Portrait Studios

Hi C.. I'm with you on the whole "portrait at every stage of the baby's life" thing - we also bowed to family pressure! If you are going to Sears, make sure you take ideas of how you want to sit, otherwise you get a photo that looks as if it belongs in the early 1900's!. Good advice regarding coupons and day of the week that you go. If it has to be a Saturday, then make sure that it is the first appointment of the day. We used FLASH DIGITAL in the Burnsville Mall a couple of months ago. They were fantastic. A little more expensive than Sears, etc., but well worth the cost. They also have coupons in magazines, Sunday papers and online. It cost us $20.00 for an 8X10 and 8 BIG "Wallet Sizes". The nice thing here is that the 8X10 and the wallets can be of different poses. Usually at the other places, they have to be the same pose. Even though we joined the Sears "Smile Saver" club in July, I think we will always use Flash Digital in the future. Good Luck. B..

I've heard great things about the Target in Savage. The photos were unique, and totally adorable.

It's all about the photographer. Right now is xmas photo time crunch so everyone is in a rush to get them done, so they hire alot of new help at this time of year. I've worked at Penny's,Sears,Proex it's pretty much all the same... With proex I've done this as well as saw it all the time when I worked there request a experianced photographer.Proex also runs on schedule they are hardly ever behind schedule I can't say that for anywhere else with my own daughter I've waited like a hour past my appointment which makes one crabby child and mom and bad pictures. Plus they have a 100% guarantee where they will redo them if your not happy. Proex is pretty flexable with what you want also. When I worked there I listened to what they want, I didn't always do the traditional shots if mom wanted somthing there was no point in me doing something and wasting time knowing she wasn't looking for that or buying that. Proex also had the most extensive training for their photographers and I wasn't paid commission so I could care less about shoving pictures down my customers I truely just wanted "perfect" shots and to see my customer's smile. If you can't tell I miss working there I just wasn't paid enough for my work and have thought abuot venturing out on my own someday. Last year I had a small problem with my daughters school pictures and took her to Walmart-Shakopee and got great pics there as well now they do get commission and talked me into a whole lot more. Good luck!

I used JC Penney once and thought it was just ok and never went back. I didn't care for the photographer that much - no personality and didn't engage my daughter at all. She wasn't much help picking out portraits either. When I went back to pick up my pictures the girls behind the counter weren't friendly either. The pictures themselves were ok, nothing special. They are so cheap there, that if you can get a decent picture it makes the rest tolerable. I have used Flash lots of times and prefer them much better. I have stopped taking the yearly portraits now (my girls are 4 and 2) and instead found a great photographer in St. Paul that does incredible work. She is fairly expensive, but the portraits are more like artwork and not the cheaper stuff you get elsewhere. If anyone is looking for someone to do wonderful photos that you will keep up for years, her name is Melissa Miroslavich. you can google her for the website.

Hi C.,

I actually like Babies R Us for pictures.
They do a good job, you don't pay a ton of
money, and you can get them same day.

Good luck,
J.

C.....I use to work at the Burnsville Sears Portrait Studio before I had my son 11 months ago. i still confer with the the gal thats now the manager. However I wouldn't go there personally myself. They have not the expierence that was there just a year ago. Plus all my old customers have told me some horror storys and have gone else where too. i've heard good things about the Target....however we go to the Sears Portrait studio in Maplewood....their great up there.

I have taken my kids to the Shakopee and Savage Target and they did a great job. Plus you get a free 8x10 portrait.

Good luck with pictures!!!

Hi, C....

We have used the Sears studio in Burnsville. We took our son during the week during daytime hours. He had attention, and they seemed to be pretty patient. I could make any suggestions I wanted, and you are also able to bring in your own props if there is something special that your child likes (a toy or little chair or blankie etc). You can sign up online to get coupons. We had one for a free wall portrait (10x13 or 8x10). Their individual sheets tend to be more pricey, but they do have a "trial package" that is $9.95, and you get to pick the pose you like the best. It gives you 35 portraits, which gives you a lot for sharing with the family who want them. They also run specials from time to time on their Smile Saver club. I think we were able to join for $5 or so that day. It gives you no sitting fees for a year, as well as some members only specials emailed to you. We were quite pleased with the portraits. You can share them online, as well, and family can even order their own of other poses if they want to. Also, when your portraits come in, they will send "extras"...a number of portraits that have specialty finishes (sepia etc) or sizes of the pose you originally ordered. If I remember, you can opt to buy them for $30 or so? Whatever it was, it was much cheaper than having ordered sheets from them, and gave us a lot more pictures.

