for a family portrait. We were only able to take home one good family photo out of many shots. The lighting for the photos was poorly placed. There was a large glare showing on our faces in multiple pictures. Some of the backgrounds completely washed us out. The photographer did not attempt to remedy the poor lighting or take additional shots that might turn out better. It was overpriced for the poor quality. On a separate note, I noticed the manager working with another family and he seemed very helpful and knowledgeable. If you come here try to get an appointment with the manager or a photographer who has experience. read more

I was always a little skeptical of Picture People but a $16 Groupon caught my eye. I looked at all the driveable locations and this one had a 4.5 star rating on Yelp. For $16 I wanted to see if Yelpers had helped me find a hidden treasure(good baby photographers are rare and come with a price tag of $300+ for a sitting fee). Always the optimist, I wanted to give this a 110% and make the most of it. So I went fully prepared with outfit changes and toys. The photographer was very patient and allowed me to comfort our baby in between pictures. She made our daughter laugh. She was friendly, putting me at ease. Our little angel was tired and didn't get past the first outfit change. So our photographer let us schedule another session. The photos we did get from her first session were beautiful. The second time around was even better. The majority of our photos came from the 2nd session as our baby was happier and more cooperative. Both photographers were great and as I was happy with their work, I purchased a c.d. with all digital images. Tip- if possible schedule on a weekday when they're not pressed for time. read more

Staff was super friendly and accommodating even though we arrived late to our appointment. Thank you!!! Pictures were great

Staff was a no show for my appointment that required advance booking and a non-refundable deposit. Studio number goes to voicemail. Worst experience ever. Sat in studio 1 hour. Leaving with no photos. Don't waste your time. read more

Fantastic service all around. Friendly (our photographer was James), and very patient with our infant and our toddler (who was about to take BuyBuyBaby's little tykes wagon right out the door for a test drive. SORRY about that guys!). And the pics came out great! Best part? They weren't trying to over-pressure us into buying the "extras" when we went to use our groupon to order the photos. If I had been able to get our infant AND our toddler to sit for the session together, I definitely would have grabbed up the session CD for another 50$, it would have been well worth it. Unfortunately our toddler was having a bratty day so they just did a mini-shoot for our 11 month old. You guys will definitely have our business next time though, which we hope will be very soon! :) read more

Picture People - 12/23/13 - Session Photography Near Me - San Jose, California

Just got our pictures done and let me tell you how AMAZING Desiree was! Big shoutout to her for being able to get great pictures of my restless 3 & 4 year olds!! She did such a great job with keeping their attention and was so great with introducing different props and background! I really appreciate how well she did considering how wiggle my kids were. She got some great pictures and pictures and we will definitely be back! Thank you Desiree! read more

We've gone to Picture People since our now adult son was a baby and Alberto at this location is absolutely the best photographer we have ever worked with. He was great during the session and made sure to fix a problem noticed after the fact for us even though it was the Christmas season and they are so busy. I will always recommend Picture People for good affordable photography, but this past visit was absolutely the best experience we've ever had. read more

We had a wonderful experience with Jordan he was very patient and professional with our newborn son and took amazing shots! We will definitely be back to take family pictures so glad we came to this location. Thanks Jordan for your great customer service skills. read more

The photographer quality varies widely. We had someone who was effective with our little kids and got some candid pictures but the lady this time was not upto the mark. She kept waiting for the kids to look into the camera and took fewer and really shoddy photos. That coupled with the fact that they rushed us off unnecessarily made for a really poor experience. The lady at the counter kept checking in and abruptly cut off our session. A couple additional minutes would have gone a long way. Especially when there was free slot after the next session. Then to get our digital photos we paid 150. I felt that for that price we could work with a photographer we knew and get a good 30 min in their studio. read more

If I could rate a ZERO star I would. This location was HORRIBLE. I had booked 2 sessions back to back since I had 2 infants and family photos to take place. The girl that helped us didn't help at all for positioning the babies she just told me how to do it. While she was waiting for us she'd be sipping her Starbucks and tell us " let me know when your ready". Uh help with the babies. Also, when the babies would be smiling or have a good facial expression she wasn't ready or she just didn't try and take it. She would only take 1 pose and multiple pictures and be done. I only had white as my background no other options. 1 prop per picture. Ugh I can go on and on. I will never go there again. read more

