THERE IS A NEW OWNER!! and we had a wonderful experience with him. Richard the new owner is fantastic. We won a raffle (like many others in the comments) which is great, they offer a free shoot and a 5x7 photo. You have to purchase digital copies if you want them. They are a franchise company known for their framing work so their pricing is set based on that, which was totally over our budget and not what we were looking for. Richard worked with us on a digital package so I could use the pictures for a Christmas card and gifts , and it was exactly in line with other company pricing. The style of the photos are very unique and you can tell Richard is an expert in the photography space as well as customer service. Anna our photographer was amazing! She handled my one year old so well and got some great shots. She was incredibly kind and professional. If you are coming to this location after winning a raffle or just checking them out for the first time, Richard and team will be upfront about their offerings and you can make the choice if it's right for you! read more

They are BACK in business after all their nightmarish behaviors. I have never felt more compelled to write a negative review either. They lured us in with a "raffle" and a free 5x7 photoshoot and then handed us a brochure with photos that cost $1000s of dollars with financing options. How absolutely stupid do they think everyone is around here? Our photos with a really good photographer that took 4 hours cost us $500! Then, they wanted us to come have some kind of in person experience. I didn't want to do it because I didn't want to give them a credit card. Furthermore, my time actually has value and I've never had to go "in person" to see a photo. Ultimately they agreed to do the whole thing on zoom. The woman, who is apparently the owner, was incredibly rude the entire time we were on the call and insisted I was wasting her time...ironic considering she wanted to waste her time in person. She kept saying they do this the "British way," as if somehow that is supposed to impress me. Not only was the whole thing super scammy, the woman on the computer showed me the notes she made about us on her computer by mistake...lets just say she was nasty before we even got to the appointment. Now they insist we come to them and pick up our free 5x7 photo but refuse to email back with a time. I honestly don't care. Don't give them you're business. They are located in Greenwich because they think all of us "rich people" are stupid and gullible. They're rude, they don't actually have other sessions scheduled, and I'm fairly sure its just a ruse. In terms of quality, the photos are not authentic and honestly, kind of weird. My kids were photoshopped within an inch of their lives - to the point where my 10 year old daughter didn't look like a 10 year old, and my son didn't look like he had a chin. Our school photographer did a better job. Do not give these people business read more

I have never felt so compelled to write a negative review but after my experience with this company I need to warn others that it is a bait and switch scam. The previous reviews nailed the experience - we "won" a free photo shoot through a raffle, along with a free 5x7 print and my family and I were so excited! We did have a great time doing the shoot with Gabriella, but the shoe dropped when she handed me a booklet with the price options costing in the thousands of dollars ("but you can always finance" we were told) and said we would need to come back for an in person viewing. Since we had a great time, I agreed and made a follow up appointment. However, after discussing it with my husband, we canceled because the prices were so high and we weren't in the market for new pictures anyway. We only went because we "won" the shoot. When I canceled, the woman I spoke with on the phone told me that they could email me the photos with their watermark so that I could pick out the free photo, which sounded fine to me. Less than 10 minutes later another woman from the studio left a message trying to get me back in the studio. A couple of weeks passed, and I never received the digital images so I called back to find out what was going on. I spoke with the woman who left the message trying to get me back in and she told me "that was never told to me" and they "record all of their conversations," basically calling me a liar. I responded by telling her "if that was the case then you would know that I ended the conversation asking if they had my email" (which they did), so that they could send me the images. Put off by her unwillingness to send the images AS PROMISED, and eluding to me being a liar, I expressed my anger. She then told me they could do a Zoom showing -- with a rude exasperated breath which I called her out on. I agreed to the Zoom call and then she told me that even with that I would have to come back into the studio to pick up my free image. I'm sorry, but what year is it that you can't send something in the mail? After that, I said "I am done" and hung up the phone. Was I angry on the call? YES. Rude, possibly. But this was a BLATANT LIE and BAIT AND SWITCH. The operating practices are awful and not transparent at all and I would recommend everyone AVOID at all costs. I will be speaking with local organizers to make sure they are aware of these practices with the hope other residents won't be misled. read more

