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January 2012 Moms
Twinkle5086
member
Worst Photographer ever Also on 3rd tri board
Twinkle5086
member
https://www.sexsonphotography.com
If anyone is in the CT area avoid this woman at all costs!
My sister had gotten me what I thought was the best gift ever for my baby shower. She got my a gift certificate from Jan Sexson who owns a photography studio to have my maternity and newborn pictures done. Now the gift certificate my sister said was something that she had done special because shes never done it before and it was a combo deal. My sister was so excited she thought she got a really good deal.
I call up as requested a week after I got the gift certificate to schedule a consultation with her. It went well and my husband and I went back the following Saturday to have our pictures taken and here where everything goes down hill. We get to her studio and shes not set up. No biggie we told her it wasn't a problem we sat down drank our coffee and talked with her while she was setting up. About half an hour later she tells us that she has another couple coming in to look at their newborn photos so if shes taking our pictures shes going to have to stop and show them the photos. I wasn't pleased but I didn't say anything and sure enough when the other couple came in she still hadn't even finished setting up for our session. When the other couple finally let and she got all set up it was almost 2 hours after we where supposed to have started. We get through the session ok and she tells us the pictures would be ready the following Friday to come and look at.
Friday passes and I haven't heard from her. On Monday I send her an email asking for a time to come and look at the photos because I have thank you cards that I want to send out with the pictures in it. She tells me that other people have photos that need to be out for Christmas so I have to be patient and wait. It was the following Friday that we go in to look at our photos. She said that she had touched them up and done some work to them but my husband and I didn't see it because in the pictures you can see my stretch marks for the only belly photo I took. We picked out a few photos that we did like and I started having contractions and excused myself to use the ladies room.
When I came out I saw my husband with a look on his face like get me out of here. I ask her when we can come pick up the pictures after decideing what size and how many pictures I was going to need. She then informed me that it would be an additional 600 bucks if I wanted pictures. My gift certificate that I got had a value of 200 dollars and the sitting fee for the maternity shots alone was 185 dollars. At this point my contractions where so bad that I told her we'd give her a call tomorrow to let her know what we wanted to do.
The next day I get an email with proofs for thank you cards that I did not ask her to do telling me that for 30 thank you cards she was going to be charging us an additional 70 dollars for them and they could be done and back to us in 2 days, plus a 40 dollar design fee. I was floored! I didn't ask her for them I told her I already had thank you cards I just wanted the wallets to put in them.( oh and by the way for 24 wallets it was 70 dollars and for 48 it was 90).
I sent her an email telling her that I was upset at how this was being handled and I didn't want my sister to be upset so my husband and I would pick 1 picture and have that and come in and do the newborn photos (which she finally said was included in the gift certificate because I had to show her that she wrote it along with 24 birth announcements) so that my sisters money wouldn't go wasted. Not to mention she had gotten everyone in the family 50 dollar gift cards to go get a picture of our son for Christmas. I again told her we would pick out 1 picture and thats that.
Well she proceeded to print out my email bring it to my sisters job today( she works at a bank that's how they met) and showed it to her and told my sister that she would be refunding her money and she didn't want anything to do with my husband or myself and she refuses to take our newborn photos. My sister calls me telling me how horrible of a person I am that I am unprofessional and she has to deal with this person all the time and she can't believe that I complained about her.
I then myself call Jan because at this point I am livid that she would pring out an email and show it to my sister and she tells me that I was nothing but rude to her and she did about 8 hours worth of work for us and we treated her horribly. She said that someone like me would do better at Penny's or Sears and hung up in my face.
I just can't believe this! I don't know if I'm more upset or more pissed at my sister for being mad at me because of the photographer or if I'm just plain pissed at the photographer oh and not to mention that now I have no pictures because she deleted them! An if you've made it this far and are still reading you have more patience then me right now!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Worst Photographer ever Also on 3rd tri board
Does your sister realize that she asked for an additional $600 for you to get actual photos??
It seems to me like like your sister was jipped! Who would pay for a gift certificate that only covers the sitting fee?
Have you spoken to your sister since -- to explain your side of this?