I cannot believe this picture people re open, they should have just stayed closed and save people the inconveniences, time and money. Came here to do maternity photo shoot and it came out horrible. I did like one photo out of all of the shoot. Made an appt at 3:20 on a Sunday, it was hot inside. The lady was nice enough to give me a fan. Didn't tell us how to pose.. the point was coming to take photos with a professional.. NOPE. I came in with a set mind of buying the digital $99 and you keep all the photos... it came out so bad that I decided to just get a couple of photos. It made me really uncomfortable when she starts doing green screen, cropping us and stuff. Very unprofessional. I am speechless. I pick couple of photos paid for it, came back to pick up the photos and she said WE ARE OUT OF PAPER YOU CAN COME BY AND PICK IT UP TOMORROW. How inconvenience is that?? Wasting people time. How can you be out of paper? Your website clearly says SAME DAY SERVICE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY. I'm 8 months pregnant and this is just really annoying and unbelievable she said she will refund and it's been almost 2 weeks.. called twice and never got a refund. Had to call my bank and dispute the charges and waste more unnecessary time. Don't waste your time and stress by coming here. read more

What a horrible horrible experience! Wish I could give negative rating. So I went to my appt with family on-time at Almaden Valley Buy Buy Baby location. It seemed they were understaffed and cashier Evana was super frustrated. After the appt I was made to wait for 40 min before she showed me few pictures the photographer had taken. I was told to pick while she disappeared again for 15 min. When finally she came I told her I am being rushed and not given the time she became defensive and started shouting and just asked me to leave!! I got super frustrated as we had invested lot of time and energy to come for the appt and all I asked was to give me the pictures so that I can leave. She mistreated me and showed no respect and repeatedly asked me to leave !! Horrible horrible experience and NO MORE Picture People! Holiday spoiler by Ms Evana. read more

I came in with a specific idea in mind and the photographer went out of her way to make sure I got exactly what I was looking for. She even retook some photos so I left happy with the final result. We were lucky to have no one scheduled after us so it allowed for extra time to capture what I wanted. She was patient and took her time positioning my infant. I would definitely come back to this location. read more

Mikayla (sp?) Took pictures of my kids yesterday for my daughters 1st birthday! She took her time and allowed me to get some great pics with two squirmy kiddos. She even pulled out some bubbles which ended up being the miracle that got my lil girl to stay still and smile! I am particular so I took forever to choose through my pictures and decide on frames and she was very patient. I always went to the picture people at Hillsdale mall before it closed, so i was worried to try a new location but it was perfect! It is also nice that its located inside buy buy baby so you can shop/use the play area while you wait for your prints. Thanks again Mikayla! read more

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Worst company ever!! I mad an appointment at the Sears location inside sears. When I arrived there was a signed saying they were closed. Ummm what?! I even went back to the camera room and no one was there!! Wtf!! I asked the sears associates but they didnt know much, they were just told that since sunday they were officially open, well they should've stayed closed for good! I guess I wasn't the only one that had come and had an appointment. I've tried to contact the buy buy baby location to see if they knew what was going on with the sears location, but no one answer, I called multiple times and no answer! I even left them a message and so far no one has called me back!! Worst customer service from both locations!!! People dont waste your time and money coming to a company that doesn't care about their customers!! read more

This is why they can't find good photographers. They expect us to work for barely over what is fair and expect skills of my caliber , of which I've spent 100k on education and owe most of it still , and still expect us to give them 100 percent of our efforts when they can only cover less than half of my needs as a potential employee. Their work here sucks because they continue to hire people who aren't photographers because of their exceptionally high expectations of the employee. Typical corporate greed. read more

Picture People - Example of why you go to the independent photography studios and not greedy corporate interests - Session Photography Near Me - San Jose, California

We went to picture people for newborn photoshoot. we really had a very bad experience. The lady who was taking picture was not supportive. Baby was little cranky. Photographer was impatient. She don't know how to take pictures. The photos qualities were very bad. Mobile picture was far better than picture people photos. It was very pathetic experience. I never expected this from Picture People. I don't recommend this place if you want to save your money. read more

They were so helpful and kind. My month old baby wasnt having it an they took there time to work with us. Prints came out wonderful! Thank you!! read more