This place is the most poorly run company that tries to lure you in with bait and switch. So glad they they are being forced to close. So essentially, they run "raffles" at many different venues. Those who sign ALL WIN a "free" photoshoot and one 7" x 5" framed photo. Sounds amazing! After the shoot, they make a video to showcase their "chosen" images. At the end of that showcase, they make you pay $1500 non-refundable deposit and you get that video "for free" after choosing images you want from it to print. However, try to cancel for any reason or another (could be bad sales information, bad project management, bad retouching, can't print the format they sold you, all of which happened, by the way) you still have to pay the $1500 because you accepted that "free" showcase video that you never ordered in the first place. So you end up having to proceed with the order, else you lose that $1500. Moreover, to receive digital copies, it's an extra $80 EACH and you can only print something like 10"x10" max from the digital copy. After the numerous times of back and forth of poor retouching, you finally end up at "good" place but probably only because you have given up as you now realized you will never get any quality out of these guys, though their website claims that the reason they are so expensive is because they give you white glove treatment every step of the way. They could not even print what I chose and sold me. How professional is that? So you finally get the prints and guess what, they printed the wrong proof! If I can give this place a big fat ZERO rating, I would and slap a suit for wasting my time, my energy and creative eye (and $3000). I wouldn't even recommend this place to my worst enemy. Again, they are closing because they just suck. read more

I'm very surprised to see this rating. I've used venture twice now and just viewed all of Abbie's work this past weekend (I am so thrilled with our shoot). Literally I consider both photo shoots the best pic of my kids ever. Abbey was fantastic and is award winning. She took time and made us each comfortable. I'm so please with her work. As far as cost...it's expensive. The same way a good car or a good handbag may cost you...these are superior pics. They do offer specials and I waited until one was offered before I booked. They also give you a price sheet so I'm confused why people are stunned. Anyway...it's 5 stars from me and I am so grateful to have done this a second time! read more

Venture Photography - Session Photography Near Me

If you are in the market for a photography studio who is a complete rip off , has poor customer service but awesome pictures this is the place for you. They lure you in, show you gorgeous pictures and then after the big reveal, you get hit with the astronomical prices of what they call "artwork". With all the options for framework and photography in 2019 pleasing the customer should be of utmost importance to them. Neil Hamilton is shrude and money hungry. He told me just purchase the artwork and we will talk about your images. I will give them to you. He really just wanted to complete the sale. I spent a total of $2200 with him and he is still holding my images hostage. Claiming I didn't spend enough. I have been doing photos of my children for 12 years and have never had to deal with this. If you are making a purchase you should get your pictures. He would not even sell me the digital file. I offered to pay for it. Any photographer that doesn't allow their customer to enjoy their memories and have their images is not a photographer. He then tries to compensate by offering you each image for 95$, but I like them all!! I can not possibly spend 5000$ for pictures. Its absurd. Thats the only way to get them. Its a real shame because I would of returned in the future because our photographer Abby was great. Very disappointed. Be aware before you do pictures here what you are getting. I can recommend other photographers that do just as good images and care. read more

