A group of friends and I (five of us in total) went to Life Memory Icon for a photo shoot after…read moreseeing an attractive deal on Groupon for it. We had seen many similar photo shoot offers on Groupon before, but this was the first we had seen that was located in Causeway Bay instead of somewhere in Kowloon, which was more convenient for most of us and was the main deciding factor for us in purchasing the deal. Overall, we enjoyed the photo shoot and were able to leave with some pretty good pictures. The building that Life Memory Icon is in is towards the end of Lockhart Road (kind of at the point where Wan Chai becomes Causeway Bay), and the studio is at the penthouse floor of the building. The service at Life Memory Icon was very good and the staff were patient with us - we actually arrived about five minutes late, and had to wait around for ten more minutes for our last friend to arrive. The staff told us it was fine and that there was no rush, and that we will just begin when everyone has arrived and changed. The photographer was very skilled and gave us many ideas for poses, and was patient with us too. We had brought three sets of clothes to change into and the photographer gave us sufficient time to change. The center had many props and backgrounds for us to photograph with as well. My only complaint was that of the over hundred photos that we took, we were only allowed to choose 25 photos of the bunch to keep. If we wanted more, we had to pay extra, which is just an obvious money-making tactic. Also, they informed us that we can only come back to review and collect our photos after three weeks. This is a pretty long wait considering that it's just photo files being retouched and transferred to a file, and it meant that one of our friends who was going to be in the UK by then wouldn't be able to review the photos with us. Though we initially thought 25 photos was very little, we actually didn't have a hard time narrowing down the photos as we were pretty picky with our shots. Still, I do wish that they would increase the limit as I can imagine that other people who come here would have trouble choosing.

I do not recommend this business. They were responsive before I hired them. However, once I booked…read morean appointment with them and paid for their service, it took them weeks and months to reply me, and eventually they completely ignored my requests. This is a lengthy yet truthful review: I sent them a message to get a quote for family pictures. They responded very fast. Although they first told me they were fully booked, they were able to squeeze me in at the last minute. Before I confirmed my appointment with them, they sounded very flexible and understanding which made me feel valued. Since I don't live in Hong Kong, I wasn't able to put down a photography deposit. They had no problem with it. They also told me if I wasn't satisfied with the photos, they could just give me the entire set. After my photo session, I selected 18 pictures out of a 1000+ while I was still in the studio. I paid them for my package which just consisted 10 pictures and the extra 8 photos. On the day of photography, they told me it would take a week for my final pictures. They LIED! I waited for a month to get my final pictures. The employees there also lacked communication. In the beginning, they were not aware that I already selected my photos while I was still in the studio. Instead, they emailed me 300+ fine-tune pictures with the company logo/ watermark on them. Okay, I was thinking since they already sent me hundreds of photos, I would take my time to select 18 photos again. 2 photos were different from what I originally selected on the day of photography. I asked them to change to those 2 new ones but they refused. So there you go. Once you hire them and they get your money, they won't be as responsive and flexible as they originally present to you. They told me it's their company policy and they cannot switch pictures for me. When they want to earn your business, they are flexible enough not to get your deposit. When you ask them for some changes, then they start to bring up "company policy" in order not to fulfill your request. The bottom line is they don't care about after-sales customer support and service. Once you give them money, it will take them a long time to reply you or may not reply at all. If your request doesn't work out in their favor, they will ignore you. They really don't care if you aren't satisfied with your photos. Please save yourself time, money, and headaches. Please do yourself a favor and find yourself another photographer who values customer service and wants return customers. If you still decide to hire them, I hope your experience won't be as painful as mine.

We wanted to do something special for one of our friend's birthday, so we decided to go to one of…read morethose self-photography places to take a bunch of photos together. The concept of self-photography has become pretty popular in HK lately and there are many places now that offer it. Basically, you and a group of friends can have an hour in a room with a camera. One person holds the remote that is wirelessly hooked up to the camera, and you press the button on the remote whenever you want to capture a shot. They will provide you with different backgrounds and props to pose with too. We decided to go to this one, named rather unoriginally as 'Selfie'. It was one of the cheapest compared to the others - $245 for an hour for 5 people, making it just $49 per person (most places charge more than $70 per person!) We had to wait a little when we arrived because the previous group ran late and was finishing up with theirs. It was our turn right after theirs, so when we went into the room it kind of was a mess - props were littered randomly on the floor. We quickly moved most of them out of the way, and the staff taught us how to work the remote control. Overall, we all had a pretty good time, but it made sense to me why this was quite significantly cheaper than the rest. The remote control was slow and the camera would only capture the slot a couple seconds after the button was clicked. This meant we had to hold our expressions for a few seconds before moving, otherwise the shot would be blurred. The camera was a bit hard to focus as well and the button that is meant to help it focus did not work sometimes. I'm not sure if I would recommend Selfie - on one hand, they're much cheaper than the others, but on the other hand the photography, which is what we're here for, is clearly not the best!

