I have been taking my kids to Portrait Innovations twice a year for the last 4 years. I was completely delighted with the staff and pictures up until last year. The quality of their staff has decreased significantly. Years ago you would take your child in and the photographer would play with the child until the child was comfortable. They would then get my kids to smile by tossing stuffed animals and playing peekaboo. This way of taking pictures got me some of the cutest pictures that I still smile at today. But now the staff just sits their with their camera and does nothing to get the child to smile. How is the photographer suppose to get a good picture by just sitting there and not interacting? It is not my job to get the child to smile. That is what the photographer should know how to do. On top of the poor quality of staff, we were made to wait 45 minutes past our appointment time with no apologies. The photographer scared my daughter and after a stressful week and day of planning for these pictures we left with one pose which I can't even stand to look at because it reminds me of my awful experience.
The atmosphere is nice and kid- friendly, but the staff was not the most professional. I can tell that they definitely over- book because the entire time the pictures were being taken, all the girl did was complain to her co- workers about how nobody had had a lunch break. The entire photo shoot felt rushed and the photographer was entirely too distracted. Then while she was going over the film with me, she kept looking at other customers, looking at the clock and looking at her co- workers. I HATE the picture that I ended up getting for my regular package because I finally just chose one to get things moving; they obviously had other things to get to and it made me incredibly uncomfortable.
On the plus side, I do like that you get your portraits the same day. The quality of the portraits seem to be very good. It's too bad I hate the picture so much. I'm so upset, and it was such a waste of money. I have no clue what I'm going to do with all of these pictures that I don't like. I wish I would have had more time to choose a picture that I liked more without feeling like I was intruding on someone's lunch break.
I might give the place another chance, but it's not very likely.
Im not sure exactly how long ago you were in the studio but I do apologize. I have worked for PI going on 2 years now. We are told we have to book an appointment every ten min no matter what. It really depends on the time of year on how bad it can get in there. Again Im sorry that you had a bad experience.
My brother and I had our portraits done by this company for Mother's Day. This is a great place to have photographs made, very friendly and professional and the staff takes time to make sure that you are pleased. I will always do business with this company. Also you get your pictures the same day!!
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