Community› The Bump Message Boards› Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
New Discussion

Best walk-in portrait studios

dufferoodufferoo member
in Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
I used to always take my daughter to Picture People at the mall for portraits. I liked that we could just walk in whenever we were in mood, there was no sitting fee, and you could buy individual poses by the sheet, so we didn't have to spend a million dollars if we didn't want to. Now I see they have closed all their locations around me, and I see Kiddie Kandids have shut down too. Has anyone had good luck with any other walk-in shops? (We are located in Akron/Cleveland area of Ohio)
Report Reply to Post

Re: Best walk-in portrait studios

  • JENandJEHJENandJEH member
    We've used Portrait Innovations and Olan Mills before and the pictures turned out pretty good. I prefer Portrait Innovations over Olan Mills.
    Report Reply
  • Loading the player...
  • baloneydiscbaloneydisc member
    We had fantastic pictures done at JCP. I used a coupon so we had no sitting fee and $4 sheets. They didn't really pressure us to buy more or the packages.
    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
    Married 1/2/99.
    TTC since 4/09.
    Diagnosed PCOS. Diagnosed Hypothryoid 11/09.
    SHG & SA normal. PCOS Research study started 5/10.
    Clomid/Femara cycle #1 - 6/10 = BFN
    Clomid/Femara cycle #2 - 7/10 = BFP #1 - Missed miscarriage 9/2/10
    11/12 - BFP #2 - 11/22 - m/c
    5/1/11 - BFP #3 - Pre-eclampsia, IUGR & bed rest from 32w. DD born via induction 1/4/12.
    Report Reply
  • ELF4321ELF4321 member
    I've heard good things about theJCP in our area too, but haven't tried it yet.


    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker

    Report Reply
  • skibunny59skibunny59 member
    I like JCPenney.  
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
    Report Reply
  • memali26memali26 member
    I've been using JCP for over 3 years and not been disappointed. If you can't find a coupon for them (free sitting fee and $4 sheets) ask when you go in and they usually will give you one.
    Mama to two sweet girls
    DD1 Feb 2010
    DD2 Sept 2011


    Pregnancy Ticker
    Report Reply
  • dufferoodufferoo member
    Thanks girls! I found the cheapo JCP coupon and I am going to call both there and Portrait Innovations tomorrow. Nice to know there are still options out there!
    Report Reply
  • amarie923amarie923 member
    JC Penney has always been great for us.  We used Portrait Innovations once and I didn't care for them.  The backgrounds for the pics were all out of date and they start you off with a $700+ package of so-so prints that you then have to go through and whittle down to what you really want.  The plus is you get them right away, but the quality is "eh" at best.  We had her on a white background and when the picture printed out you could see all these black/gray scuff marks on the floor like the sheet/backdrop was dirty and you couldn't really tell all of that from the picture up on the screen.  They wouldn't issue us a refund right there - said we would have to wait for a refund check from corporate or have them retaken at a later date for no charge.  But - this could just be the one near me! Other families seem to have no problem with them!
    Anniversary

    <a href="http://www.thebump.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Parenting Advice"><img src="http://global.thebump.com/tickers/tt13d667.aspx" alt=" Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker" border="0"  /></a>

    Report Reply
  • dufferoodufferoo member
    amarie923 said:
    JC Penney has always been great for us.  We used Portrait Innovations once and I didn't care for them.  The backgrounds for the pics were all out of date and they start you off with a $700+ package of so-so prints that you then have to go through and whittle down to what you really want.  The plus is you get them right away, but the quality is "eh" at best.  We had her on a white background and when the picture printed out you could see all these black/gray scuff marks on the floor like the sheet/backdrop was dirty and you couldn't really tell all of that from the picture up on the screen.  They wouldn't issue us a refund right there - said we would have to wait for a refund check from corporate or have them retaken at a later date for no charge.  But - this could just be the one near me! Other families seem to have no problem with them!
    $700!! Are people insane?
    Report Reply
  • JENandJEHJENandJEH member
    Last time we went to Portrait Innovations, we left with about 7 different poses/4 sheets if each and 12 sheets of one pose (9.99 special they were running) and I paid $150ish. But DH has a HUGE family so we need a lot of prints. Otherwise, I would have spent under $75 and had plenty. But usually we use a photographer who doesn't do studio sittings but more natural environment portraits. It is a bit more expensive ($200 for sitting fee and 10 images on a disc) but the quality is 1000 times better and worth it in my opinion. We don't do pics that often so I'm willing to splurge a bit when we do.
    Report Reply
  • dufferoodufferoo member
    UPDATE (in case anyone's interested): We ended up taking a chance and walking into portrait innovations. They were totally dead, which was cool; we powered through, and ended up spending 100 bucks on about 10 million pictures (6 different poses) which is pretty ridic (we really dont have a lot of family or friends!), but the pics are cute and I'm just relieved to be done with it!!
    Report Reply
  • DiveFrogDiveFrog member
    edited September 2013
    jociejones said:
    UPDATE (in case anyone's interested): We ended up taking a chance and walking into portrait innovations. They were totally dead, which was cool; we powered through, and ended up spending 100 bucks on about 10 million pictures (6 different poses) which is pretty ridic (we really dont have a lot of family or friends!), but the pics are cute and I'm just relieved to be done with it!!

    Glad it worked out for you and you got want you wanted.

    I just wanted to mention for others that photos are really a personal preference thing. what you spend and how frequently you do them.

    I am a bit of a photography snob...We spent over 10% of our wedding budget on photography, and in DD's 15months I have spent around $1800 for 3 professional photo sessions and prints/digital rights (newborn, 7months & 15 months). In my opinion photos and video are all that will ever remain in a tangible form of her childhood. It is so worth it to me to have amazing photos of her, and us with her.


     

    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"