Venture Photography

Bego2K · 5 Dec 2016 at 13:24

Hey guys,

So I recently went to this shoot with my family because my Dad got this voucher when he bought his car. Upon arrival was offered drinks etc nice friendly staff. The shoot was good too, the photographer really put us at ease and made the whole thing a blast.
After the shoot it was arranged that we'd come back in a week to view the photo's. Upon viewing the photo's we were introduced to the prices.. and oh boy were we shocked.
The one photo blown up on a 20 x 20cm aluminium sheet was £950! :eek:

We didn't buy anything that day and decided to go away to think about things as after choosing everything we wanted it was going to be something like £1800 for 3 medium prints, a digital photo frame and a desktop picture.

Once we got home I googled some printing companies to find a website selling the same kind of print but this time 50 x 60cm and only £53! How the hell can this company justify £950 for one print!!! It's ridiculous...

In the end we went back, my dad bought the digital photo frame (£750 :eek:

) and I bought a 12 page album £400. This was only because we enjoyed the 'experience' apart from the shocking prices and wanted to take something from it.

Has anyone else had this experience, were the prices just as shocking?

Also does anyone know of any software that will enlarge an image so it can be blown up? As my Dad bought the digital photo frame he gets all the photos on it but they are a 'lower res' I'm just thinking maybe I can get these blown up and then have the pics printed else where.

Minstadave · 5 Dec 2016 at 13:31

Venture is just a scam. Cheap or free offer to get you in and then a hard sell at crazy prices.

Much better to just hire a photgrapher for a fair fee and just have them give you the images at the end.

As for blowing up images, if all you have are low resolution files there's nothing that is going to make them better tbh.

stuman · 5 Dec 2016 at 17:15

It's a clever business model, and to be fair not too bad. They build the cost of the photographer and equipment into the price for the prints, so yeah, you can get prints made for £60 but getting a personal professional photographer for a few hours and renting the kit would also set you back a few hundred. £1100 for a few prints and non-full res' files is a little steep.

AHarvey · 5 Dec 2016 at 17:24

They are right up there with "OOOOhhhhhh you could be a model. You should have a free photoshoot!" Then it's a case of "yeah, you're going to need an album, maybe a website and it'll cost £5k!" when in reality a polaroid head shot and body shot is enough.

You've also got classics like "Sorry, you need to buy today because we delete the images after the viewing, it's company policy!" and "yeah we'll knock 30% off" but they are still massively overcharged.

You got bent over!

I recommend everyone watch the recent Watchdog episode that featured photographers like this! Brings shame to the game!

Gungnir · 6 Dec 2016 at 08:47

Are their photographers paid on commission like the Bounty lot?

Toxophilus · 6 Dec 2016 at 11:45

I know people often assume that taking photos is effectively free and don't account for the skill and training that a good photographer has, the £1,000's of kit they need and their time, etc. But those prices do seem a bit over the top.

If the photos and experience were good they you could probably justify that kind of cost especially if they 'rolled out the red carpet'. But if the photos were average then that is definitely a rip off.

koolpc · 6 Dec 2016 at 11:49

Mad for spending money there! You should not have gone back.

Paul11 · 7 Dec 2016 at 08:04

I can't believe you actually gave them your money

Out of principle I would have told them where to stick it

Amp34 · 7 Dec 2016 at 08:10

How much is reasonable wedding tog at the moment? Around £1500 aren't they*? And for that you'll get them for an entire day and get several hundred shots...

Venture are just not worth it.

*At least a reasonable one can be had for that.

havocideuk · 12 Dec 2016 at 08:58

I am a member of the same club as the founder of the company, he sold it ~4ish years ago and openly admits that its went downhill terribly (so much so they ended up paying him to consult and fix the business), hes minted though so that offsets the legacy being damaged.

Venture has classically been aimed at the middle class that want to book a photographer and not have to worry about all the extra stuff and are willing to pay for both the brand and lack of hassle.

You and anyone else who is willing to spend the time doing the research is better off finding an independent tog with a good portfolio to show and some solid feedback, if you want good quality prints you'll still be forking out a fair chunk of change but not crazy money, a lot of people just don't understand the costs involved in producing quality photos and prints.