PLEASE READ THIS REVIEW!!! Where do I begin? I would call what they do a scam. First, note that I am writing a review that has my real name attached, and people are being sued for leaving fake reviews. So that should tell you something about how upset I was with what I consider a scam. Why am I calling it a scam? My sister signed up for a shoot at Weed Beach in Darien, CT. One of their con-artists set up shop and offered a "deal" for under $100 for a photo shoot. I specifically asked him if we would get digital copies, and he said yes, which was a lie. After going through the process, I found out one digital image is $500. Yes. That's correct $500 for one digital image. How am I certain he said there would be free digital images? When we got back from the beach, my wife told me she thought this sounded too good to be true, and I specifically told her what he had said. After we wasted our time with the shoot, and I found out how much a digital image is, my wife remembered me telling her that they had said digital images are free. But they aren't even trying to sell $500 digital images. They are trying to sell multi thousand dollar pictures that would cost a few hundred dollars anywhere else. And the shoot itself was not as represented. The con-artist who came to Darien beach showed us photos of motorcycles and all these crazy props. He said we would have multiple outfit changes, made it sound like an adventure. The reality was the person pushed us to just do one outfit and then reluctantly allowed us to do one outfit change. In hindsight, this was a good thing since we never even bothered to go back and look at the photos given the cost to obtain even a digital image. But at the time, I was very disappointed. Why do I think most of these reviews are fake? Well, I am not destitute. I live in Darien, which has the highest income in the country, and I'm just shy of a 1 percenter, and I would never ever pay these prices. I know lots of people with insane amounts of money, and they still watch what they pay for things and can even be a bit cheap. So I know that there is absolutely no way that a place can lie about their service, waste a wealthy person's afternoon, and then spring the fact they did this all for nothing if they aren't willing to cough up a minimum of $500 for a DIGITAL IMAGE and not have that be a bad experience. And if you are not extremely wealthy, are you really using this service? Probably not. Trust me. It's a scam. I just hope my review saves people from wasting several hours and the $75 or whatever the fee was for the shoot. If you are fine paying $500 for one digital image, I believe it was $1500 for five, or thousands of dollars for a picture for the wall, then by all means, check out Venture Photography. I'm sure their photos are lovely. I wouldn't know because I never bothered to show up for the viewing session after learning of their ridiculous fees. But I will assume the photos are fine. Lastly, the photo session was very stages, and I can't imagine the photos were all that great. Very canned shots, and when we were on the floor, and our dog was licking my face in the cutest way, the dullard photographer didn't take any photos of that and rushed us along to the next canned photo saying we'll get some of that later. Well, mrs roboto, you kind of have to get spur of the moment photos in the actual moment, not later. read more

We came to this highly professional studio last weekend - our family plus our cat - we all had a very memorable, pleasant and fun experience with the session. Our photographer Gabriella was very outgoing, funny, and creative. This studio is a unique find and it has it's own uniqueness and supreme quality. They do fantastic photo retouching and make sure that the final images are better than any photo ever taken of your family ever, at least that was our experience. The photos come back with so much personality! It was excellent and I highly recommend. They are a little pricey, but like they say you get what you pay for - that applies to everything in life. If you are looking for top-notch photos look no further! read more

I'd never ever use them again.... complete rip off. Buying one digital photo from your shoot is 500$ and the cheapest framed photos start at 900$. Don't buy a photo shoot with them.... you get nothing unless you want to spend thousands of dollars for one picture. I wish I could give them a negative star. Today... I had an appointment at 3 to view my photos.... I was called twice yesterday by Venture. Had a busy day at work and could not take the calls... as I called back this morning... I had a very unpleasant conversation with Naz... if you are hesitant to committing on a purchase they are so rude to you at Venture.... this woman just hung up on me. I'm assuming I will not ever see my photos. Horrible customer service.. very rude: She told me to go to a cheaper photographer like I had used in the past. I work in the service industry and I would NEVER hang up on a customer read more

This studio took great photos of our kids, but unfortunately, we can't afford to spend thousands of dollars for a few prints.

Wow, I just got back from seeing the beautiful family photos that we took two weeks ago. Gabriella was wonderful with our kids and was able to get natural and beautiful shots of our family. The kids had an easy time during the photo shoot and listened to Gabriella. We selected quite a few photos and plan on framing one of the 8 of us! I highly recommend Venture Photography! read more