The processing services here for professional rolls leave much to be desired. I came in with a…read moreKodak 400 TX roll and they not only couldn't process on site, but also claimed it would take a month to digitize the proofs in Cd format. However Fotomax is designed more for tweeny Polaroid services so my complaint is an edge case. The self service machines are great if you bring your own storage device and the interface is easy enough to understand if you can't read Chinese characters (like myself). The prints also turned out well and are far cheaper than getting them developed in the states.

My job is to make things happen and what I needed to make happen was to find and book a(n awesome)…read morephotographer who can shoot for a couple of hours outdoors, rain or shine, on a specific day (my client was only in the city for 36 hours). Wedding photographers are usually best for their quick-thinking, quick composition and shoot-first-fix-later mentality because weddings don't pause for anyone and there is no re-do of the I Do. I had very little time to find such a photographer and after scouring the internet, I'll be honest that Stevenc Photography wasn't my first choice. The photos on the website of my first-choice photographer was unbelievably impressive; award-winning, in fact. However, his so-called studio manager (probably his live-in gf or bitchy wife haha) was such an idiot. My client didn't need a full-day 15-hour wedding package. Shit, he isn't getting married! Just needed 2 hours of the photog's time outdoors. I had explained all that, yet she replied back with a rate card of an 8-hour studio engagement shoot, tacked on an outdoor surcharge with a limit to two locations and basically giving me the F U with a five-digit fee quote. Completely over the budget I was given. Completely unbelievable. So, I had to scramble and email a bunch of other studios. Steven Chui from Stevenc Photography was very responsive and professional. He seems to be a budding wedding photographer who isn't quite the Big Dogs yet but does good work. He seemed to have an eye for creative composition, which was what we needed most. He was quite understanding of my predicament and was very flexible. He wasn't one of those diva-artists that had to do things his way - he was receptive to the specificity required and offered his honest opinion. We agreed on pricing quickly, which was way under budget (yay!), and got the date and meeting location settled. We were off to a great start. The shooting day came. Steven and his hair person (Maggie) arrived on time. I was impressed again as I'm so used to waiting for tards (people who are tardy, not the mentally challenged). She did her thang (which was OK) and off we all went to shoot. The weather was complete shit but that didn't phase Steven. Shooting took more than the agreed-upon 2 hours and he didn't charge extra. He also did something that was unexpectedly courteous but I won't mention what, so that he doesn't get taken advantage of with future clients. When it came to deliver the goods, Steven personally delivered it to my hotel. Industry-standards for turnaround time where I work can be weeks and even months but he got the rush job done quicker than expected. Client was happy - and gold star for me. My only complaint is that maybe Steven could have shot at fewer locations and devoted more time on some of the locales because some of the compositions didn't work out so well and I wish they did because of the iconic setting. I can't post any of his work because of client confidentiality and also his copyright, but his wedding work is up on the internet. I uploaded a pic of the deliverables that he delivered. Wax-sealed jackets, customized CD labels, handwritten name of the client (a bit girly - I suspect it's the hair girl's handwriting...and if I have to bet, I think they are a couple)...all-in-all you can tell there is a lot of heart in it for him. Overall, I would book Steven again. PS: unlike other photographers who give you limited-sized images, I got full-sized images that can be printed as large as 24'x36'. Great deal.

Who prints pictures anymore? Isn't that SO 2005?…read more Call me old school but I still see uses for these shops. With a newborn in my life, I foresee keeping this place afloat by printing numerous photos of my little booger. Second, you can print passport and visa photos here. They can also take them for you, too. They're very familiar with the dimensions for HK, US, Canada, Australia, and other European ID photos. Staff are curt but they can quickly navigate the photo machines so you can send in your orders via your USB or whatever device you have. Typical wait is 30 minutes.

Ken was great to work with. He's very professional and knows what he's doing. I felt at ease with…read morehim behind the camera. His studio is also easy to get to. Highly recommended! Thanks for everything!

My company needed headshots for our website and Ken came highly recommended by some friends. I gave…read morehim the look and feel of our website and Ken picked the perfect background for the headshots to pop. Ken was super detail oriented and was easy to work with from start to finish.