I had an excellent experience working with Christina . She was very accommodating and understanding. She helped me put a package together to my liking. She was patient and helpful. I recommend this studio to anyone who wants good service. read more

Quality is not good for the high price tag. Really, 1 digital copy is $299. And the print material is even worse. You are better off taking selfies. read more

Our experience with Lauren Studios was very positive regarding our son's college graduation portraits. There was an oversight on our order, which was my mistake in placing the order. They noticed the discrepancy, contacted me by email and then assisted me over the phone with great customer service to correct the mistake in a very helpful, friendly way. And also applied a nice discount and included a free digital download for one of the additional pics added to the package. Great experience all the way around. read more

Initially I was very disappointed with the quality of the picture I ordered, particularly for the tremendous cost. However, when I spoke to Julie she was very happy to reprint the photo with touch ups to ensure we were happy. I appreciated Julie's willingness to satisfy a customer. read more

This is the worst photography company ever and extremely highly overpriced. I never write reviews only my husband does, but since it's it regards to my sons senior pictures I felt like I had to say something. My older son had his done with the photographer that the high school used for many years, but unfortunately he retired. Wish he was still around because his were just amazing. Amazing prices with payment plans, plus different backdrops. This studio takes bad pictures. Why would you be on the field and have the students look down at you after receiving their diploma. Really bad place to be taking photos. I only bought it because it's the only picture I have of him getting his diploma, but really $30 for a one 8x10 picture plus $10 shipping. $40 for one picture not worth it, but for this mommy it's only worth because it's my baby. Plus they only give you 5 days to use a discount code. I'm sorry, but with Covid for some parents it's hard to purchase it within those 5 days. We did the large package for his senior pictures and maybe only like 5 came out nice. I only bought two of those because once again they are super I mean super expensive. San Pasqual needs a new studio. read more

I never write reviews, but I feel I need to in this case. I was having problems ordering on their website, so I had to call, but I shouldn't have needed to. I was so frustrated. If I had to rate their website, I'd give it 1 star. The 4 stars are for Lolita. She answered the phone and spent a lot of time patiently answering all of my questions, and straightening out my order for me. She was awesome!!! read more

The person taking the photo absolutely does not care about what you look like. She doesn't want to be there and just wants to get through your session as quick as possible. Don't get your photo taken by these people. read more

Wow this place is way overpriced. My photos are okay. The photographer at UC Berkeley was really nice. However, the prices are just insane. Its $300 to get one digital photo file! read more

Our son just graduated UCSB and had his pictures taken for the senior book by Lauren Studios. The pictures were great. I had some questions so I called customer service and spoke to Julie. She was amazing. She answered all my questions and we loved the pictures when they arrived. Love this company! read more

So Lauren Studios are the official photographers for grad photos at UC Berkeley. The multiple emails and flyers that I received made it seem like an obligatory thing to do for seniors and a bunch of my friends were taking photos as well, so I went ahead and booked an appointment. Making the appointment online was fairly easy, and the actual photo shoot went decently well - despite friends who experienced delays, my session was on time and the photographer was friendly and fairly professional, ensuring that nothing was out of place. About a week later, I received an email with online proofs, and I was pretty disappointed in how they turned out; although not awful, many of the poses just had an unnatural look/pose to them. I've taken better selfies on my iPhone. Which wasn't too bad - I was only out $15, and I ended up choosing the best-looking pose to go in the yearbook. Then another week later, I get printed proofs in the mail, along with a notice that I had to return the proofs even if I didn't want to order anything else or if I had already placed an online order, with the threat that failure to do so would result in my photo being removed from the yearbook. Not only that, they don't even pay for postage for you to return the proofs, so now I have to take time out of my schedule to go to the post office to buy stamps to send these useless prints back. While the sitting fees are very reasonable, the cost of actually ordering prints is outrageous. The cheapest option that I could find in the flyer was a "basic" package with 1 8x10 and 2 5x7's for $100, with options going all the way up to $500. For that amount, I might as well just buy my own cap and gown and get my own dSLR, or even hire a better professional photographer, have my very own photoshoot with input on the poses and images I want, and get them all printed and framed. I cannot imagine why anyone would choose to order from this company. read more