Personal opinion, not mine, DH's, he is the photography geek (amateur with some great experience) I had him read you post.
1~ the sitting fee of 185 is a bit steep, but knowing the sitting fee, you should have inquired about the purchase prices before bothering. Especially since she was not professional enough to be ready for your appointment. Rude rude rude of her not to be ready. But not her fault you didnt check out purchase prices while waiting.
2~ your not missing much. He checked out her website. She really, only had about 25% of her photo's in good quality, well set up, correctly lit, proper balancing.... He said only a few of her photo's would have made it to his "keepers" lists.
3~ the price for her wallets was outragous.
4~ she should not have deleted your photos.
5~ sure as He!! should not have shown the email to your sister, regardless of the money situation.
If we lived nearby, we would come do them for you hun... but Cali is waaaay to far away.
Ok...beyond how upset I would be at her behavior and that of your sister automatically taking her side and refusing to listen to your side of the story...I would be grateful that I did not pay $600 for those pictures!!!
I just looked at her website. I am not a professional at all, but I am a photography snob. Those photos were horrible! They absolutely looked like Sears or even amateur photography. They had no artistic quality to them at all. Some were even blurry, and not in an artsy way.
Around here a $200 sitting fee is normal, but the quality I have seen is so much more superior that it doesn't phase me. Those pictures are not worth that price.
Layla 01.08.12
Chloe and Vivian 07.23.13
My Gang. Halloween 2013
I agree with 99% of this.
In my area it's not uncommon to have sitting fees in that neighborhood (or higher) that do not include portraits, however I am surprised if your sister didn't know this going in because as a photographer I try very hard to make sure my clients are well informed of prices and policies so that we BOTH don't end up wasting our time!
I won't comment on the work on the website (I don't want to bash other people in the industry) other than to say that I agree with the above, except none of them would have made the cut :S
I cannot even fathom deleting a clients images under almost any circumstances, especially when it is something time sensitive like maternity or newborn that they may not have the opportunity to have redone.
She had NO business showing an email to your sister, completely unprofessional.
Unfortunate that it all went down like this (and I think your sister needs to be a little more understanding!) but it sounds like a you dodged a major bullet here. This does not sound like a true professional to me, and not someone I would be willing to trust to do my newborn portraits.
That is INSANE! We have a professional photographer and we paid $450 for the following:
-Maternity Session (all proofs in online gallery as well as printed)--Just had these done--two hour session and we LOVED all of our photos...had different outfits, props, etc.
-Newborn (2 weeks old) (all proofs in online gallery as well as printed)
-3 Months (all proofs in online gallery as well as printed)
-6 Months (all proofs in online gallery as well as printed)
-9 Months (all proofs in online gallery as well as printed)
-12 Months (all proofs in online gallery as well as printed)
I hope your sister realizes what a rip off that woman is. Maybe she is the best of the best, but damn, that is just unprofessional in my opinion. I hope everything works out.
Just have to say this is an AMAZING deal and I am shocked if there is not a catch somewhere! (Hopefully not!!!!)
As a photographer I can say that each session takes a min. of 4 hours including set up, taking the portraits and then editing afterward. An additional 2 hours for a newborn session, plus any time spent answering questions, placing/prepping orders etc. Which means that your photographer is making a whopping $17 an hour BEFORE overhead, paying for the prints, etc.
That is an amazing deal!!! The photographer I found, who is average around here is about $200 per session for the shoot alone. Print packages start about $250. A CD of images is not included unless you use the print package towards it.
Layla 01.08.12
Chloe and Vivian 07.23.13
My Gang. Halloween 2013
Dude, I know...she does such great work too! Absolutely love her.
www.angelicangles.com
We just had our maternity session done by her. If you look her up on Facebook you can see all of her previews. I'm absolutely in love with her work. She actually schedules three hours for the newborn session so there is time for feedings and what not if necessary. Her studio has so many props, hats, etc. We were referred by a friend that had all of their newborn pics done over the years. So cute!
Wow..that is such an amazing deal. I just looked at her baby gallery and she some amazing pics! What a great deal for a talented photographer!
Layla 01.08.12
Chloe and Vivian 07.23.13
My Gang. Halloween 2013