Each year we have been taking pictures using my personal camera and just sitting someplace around the house, to keep track of everybody and how they have changed throughout the years. A couple of years ago I decided to have this done professional and looking at a wide verity of places to make this happen (of course within a low budget). The picture people fit all of what we had been looking for. We all pick a different color shirt and made our way to this picture people location, we know we would have to wait even with our appointment, of course we only had to wait a few minutes for the group ahead of us to come out and then our turn. The employee that took us asked what we were looking for and you know what they did an excellent job making suggestion for our pictures. We have a couple of serious ones, plus a few fun comical pictures taken. Everything we did was then present to us at the computer (of course make sure you are aware this will take a few additional minutes of your day). When we reviewed our pictures we notice one sitting was the best, that was the picture we decided to take as our main printed picture, plus we purchased the full CD with all other pictures that were taken. Of course we can have these pictures printed somewhere else. The total cost of our pictures was about $115.00 total which was fully in my budget and we walked out with pictures and CD in about 1 hour time. We enjoy the quality and service. the only reason for not giving a 5 star rating is due to the lack of a waiting area, this is needed as you are await for your turn to take picture and when you are done waiting for your prints too. read more

We've been taking our family portraits here for the last 5 years and have had 3 photographers. Jordan is amazing! We felt sorry for him since it was a busy Saturday and he was by himself. Picture People has always been understaffed, but he was efficient and we were able to come home with 35 images that we liked. We ordered the digital download, and received the email within 24 hours, but it did not work. I went to Jordan the next morning, and he said he would call IT and sort it out. He was able to find us a solution and we came home with images of our 5 year-old twins! Thank you Jordan! read more

Is it typical to spend over 3 hours here and end up with only meh photos? We were a few minutes early for our 5pm appointment tonight. We finally got into the photo room at 5:30 and were rushed the whole time because there were other groups waiting too. We finished in there at 6, and were told we should return in 15 minutes to view the photos. We did, and weren't allowed to see our photos until 7pm. When we finally saw our photos, we were shown 14 images. I was so disappointed! Is this typical too? We watched another family review their photos, and they had over 70. When I finally got to talk to our photographer (around 7:20?), I expressed my displeasure about the limited photos and the lack of one "great shot" for our holiday cards. She offered to do a reshoot after she finished with the group that was waiting. So we waited, and around 7:50, the other photographer took us in to do a few more shots. She was clearly inexperienced, and it was painful. I think she tried for 5 minutes or so? Another 10 minute wait and then we were allowed to view the photos on the computer in the back room, which for some asinine reason has an improper aspect ratio, so all the images were stretched weirdly. I think she took another 15 photos, but none of them were good. She didn't have experience with getting young kids to smile - my son is grimacing in many of the photos and I don't think any had him looking at the camera with a smile. So at this point, it's 8pm, we're all exhausted and hungry (especially the 3 year old), and we still haven't ordered anything. I give up and just pick one of the photos from the first shooting, and then we wait longer to get the prints made and enlargement ordered and disc written. We did a groupon, so at least this was a ~$30 mistake. We didn't get any chance to look at the photo up close, so no minor image corrections or anything -- I will be doing a little cleanup in photoshop before using this photo in our holiday cards. Overall, a very painful and LONG experience and we won't be back. read more

There's a sign in the back room of this place that says "Groupon customers are people too. " Well, as I stood there with my Groupon and waited for the photographer it became clear to me that I was not going to be treated like a person should. We arrived 15 minutes early for our appointment with Chris. (Note that I called and made the appointment with Chris himself). I bought this Groupon because of his stellar reviews on yelp however I was dismally disappointed. Chris stood us up and when the front desk guy called him to tell him we were waiting, there was no explanation for why he wasn't going to make it. He said that we could wait for Chris to arrive an hour later or we could reschedule. Luckily, the place hired a new photographer one week prior and he took our pictures. Although James was an experienced photographer, he hadn't yet learned all the nuances of the equipment so when the lighting was off, he and the front desk guy had to call Chris to fix it. After 15 minutes of waiting for the lighting to be fixed we were able to start our session which, because of James' effort produced some nice pictures. 40 minutes after our appointment was supposed to start, Chris arrived. Do you think he offered an explanation for standing us up? No. Did he even come in to apologize? No. For this lack of decency, I'd give this place 0 stars, but because of James I'm adding 2 stars since he did a good job. Overall, I would not recommend going here for photos. The place is pretty disorganized, the props are very old and dingy, and you will not be treated well. If you're stuck with a Groupon I highly suggest you ask for a refund however if you must go here, do not ask for Chris!! read more