We purchased a $50 gift card at St Anthony's Festa in West Harrison. We intended to use it for our newborn pictures as I was about a week away from giving birth at the time. Thank goodness it didn't work out, or I would have NO newborn pics of my darling boy! First off, the $50 'special' is a total crock of s**t. We used it eventually for a first birthday/cake smash session. I also asked the photographer for a few nursing shots to celebrate one year of that as it was a long, hard struggle and I wanted something to remember our journey with. The photographer was great, so engaging & fun, ensured she took every shot we asked for, baby found her fun and she got lots of smiles. We left happy and excited for the viewing, inviting grandparents, cousins and godparents to come view with us. As we left we were handed a price list, which had not been offered to us at any stage beforehand nor is available online. Well... I cried the whole way home. The prices are OUTRAGEOUS. Nonetheless, hubby and I agreed that we could afford a few prints or one really big one should we really fall in love with the pictures. Fast forward to the day of the photo presentation. The lady whom I guess does the sales, first off had us waiting for at least 15/20mins. We all settled down to see these pictures & I was SO disappointed. We waited 15/20 mins to view a slideshow that lasted no longer than 90 seconds. The video shuts off, lights go up and right away she asks budget, which ones we want to place orders for, pushing the big sizes saying the pictures only look good if you purchase the huge framed prints. We OK'd a cake smash pic and a family pic, we then went to the nursing pictures, she asked which one I wanted and I replied 'none' I stated that I liked the shots, but they were nothing like what I thought they would be. It just wasn't the kind of picture I wanted to purchase at a cost of thousands and have hanging in my house for a month & then forever in the garage. Well... The response I got from her was nothing short of nasty. She told me I was welcome to go to a photographer anywhere else and find such great pictures. SHE thinks they're great and I couldn't possibly get better. I honesty felt like I was being attacked. I mean, maybe if I was allowed to see the pictures for more than 90 seconds I may have had a closer look, I may have fallen in love & dropped baby's entire college fund on prints. Instead I accepted her challenge, I walked out. My family & friends were disgusted with the salespersons attitude toward me and will not be using or recommending the company. We got pictures instead from a very talented local photographer and those images hang proudly in my home. It's the photographers working here I feel bad for, their sales team are screwing them out of business. I would avoid this place, unless you like your photography experience likened to being mugged, you leave with an empty wallet and thoroughly abused. I only wish there was a zero star rating. Oh and I'm posting a copy of their price list as of June 2016. So nobody else gets tricked like we did. read more

Venture Photography - Session Photography Near Me

Anne Hamilton owner of Venture photography has helped raise money for a Charitable organization that I work for. She donated her time and staff to our Cancer Care 5k walk/run for hope held on April 2nd in Greenwich CT. The pictures she took from the event were amazing. Venture photography also donated studio time to participants of the run. After seeing the photographs I know anyone would be lucky to have Venture Photography photograph their families. The staff at venture photography is professional courteous and always creative. Thank you Anne for all you do. read more

Venture Photography - This is in standing in front of her booth at the Cancer care 5K run walk for hope. - Session Photography Near Me

I was very late to my appointment. Sweating because of the summer heat carrying an unnecessary suitcase filled with clothes ( like I was a model) two dogs and other bags. Oy. Not only did Abby try for 20 minutes to calm me down offering water wine etc. she couldn't have been sweeter or nicer to me and my 1 super old pug and 1 very misbehaved pug. She stayed hours beyond my time until I was comfortable as I did non stop complaining how I've never taken a good picture. What can I say more: she's a genius an amazing photographer and I would recommend her highly. If she could handle me I can only imagine what she can do for a normal person. read more

Wow, this is one of the most memorable experiences my family has ever had! My wife and I did a pregnancy photo shoot first then about a year later we just finalized our family photos. The photography session was amazing and fun. Not as much fun as watching the presentation that followed a few days later though. This organization really has the process down to a science. We were very happy with both photographers. We had Marc the first time and Abbie the second time. They are both great at what they do and very professional. The manager Neil also made our trips enjoyable. I cannot wait to bring my family back there again in the future. I highly recommend the experience. read more

The photography was amazing and I loved working with everyone and getting the chance to really create my own artwork! I wish the prices were a little lower, but I was aware going into this because...well, I simply asked! I read the reviews and thought I was going to get scammed, but really, they were VERY nice and very clear on the prices. It was great working one on one with someone to choose what we wanted to put in our home and stay within our budget. We stayed in the $1000 and are totally satisfied...I don't know, maybe we are the only ones not looking for GIGANTIC pictures on our walls. Honestly, after reading these other reviews I feel bad...the whole staff was great and I can't imagine they would treat me any differently.... read more

Thanks to Venture Photography i now have a gorgeous photo of my family. Looking at their photos you get a little surprised how do they manage having small children smile and all look at the camera at the same time. Well, Gabriella at Venture Photography really knew what she was doing ! She engaged them in a fun play, had them run around the studio and at a certain point had them run to me , hug me and look at the camera at the same time. It looked so simple and so fun at the same time , and it worked ! She took over 200 photos of us within 35 minutes. When i came to select the shots, i was breathtaken at how amazing they looked, i never saw us looking so happy at the same time. Although i came with a $75 promotion, i fell in love with photos and purchased others at the studio price. It's so worth it !!! I've never had anyone managing doing what Gabriella did. I'm looking forward to returning to this studio next year. They don't just create state of the art photos, they create magic read more