The other place we have gone to for cheap portraits was the Walmart in Shakopee. I took James in there one day (week day, daytime) just for fun when I had him in his Iowa State jersey. I wanted a cute picture for his dad's office. They posed him with the football on a fun background. The first pose they take that you like is the one that they keep. You can order a package of that for $5.95! They will also take 6 more poses/other backgrounds after that. They will be really cute, but they will want you to spend a lot on a package with them. When I did was buy the little kit that has the stuff for making stickers and magnets. It was $10, but it included a cd with the images on it. They are small resolution, but can be emailed or I printed them as wallet sizes on my photo printer at home. Again, when his pictures came in, they sent extras--but this time, they sent 2 sets of the additional poses with collage mats and some of the ones that we ordered. They wanted $15 for all of them. Our pics turned out very cute. If you decide you want additional big pics from them, you're probably best off ordering them online after your original order comes in than from the store..."sheets" are cheaper later. Apparently these studios are owned by the same company as the Sears studio, so they are working on being able to do some crossover things (smilesaver and the like).

If you sign up with some of the different places, you'll get coupons around baby's first birthday. A number of studios have free or special offers for that.

My mother-in-law still says her favorites are the pictures we take. Places like Shutterfly make great quality of large prints or photo books.

Have fun and enjoy your little one!
Blessings,
V.

I use the JcPenney Studio in Burnsville ALL the time! I have to admit though that if you can make it at all during the week (Mon - Fri), you may be more satisfied. There are usually younger kids working the weekends and aren't quite as good. Still satisfactory though. I never go without coupons - they are eveywhere. Either print them on-line or flip through a Parenting magazine. As long as you place the order the same day, you can get them for $3.99/sheet. Pretty darn cheap!

Hi~

I have used all of them. I like the Target store the best. They are flexible and open to any of your ideas. Good luck

Hi C. -

I used JC Penney twice, because I had a coupon each time. The first time they turned out ok, but I felt a lot of pressure since I had to choose the photos right there on the computer, and couldn't take a print with me to think things over. The second time the photos were ok, but again not fantastic. The second time the studio was very backed up, and no one at the studio seemed to care that it was inconvenient to me, and h*** o* my small son.

I have used ProEx several times, and given the right photographer, have gotten wonderful studio portraits.

This summer, however, I started using Candid Moments and have been so excited about the photos I have gotten! My biggest problem has been trying to choose which photos to have printed because so many of them turned out so amazing! Check out www.mycandidmoments.com. Shannon, the photographer, is a mamasource member, too, and she works wonderfully with the kids. She is more expensive than JCP or Sears, but totally worth it in my mind!!

L.

I've done all our portraits at walmart in Shakopee. They are fairly basic and cheap. The walmart in Burnsville also has a studio. If you do choose Walmart, request Kerry. She travels between stores but is GREAT. We had her for our last session and I won't go to anybody else now. She LOVES her job and had awesome ideas for fun poses. Good luck!

I do NOT recommend Sears! I have taken my son there a few times (it has been almost 2 years though) but the photos are SOOO BORING!!! They are very boring poses, they put no effort into them at all. No props or anything, no personality. I am picky... I am trying to become a photographer so I don't take my son anywhere anymore, but Sears is by far the worst I have been too. I would rather go to Walmart. JCPenney is sometimes ok, I have had customer service problems but usually am ok with my portraits, except last Christmas. They were 45 minutes behind, so you can imagine what my son (2 at that time) was like after waiting around that whole time. Then they gave him a sunflower prop to make him happy- you don't give a child something you don't want in the portrait, because you won't get it out of their hands without a lot of tears! So our Christmas portraits had him in a green snowman sweater, me in a green sweater, cuddling in a christmas blanket, and a sunflower. I was very dissapointed in that, I didn't want to order any. I had put a lot of work into preparing for those portraits- I wrapped a box so he could open a present, brought garland for him to play with (that was CUTE!!!), and then the christmas blanket and a christmas book so we could cuddle up and read the book together, I got a few ok ones, but for the work I put into it, they should have been much better!!!
I have never been to Target, but have heard great things about them. I have heard that they do great from a lot of people. Otherwise, Flash in the Burnsville Center does good (I have also had customer service problems with them though- to the point I won't go back. Portraits are great, but they mess up a lot on other things... and are more pricey).
If you are interested... I am offering free sittings in your home, and a 5x7 photobook of all the portraits with any purchase. I upload everything to Shutterfly and you order right from there and they are sent to you. I also do custom photo christmas cards. Let me know if that is something you would be interested in.