Elizabeth took our pictures today, at first I had some doubts. Elizabeth grabbed a teddy bear for the first shot and quickly realized that wasn't going to work with our 20 month old daughter. Thought for sure that it was going to end our chance at a good session.... THANKFULLY within two shots she got my daughter's attention and my daughter was no longer in fear and began interacting with Elizabeth and our shots turned out GREAT. I WILL DEFINITELY BE GOING TO ELIZABETH AT BUYBUY BABY PICTURE PEOPLE. (NOT GOING BACK TO OAKRIDGE) THANK YOU ELIZABETH read more

My first time here with my family and it was a rocky start but ended up happy and overjoyed. I made a reservation but when I got there my name was no where to be found. Ugh. But the photos came out so good and the photographer was so helpful and sweet that it made up for it. Plus they were having a great deal at the time. We ended up getting to pick our own photos. We took kinda long but they didn't mind. I loved that, I hate being rushed. Lol. Thanx picture people. read more

Picture People - Our kids posed all by them selves. Thank you for capturing this moment picture people. - Session Photography Near Me - San Jose, California

Groupon leads me here. Before I was really indecisive between jc pennies portrait and picture people. However I wanted to give this place a try and I was rite. My photographer named Carl and he is really awesome. He knows everything about his work and be ready to take pictures at the rite moment. Well definitely come back again. read more

Picture People - Session Photography Near Me - San Jose, California

Our appointment was at 3:20. We arrived right on time and were not put into the room with the photographer until 4:10. We were repeatedly told during this almost hour-long wait that it would be "just a few minutes". If they had been honest with us from the start, we would have left, because we were there with our 4 month old twins. Yes, we were made to wait almost an hour for photos with two infants. The employees were nice but lied about the timing, which was not appreciated. Also the studio is old and dingy and the props are kind of old and gross. We did end up with a few nice photos but the groupon we bought was very misleading and it turned out that, in order to get all the photos on CD, we had to pay an extra $75 (on top of the $26 groupon). That was AFTER they gave us a "special discount" since we waited an hour to be seen. Overall, I would not recommend this place at all. If you do use it, show up 40 minutes late for your appointment and you'll still have to wait. read more

I needed head-shots for work so I purchased a Groupon for Picture People. Recently a lot of the locations have been closed for remodeling or have been closed for good so it was difficult finding a location. The manager (Stephan) at this location was extremely helpful and accommodating. He extended the expiration date on my Groupon to allow me to get an appointment at this location. On the day of my appointment the photographer was very patient with me. She took plenty of shots until I was happy with how the picture looked. I took the first appointment of the morning and did not have to wait. The people who went after me were seen on time as well. I know a lot of other people have complained about wait times but that is to be expected when you go during high traffic times. Children are unpredictable so people should expect that the appointments may run over. When they do get to your appointment they will give you the time and personal attention you require. I would definitely recommend them and will be going back. read more

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This review is more for the photographer than Picture People itself. We took our baby here for his 1 year old birthday and he was a NIGHTMARE!!!! He was crying, super fussy, not smiling - pretty much everything you DON'T want in a photo shoot. However, our photographer Kat. B. was extremely patient and took over an hour to get our baby to smile and cooperate. She used all the tricks of the trade while staying EXTREMELY patient, pleasant, and positive. She treated my baby like her own and needless to say - I was super thankful for everything that she did. As long as Kat. B is the photographer here - I will keep coming here. read more

Great customer service. Stephanie is a really good photographer. She let me correct my pictures after a month. I would go back again to do a family session with her. read more

Ok! So let me start by staying that the management of this location is failing! They are leaving SO much up to the 1 girl working at this location and business is SUFFERING because of it. Shame on you for making it ok for 1 as person to work 1 location ALONE during the busy season! She is genuinely doing the best she can to give each family and each child her undivided attention while lines 3-4 deep are building outside. That is not taking away from her attention and I honestly love and appreciate that. She gave my daughter her attention so I had great photos. I saw how overwhelmed she was yesterday so I decided to come back later to get my disk. Here was are, Saturday and just as I stand here to pick up my picture CD, she is taking photos and he is just pacing and ignoring me and the family of 6 standing here waiting. It's unfortunate that management doesn't help her. They will loose someone who can drop all stress and distractions and focus on the photos... get it PICTURE PEOPLE! She's focused on what makes you money and makes customers come back with our kids! You might want to help take care of people like her! read more

