Very poor experience. I wish I could give her zero stars!
Mara took newborn "lifestyle" photos of my son in August 2021 when he was 3 weeks old.
The agreement was 10 edited photos, 5 newborn and 5 lifestyle family photos. She said she had a deal where she offered a newborn session with10 edited photos for $850. I asked if I could have a weekend session and she said she charges $150 extra for a weekend session. I was completely fine with paying that much for photos because she's the only newborn photographer in Juneau and I loved the work I had seen that she'd done online.
The day after our session I asked her how long it would take to receive our 10 edited photos and she stated via text that she would have the photos ready in 3-6 weeks. She also mentioned that she would have a sneak peek available the next day. The next day passed, no sneak peek. I asked the following week about a sneak peek and she stated " I am sending them over tomorrow. So in love with your session!!"
Obviously that was a lie, because it took about a month for her to send us a set of sneak peeks.
She mentioned in September that she was having some medical issues, but didn't elaborate. As the weeks went on I became skeptical about receiving the photos after paying so much for them.
I reached out to her asking for a refund after 2 months of not receiving my photos and she refused to offer one. Stating that it would only devalue her work. She offered me a "complimentary metal framed photo" due to the process taking so long, but then continued to contact me less and less frequently about my photos, until she ultimately stopped responding to my texts,calls, emails, and social media messages. Also, never provided the metal framed photo after asking for my address.
It's now been almost 3 months and she has yet to send me my photos, or the "complimentary metal framed" photo, or contact me about them.
She is extremely unprofessional and I've learned over the last 3.5 months that she's done this to multiple other families as well. DO NOT book a session with Mara at Seaborn photography or she will take advantage of you and make up excuses along the way. I will NEVER recommend her as a photographer in Juneau or anywhere else she decides to work.
She also deleted her photography website and Facebook page after taking the photos, which is a huge red flag!
**Communication is very important when you own a professional business like this, but that is something she lacks. Even if she had a life altering medical issue, the right thing would have been to contact her clients or have someone close to her contact them..instead she lied and decided to scam many families out of thousands of dollars. DO NOT trust her!** read more