If I could give zero star I would. Worst experience ever - they don't tell you how much pictures cost before the photo shoot, then you get all ready, makeup and hair done, took pictures, had a good time. Then they make you go back there for a "viewing", each framed photo costs hundreds to thousands, and one single digital file costs 500 dollars, and you can only print up to 8 by 10. The sales person was the worst - rude, condescending, and treated us like we didn't know anything about photography and were too poor to spent thousands on a couple photographs (excuse me, "artworks"). In the end we walked out with the only one that came with a voucher we received, feeling angry but glad we didn't get talked into spending the same amount of money on pictures as a really a nice family vacation. read more

SCAM ARTISTS!!!!!!DON'T DO BUSINESS HERE!!! They will sell you a cheap "gift certificate" for $50 or $75 to use as a "credit" towards a photo session. BEWARE! They usually set up at street fairs or church fairs and have skilled salespeople. Venture Photography are wolves in sheep's clothing. Had our family come in for photos. The photographer was great however, when it was time to come back and pick up the pictures, we were quoted not hundreds but THOUSANDS of dollars!!! AND YOU ARE ONLY PAYING FOR A PRINT! NO DIGITAL FILES! Neal the owner, is a total shark who was dismissive, rude and curt on the phone. This business is ran unethically with zero concern for their clients. Only cares about how much money he can get out of unsuspecting families. This business should be reported to the BBB ASAP! If I could give zero stars I would! read more

The photographer was great. They do nice work. The reason they get one star is because they are deceiving in their presentation of services. They sell you a great deal on a photo shoot, but that is all you will get without dropping additional THOUSANDS on actual prints, digital copies or artwork pieces. They don't tell you the price of those items until after your actual photo shoot. Even the cost of one small framed picture (which they say is a custom frame) is $500. If you were to want digital copies of the actual photos, it's $5000. So, great if you can afford that, but I suggest hiring a freelance professional photographer if you don't want to spend that insane amount of money. It will save you about $4500. read more

I was quite pleased that the whole process up until our pictures were supposed to be sent to us, which they never were. Yes,they're expensive, however they do their job extremely well job. The job they didn't do well which was getting us our pictures. Finally after contacting venture in Greenwich four times I picked up my pictures because I happened to be back in town. I would've thought at their level of service and price point that they would have wanted to continue creating ravening fans what they did was turn a customer off and lose them for life. In my business, I would have offered something to make the wrong right. Clearly there is an ownership and management issue my case since there has been so many mistakes, stay tuned as to what happens. read more

Unfortunately, I didn't see the reviews before buying something from this horrible place. I bought the $75 certificate, which promises to give you printed photo and the session with the photographer. After looking the prices, that was just ridiculous that you can end up paying thousand of dollars for pictures. We did the session at Darien location but we never went to see the pictures. We have tried to call them to see if they can send us the picture that they offered but they always have excuses. The lady said she needs to check if they still have the pcis, then she needs approval for the manager, that she will call back. It has been three months trying to get picture they offered with the certificate. Unfortunately, I can't dispute the transaction with my credit card company. Horrible place, it is totally a scam. They literally will steal your money. read more

This is the worst company I have ever dealt with. Photographs were actually the worst they have ever taken in my life. Very pricy and very bad pictures. Also, they did not take the shots we requested for after we spent 1.5 hrs and the photographer "promise" my children he would have shoots they requested. I tried to cancelled my order and they wouldn't allow me to and they also questioned my credibility...Customer service is poor. Never never sign a contract with them. They also didn't want to refund the money. It was a nightmare. I hope you find a better and friendlier place!!!!! They got one star because there is not another option for a minus star. read more

Got a voucher for a free photo session. The photographer was wonderful and took great pictures. My wife and kids had a blast taking the photos. The actual pictures cost way too much, but we purchased several digital pictures and one very large, expensive one for our home. The issue was the follow-up...we had some trouble trying to print the digital pictures and they just didn't work right. My wife reached out to them 10 to 12 times. They were extremely unhelpful. Asked the owner to call us back several times and never did. Finally got one person to help us and she was extremely helpful. Terrible customer service...Took months to sort out. Certainly took my money quickly. I would never be able to recommend this place to someone else, which is a shame because the photographer was a very talented woman who did a great job. read more