I do not understand how they are still in business! I called them multiple times and last time it was in January (almost a year after our graduation pictures were taken) and I was told that I should receive pictures by the end of January. It's second half of April already! Where are my pictures? It's been more than a year since the pictures were taken! What is wrong with you, Lauren Studios? What are doing there? I have never heard of pictures taking so long. They have horrible customer service too, btw. So, stay away! You will regret if you deal with them! read more

You have to do your grad photos through this company. They are highly unprofessional when ordering and have a very nasty attitude. It was unfortunate to have to deal with them. Also they are over priced for the quality you receive. I am lodging a complaint with UCSD to change photo service providers. read more

if there was a way to give zero stars, I'd do it. holy cow, where do they get the hacks that take their photos? they came to our daughter's middle school and the hack behind the camera told my daughter to tuck her beautiful long blonde hair behind her ears because "It will look better" and made her slouch. So her pictures look like she has poor posture and her ears are sticking out from having her hair tucked behind them. they aren't getting one red cent from me. my DOG could take a better picture. read more

USC represents Lauren Studios, so this was my default option for my senior yearbook portraits. I wasn't really expecting much from my experience, but this was probably one of the worst I've dealt with. I didn't really look into the bad reviews beforehand, but I wish I had. The photographer was downright rude. Cold, distant, and simply unapproachable. Before I was gawked at to come into the studio, I was hearing lots of laughter and overall good vibes coming from the room. Once it was my turn, this lady flipped a switch and was a nightmare to put up with. She tossed me my "diploma" and didn't even tell me to smile before she started shooting. After the first couple clicks, I stopped and asked her if this is the actual photoshoot, not a lighting test. She just said "Yeah." I simply asked her if she can redo those because she just started to do it out of nowhere. She complied, but her attitude was really bad. She rolled her eyes at me too. During the actual shoot, she had no direction whatsoever. You call yourself an artist, a photographer? A good photographer has a sense of direction and knows how to gain their client's trust. With this lady, absolutely no rapport established. She also began getting frustrated because she was misguiding me on how much I needed to tilt my head. She was gesturing a direction from her perspective, so I would follow her hand. Immediately she gawked at me to go in the opposite direction. I couldn't take this lady seriously at all. She has NO DIRECTION. My photos turned out subpar at best. Thankfully I didn't have to pay anything, because those photos were not worth over $100s. If you're purchasing the most expensive package, with some hokey poses and change in outfits, then forget the service. The photographer is rude, unprofessional and a pseudo-artist, AT BEST. I'm extremely disappointed with the quality of service I've received. Not only did I not want to believe how bad her service is, but everyone I've spoken to at USC also dealt with this same kind of service. Save your money and find a local studio because there are much more talented photographers out there. Trust me. read more

I paid for the graudate endura metallic package that includes premium retouch (the package costs 319 dollars), and when the photo come out I still have stray hair and glares on my glasses. I contacted the studio and they say that stray hair and glares are extra ... Like isn't that what people would normally expect from a retouch? And when I order my package I didn't even see the option of getting extra retouch done. I'll have to say like Lizel said in the other comment the quality of the print is good. But that does not mean that it's ok to send out pictures like that and charge that much. read more