I have been going to picture people for eight years. Every so often I have a bad experience but overall, I always felt there were enough positives to keep going back. I honestly think I am done now. Definite done with this location, but I have little hopes for the others too. I went in with a 10 month old and 3 year old today. We start the session but then the photographer realizes the lights are broken and all the pictures are dark. He gets on the phone with his manager and then fiddles with the lights and this goes on for 20 mins and it's over - the lights are broken, no pics for us today. No prob, I get that stuff can break down, how about you schedule me an appt for Oakridge? He calls them, but instead of asking about the appointment, he asks them for the IT support phone# and gets put on hold while they search for it. Hello! I am a customer standing in front of you with two young children, who have been pretty patient for the past 30 mins, now waiting with you for info that does not apply to me at all. He has all day to do the Tech support after I leave since no pictures are going to be taken today with broken equipment. He should have first asked for an appointment for me, then I can go on my merry way even though I have wasted a whole morning for nothing now. When I insist that he get me an appointment before he does anything else, he starts telling me there are no appointments. So why didn't he just tell me that to begin with? Why have me standing there for another 10 mins waiting with him to get the IT phone#? Because he has no customer service abilities, was not trained properly and this basically sums up all the problems with Picture People these days. read more

We came here for our annual holiday pics and we extremely happy with how it all turned out. Elizabeth was our photographer and she knew exactly how to pose us and almost every single picture she took of us turned out AMAZING! We have taken pictures every year for 5 years now and we've always gone to the Picture People at Valley Fair or Oakridge, and this by far, was the best. Elizabeth was patient with me as I was constantly fixing my daughter's hair. She was able to make both of my kids (5 and 3-year olds) laugh when needed. Overall, she rocked! Taking holiday pictures have never been this easy! Pictures, viewing, and photos/frames all finished within one hour. There is only one studio at this location so I can see how it can get busy if you have a later appointment. Ours was at 10:40am and Elizabeth was already ready to go and we were out of there by 11:40am. Marina helped us with viewing the pics. She was great too! I always feel bad during this part because there are always so many options and I never know what to pick. Marina was awesome because she gave me suggestions like which pictures should be framed and which ones we should get prints of. She didn't rush me and she didn't try to force me to buy different packages. Side note: I went home and looked through the pictures and realized I had lipstick on my teeth. I just called and spoke with Elizabeth and she said she will try to see if they can fix it. She called back within 5 minutes and said she was able to get rid of it! :) I'm a very happy camper! Thank you Elizabeth and Marina! read more

There's no use in scheduling an appointment. All it is is a time coupon. It'll save you an hour wait, when full wait is two hours. It's basically a 50% off wait time coupon you have to reserve ahead of time. Anyone knows that with kids, it puts you in a ticking time bomb situation. Hi read more

This location is still open. I took my kids here last night. 1. The camera kept jamming. I'm really glad my kids are older and a little more patient. 2. The computer kept crashing, and freezing when the photographer was showing us the pictures. 3. The reason I did give three stars is because Mekiala, she is amazing! She took some really great photos. She is really patient with the kids. While we waited, she provided coloring books, crayons and stickers to occupy the kids. She said she buys these things with her own money. I can't say enough good things about her! She made our experience worth it. read more

Never go there for photo shoot, they just give you unprocessed pictures with all the sides of the studio and props visible, shots are blurry, over exposed. read more

Bad picture quality. The person taking the picture is inexperienced. While she is friendly and very nice, photography skills and attention to detail is lacking. On our prints, one half of the picture has a big shadow. When we pointed it out, we were told that is the way it will be because the light is one side. Really? Isn't it the job of the studio to make sure the background is evenly lit. Moreover, she didn't even roll out the backdrop all the way through. So, we are now stuck with a picture standing on their lousy brown carpet against a half lit backdrop . Looks like we are posing inside a motel 6. Will not come back to this location. read more

Updated: we had our appointment today. Marie took us in right on time. She got all the sets of the kids +individual and together+ that I wanted. On two different backdrops. The gold backdrop with white star bursts looks incredible. Like fireflies of light in the photos. It will be perfect for the Christmas card! Marie was a great photographer. She'd only take two or three of a pose, and they would all come out good. She didn't do that thing where they take six of the same pose and you are confused trying to pick. :) We ordered a CD of every picture in the session for $99. Then each sheet of photos was $10 for an 8x10 or two 5x7, etc. I also ordered a framed and matted collage of four pictures for $50. The prices were really reasonable and the quality of the photography was good. read more