If you are looking for exceptional photography, this is the place to bring your family. Their images are amazing! Every time I look at my photos I'm reminded of what a great experience my family had in the studio. read more

We signed up for a photo session when Venture was doing a promotion at our local Nature Center, where you donate $50 to the nature center and get a free photo shoot. At the time of the sales pitch, we asked what the photo packages costs, and the girl explained that they aren't traditional photo packages, but rather art, and that they will go over all that with you at the shoot. That should have been a red flag right there. Our first shoot was a disaster, at no fault of Venture's - the studio is very echoey, and our son who was only about 2-1/2 at the time was terrified and cried the whole time. So they were nice enough to reschedule. We waited about a year and a half to go again, and this time was fine. We had a really wonderful, talented photographer named Devon who was great with our 4 year old son. We had a terrific time at the shoot. The reason for the two stars is that they don't tell you upfront that there are no options to purchase any of the pictures for under $600.00!! If you want all the photos and no art they'll give you a DVD with a slide show ... IF you shell out $1500.00. No option to just buy prints or anything reasonable like that. Now I understand why they were so acommodating about rescheduling! So it turned out to be a complete waste of time - we couldn't afford anything they offer. Very disappointed, really would have liked a copy of at least one of the photos. And the worst part is that our son is very disappointed because he really wanted to see the pictures. If we had known about the outrageous prices at the get-go, we would have donated to the nature center directly and not wasted our time or Devon's time, and wouldn't have set our little boy up for disappointment. If you are very wealthy and don't have to worry about money, then this is a great service. But if you're a family on a budget, don't make the same mistake we did. read more

I am giving this two stars rather than one only because we enjoyed the photo session itself, but the resulting photos were pretty poor quality and the aggressive behavior of the salesperson after the shoot were unprofessional and upsetting. We bought photos because we wanted a family photo and didn't want to spend more time finding another company and doing another shoot. But there is no way we would go back. read more

I have the same issues at the other two posts here in terms of the prices being too high to be practical. We were contacted through a Lexus package offer. They called me about 20 times before I finally decided I would try a shoot. The package came with a free 15 x 15 print. However, before the planned shoot, I asked for the price list for other prints and they graciously provided it. When I saw the prices were too high for my palate, I let them know we would not be doing the session. They did not give me any issues. read more

we had a great experience at our photo session at venture. we have a 4 year old and 17 month old kids, they both had great time. the photographer Mark was super patient with us and knows how to work with kids. It took us a while to decide taking the family picture, since we had really bad experience before at another picture studio. My kids were crying from the beginning until the end. But we are pleasantly surprised at Venture. both of them could not get enough of the picture time!!! the pictures looked amazing. they really showed how we are as a family. we got so many compliment from these pictures. The studio also offered us many options as how to display them at our home. it is really amazing experience we had at venture!!! read more

A complete and utter scam. Don't be fooled. They lure you in with a $50 one-hour photo shoot that produces beautiful photos, only those "one of a kind" photos that you dressed your family up for must be purchased in a package that starts at a $2,000 minimum. If you are so foolish to purchase individual prints (at an exorbitant fee of $200+ per print), you are told to wait 6+ weeks to get them, because that have them printed in the UK. To add insult to injury, once your photos are ready, you must return to the scene of the crime to pick them up. Stay away! read more

We took our 2 toddlers to venture for some fun family pictures, and left the studio SO excited. The woman who reviewed the edited photos with us was a great saleswoman... but we never had the chance to scrutinize each photo in the collection, we were just assured that they would take extreme care to review the touch ups... only after getting our flash drive did we see one picture had extra fingers because it had been spliced. They appropriately fixed it, but when the final product arrived (and we had to drive an hour each way to pick up) did we get to see that there was an extra arm in another photo. Aside from no one updating us that our order was sent back by the photographer (and thus delaying the order), for the price, the service (especially regarding editing) was not up to par. The last straw that encouraged us to write a review was that when the revised picture (sans 3rd arm) arrived on the wrong wall mount, we were advised to fix it ourselves or drive an hour back down to the studio, not the service I expect for how much money we invested. The pictures themselves are lovely, but we will not be using Venture in the future read more