There should be a place for ZERO stars. IT IS A WONDER THIS STUDIO IS IN BUSINESS! ALL COLLEGES SHOULD LOOK FOR ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO. I placed an order for my daughter's college senior pictures and paid additional $30 to have the order rushed. Since their website was not "behaving" I had to call the studio to request assistance. They took my credit card info and when I asked the gal about expected date of delivery she said I would get it by the end of this week. I called this morning to find out where my order was and was advised that they needed to call the lab for my tracking number and would call me right back. 2 hours later since no one called me I called them back and was given a UPS tracking number. MY ORDER IS COMING FROM DALLAS TX, WAS SHIPPED YESTERDAY 4/25 AND WOULD ARRIVE ON 5/1!!! VERY DISAPPOINTING. I called UPS to see if I could pay for expedited service (again!) but they were not able to help me! read more

This company is the official UCSD graduation photographers so if I want my picture in the graduation database I need to be photographed by them. Fair enough. I sign up for my pictures, choose the cheapest package. I go to my appointment time, leave work early, and pay for parking only to see that my session was cancelled through a hand written notice on the door. COMPLETELY UNPROFESSIONAL. There was no explanation just a little paper similar to a post-it note. I waited about 10 minutes and then called customer service, they informed me the sessions were cancelled because the photographer was missing an important piece to his camera. I feel as a company, they should have emailed the students with appointments for that day or called with some sort of warning. Nevertheless I rescheduled and the nice lady on the phone said my next session would be FREE due to the unexpected cancellation. I felt like a winner in this situation. Until I received an email 2 days later saying my appointment was cancelled AGAIN because it was scheduled during a holiday weekend and the campus would be closed. Once again, I feel like this should have been caught by the company beforehand. Now, my second time rescheduling, I show up to my appointment, everything goes well except the photographer asks me for my payment. I have to explain to him what customer service told me and pulled up the email for verification (ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF LACK OF COMMUNICATION FROM THIS COMPANY). Aside from the miscommunication, the session went well. The photographer was really professional and nice. Here comes my BIGGEST ISSUE WITH THIS COMPANY: I received an email saying my proofs were ready to view. I log onto my account and see nothing that directs me to said proofs. I send an email to customer service because they were closed and could not call directly. After my email, I continued to try to access my proofs because the email said something about buying before a certain deadline and receiving a discount, I definitely wanted to score that discount if I approved of my pictures. Monday morning comes along, I try again and but this time the website says my email is invalid and not in the system (even though I logged in my account the day before). I call customer service and they tell me the system is down, fair enough, we all go through tech problems. And they would back up in a few hours. After said time, I tried and tried but still could not get in my account. I finally get a reply from the email I sent 3 days prior saying "try logging in now" but still could not log in. I replied letting them know I'm still having trouble, but have yet to receive a reply (it's been a week now). CONCLUSION: it has been 2 weeks since receiving the "your proofs are ready" email and have yet been able to log into my account to view/order. The company has been NO HELP. I understand tech difficulties but again, as a company I feel they should communicate this to their clients, through the website, email etc. I just want to see my pictures, why has it been such a mission? read more

Pictures were OK but overpriced, and it's (intentionally I'm sure) difficult to ignore the packages they steer you to and simply order a la carte. Even if you order prints a la carte, you have to order a minimum number of copies that depend on the size of the print. And of course if you want digital images, they are low resolution so you can't enlarge, and they are priced just high enough that unless you'd be ordering lots of small prints it doesn't make sense. Bottom line: save your money and take lots of your own photos at the ceremony. read more

As if I could not think worse of that "place", the owner (i think) reached out to me here on yelp. I politely responded to him and said that i was looking forward to a response.... That was two month ago, and i'm still waiting for a reply. Really, screw this money-stealing pile of crap. They deserve all the hate and flack they get. read more

Terrible customer service and EXTREMELY OVERPRICED! Never got back to me, charged my card and received the cheapest quality photos I've ever seen in my life. Paper was razor thin. Not even photo paper. Yuck! read more

