We hired Bonnie for our Korean wedding ceremony on 3/24/13 and an engagement shoot on 3/23/13…read more Prior to meeting, I had expressed interest in our initial email to see some more of her work before signing a contract. However, when we met up, she had nothing prepared to show us besides photos we had already seen on her blog (where most photographers showcase their best work only). Despite reservations, due to her seemingly friendly demeanor, we hired her anyway. We realize in hindsight that this was a great mistake. The engagement photos were very repetitive, without creativity, and lacked variety. The Korean wedding ceremony photos were, however, the greatest disappointment, as this is an occasion that can never be redone. Her photos did not capture the best moments, were not edited well, and the majority were framed incorrectly. Although she stated she would give us an extra 30 minute grace period on our ceremony, when the time came that an extra 15 minutes was required, it seemed she did not want to live up to her word, and as a result the photos came out looking very rushed. She even admitted to rushing the photographs when I expressed my displeasure with them. In addition, she was very defensive and unprofessional in her email replying to our issues.
Her work ethic during both our sessions was not the best. At times, we felt as if she were counting down the time until she would be done. Furthermore, during her contracted time for the ceremony, there was some downtime, which she used to talk to guests instead of taking more shots. When I asked her about this, she stated she did not want to be rude, however, as a paying customer, I do not feel it is a photographer's job to spend 15 minutes making conversation instead of working.
When we saw our galleries online for both sessions, we were very unhappy with our photos. Her photography/editing shows she does not have a creative or experienced eye- the end outcome just did not look professional. Bonnie told us she comes from an architecture background and had just entered photography full time recently. Unfortunately, this shows in her work. She asked us beforehand to make a list of essential photographs for her, and despite us doing this at her request, she did not give us all the shots on the list. To make it worse, she misplaced an essential photo of our immediate families (bride & groom side together), despite us having taken it that day. Overall, we do not feel she works well behind the camera- she lacks the expertise required for great photographs and the know-how to give direction to those being photographed to obtain optimal shots. Due to this, there were odd angled photos and important relatives cut out of ceremony shots. Even basic portrait shots were framed incorrectly and had individuals looking elsewhere instead of the camera, with some individuals covering others.
Looking back, we only wish we had asked to see full galleries showcasing her entire body of work. Bonnie's blog only had select shots and did not represent her work as a whole. In the end, we could not justify the cost for the photographs she took. For someone who is a relatively new photographer, the price she charges does not accurately reflect the finished product. Her cost is as much as or more than some professional photographers with more experience and more diverse portfolios. I would advise anyone considering Bonnie to request permission to see entire galleries of her work (she has them on smugmug with ORIGINAL SIZED files) to see if it lives up to what you would want captured. If we had seen these galleries beforehand, we would not have hired Bonnie. I would also advise reading her contract very carefully before signing... After being left with photographs that we were not proud of nor felt that we could cherish, we contacted Bonnie and after lengthy, burdensome emails back and forth, were able to get a partial refund along with the unedited pictures. While we felt that Bonnie was initially very responsive when there were no issues, when problems arose, she became much less responsive. Despite us asking her for a specific resolution of the original photos multiple times, she took a considerable time to deliver (~a month of grief after being newlywed, which we did not feel was a great experience as she responded below). In the end, the original photographs she finally sent us without the editing were very dark. Almost all of the photos were taken with the incorrect exposure and eventually had to all be post-processed privately.
Although Bonnie was eventually willing to give us a partial refund and the original, unedited photos, the original work was unsatisfactory. Given that we could do it over again, we would have chosen a different photographer to capture our special day.
Due to our awful experience, we do not recommend Bonnie Sen for your photography needs. We had another photographer for our American wedding, and the experience was like night and day.