Shitty as fuck High and ridiculous prices if you wanted copies of them Long wait to take my photo even if we were supposed to have "appointments" This was a waste of time lol read more

tl;dr-- If you're a UCSD grad trying to get photos, don't waste your money; you probably won't like the photos they take anyway. Ugh, this experience has me irked to the max. This is apparently the official UCSD graduation photo studio, and I don't even get why. I paid a $30 sitting fee to get 5 yearbook photos, 5 "your choice clothing" photos, and 5 cap and gown photos. My appointment was at 9:30 am, so I arrived a few minutes early. Not only did they totally overbook that time frame, but the room we were using to take photos was about the size, if not smaller than, a dorm room. Due to these issues, I had to wait about half an hour just to sit and take my photos. The photographer was okay, but seemed unorganized and rushed. I finally got to view my photos online a week later, and only about 3 of the 15 were anywhere close to being decent quality. Most of them had me blinking, or with my hair sticking out in random places. Just goes to show how little attention the photographer paid to the photos he was taking. I decided to look at the pricing list so I could get some cap and gown photos for my graduation announcements, and the cheapest package they had was $145 +tax for only 4 photos! Like, WTF?! After seeing how ridiculously overpriced they were for all-in-all horrible photos, I decided to take my business elsewhere that would actually have a photographer who cared about how the photos turned out! read more

I have been using Lauren Studios for 9 years. Everyone of my kids photos have turned out amazing. This year we did Senior portraits and they turned out amazing. Today I had an issue and received excellent Customer Service from Christina! read more

I had my Senior Portrait done by Lauren Studios through USC. I had to have 2 sittings because we were just not happy with the first set of proofs. It was no problem to set up another appointment. We received the second set of proofs within days of my appt and the portrait package arrived today! Two weeks after the second sitting. The pictures are FABULOUS. They did a great job! read more

Awful shots for ridiculous prices!!!! Buyer beware!!

Lauren Studios prices are absolutely absurd. I sat for graduation photos and paid them extra to take professional photos, only to find out I cannot afford to purchase the photos because their packages range in the hundreds of dollars. Of course, they don't disclose the actual cost of photos up front, or at least do not make that information easily accessible. Based on their prices, its clear that their plan is to take advantage of parents thinking there is no way they wouldn't buy their son's or daughter's graduation photos. read more

Worst photography service I've had in my life. The photographer wouldn't let me see my own photos and submitted them without my approval. Instead of complaining about your life and "how cold the room is," why not put some actual effort into your service? read more

My review is for Jeanette. Jeanette is a Professional. I conveyed to Jeanette my circumstances. Jeanette was empathetic with my situation. Because of Jeanette's gracious act in waiving my photo session fees, I was able to get my photo taken and be placed in the Yearbook. Jeanette stayed true to her word and gave me three photos for my Mom. Jeanette has made the process for me less stressful and gave me the best gift to give to my Mom, which is a picture of me as a graduate. Thank you Jeanette. read more

If I could rate it no star, I shall do that! My fellow below already said basically everything I had to say. Worst experience ever! Ever! EVER! read more

This studio charged every senior students $20 for just taking the photo shot, and then ask for HUNDREDS of dollars for the actual photo. Even worse, they mailed me a few sample photos later and asked me to RETURN these un-requested photos or they won't include me in the yearbook! They got all senior students' email address from our school's yearbook making office and spam us multiple times to lure us in. They are definitely a monopoly in this business and I really hate the way how they abuse this power. read more

The whole thing is a total rip-off and waste of money. The photographer took less than 5s for each pose and the overall quality is just bad. I can't imagine how they dare to charge people $275 for a single digital copy with such quality. I am going to write a formal complaint to my college about this senior portrait scam. I bet most colleges that are partnering with this studio have no idea how bad it is. read more

Most ridiculously over-priced photos I've seen. Not worth my time at all. Had my grad portraits taken here and ONE copy online of ONE pose was $300! Seriously, Lauren Studios get your feet back on the ground. My photographer friend did it for free and it turned out better than what you people offered. I will call my University and suggest a different partnership. The pictures weren't even slightly impressive. read more

Our school forced us to use Lauren Studios for our grad shots. Some of them looked pretty good, and I sent the link to my mom to see if she wanted any. I wish I would have looked at the price list first! My mom spend over $300 on the pictures! She seemed happy, so I was going to let it go... But THEN, they sent all of my proofs to me by mail (even though we had already ordered). I thought that was ok, since some people would probably like to see it printed. But what was totally unacceptable is that they require you to return the proofs, at your cost, or incur a $15 per-proof fee. WTH? I'm so annoyed, I wish I could un-order the pictures. read more

Ridiculously expensive. They are the senior portrait photographer for UC Berkeley. It's kind of a good deal that you can take the yearbook photo for only $5, but once you actually look at the packages, the prices are insane. I ended up taking more photos somewhere else, and paid about a quarter of Lauren's posted price. read more

I have had the extreme displeasure of dealing with Lauren Studios on 3 occasions now (all through the University of Southern California). On each occasion, I had the displeasure of having my photograph taken by an inept photographer (snapping photos when my eyes are closed and/or not even looking into the camera). 4 weeks ago, I called the Lauren Studios office to voice my concerns and asked for a refund. The representative stated that I should receive my refund in 4 weeks and that I should receive an email confirmation receipt. However, both of these promises turned out to be full-fledged lies as I never received the promised email and I just called today (4 weeks subsequent to the aforementioned phone conversation) and found, to my dismay, that "[Lauren Studios] never offers refunds for photograph sessions." I received no apology and was instead offered a string of inconvenient days I could have my photograph retaken. The loss of the $10 photograph session fee means little to me. However, I am deeply offended by the following three cardinal features of Lauren Studios: 1. A putrid standard and abysmal quality of service 2. Dishonesty 3. Disregard for customer service I strongly urge you to look elsewhere for your professional photograph needs. Sincerely, AY read more

ummm.. prices? I'm just completely baffled that a single picture download is $300. I understand that it's COVID, and you're trying to survive and what not, but it is completely ridiculous for me to justify spending $300 on a picture when I know a complete photography session with pictures included is worth that somewhere else, and sometimes even wayyy less. ok so if I want physical prints for a frame, that's $69 for the most basic option on the most basic paper??? $69? for a single picture? also unjustifiable. I was super excited about my pictures, my photographer was super nice, and I am not complaining whatsoever when it comes to that experience, and my one star is for that. when it comes to prices, however, just AVOID altogether. order an amazon gown and hire someone else or just wait until graduation for your actual gown and take it with your iPhone, which is basically the same thing as a professional camera anyways, and then go to a CVS to print 25 for like $20!!! way better read more

I took senior portraits here. The photographer knew what she was doing (her name is Cassie, I believe). She was on time and was even willing to take me before my appointment time. The appointment times are pretty flexible. She is pretty chill and even played music to lighten up the mood. It was a standard portrait studio and she even takes a couple of "trial" pictures before taking official pictures. read more

The studio sent out several emails dated 2018, even though it is 2020. When my son arrived at his session the photographer told him that there was another error - that the price in the email is incorrect and it's actually higher. Their emails stressed that it was cash only (or checks) but they knowingly tell the students the incorrect price. read more

Dishonest. Condescending. Overpriced. Receipt for my son's senior portraits stated, "If you order within 14 days of receiving notice that your portraits are available online, packaging, handling, and shipping fees will be waived." I placed my order 7 days after receiving notice and was charged $14.95 anyway for packaging, handling and shipping. When I contacted Lauren Studios via email, they responded that since I "neglected to apply the code" the fee was charged. Well no code was provided on my receipt nor was there any instruction that a code was needed for the fee waiver. My email to Lauren Studios explaining such is being ignored. I've given feedback to Arcadia High and hope they find another photographer. read more

Horrible. Horrible photographer. Horrible poses. Horrible photos. Horrible and confusing ordering process. Horrible customer service. Horrible for the students and parents that UCSD contracted with this horrible company. read more