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What to Expect at The Mall Studio
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They’re cheap! Well, their ads would certainly have you think so. But they still have to make a buck - pay the rent, their employees and kick something back to the corporate office and many are in very high rent locations. Mindy worked at Sears Portrait Studio for 7 years. I’ve had other employees that have worked at other ‘mass studios’ and believe it or not - their average sale is surprisingly high, and well above the $9.95 special that got you in the door
If you’ve ever been to one of them - and they’re all about the same - this is how they do it. They’ll spend about 15 minutes photographing you. Most have a ‘rule’ that they must take at least 7 shots and no more than 15 or 20. If your child won’t cooperate then too bad - you don’t get extra time. If you want to do something creative, you can’t. They can only do the ‘approved’ poses - ‘standard’ is all you get.
Then you’re ushered out to a small screen where they show you the shots they just took. If the ‘photographer’ (aka salesperson) doesn’t hit their average sale they will be fired, so they have a big incentive to get you to spend money. First, they offer (as in push) “enhancements” - borders, black and white, etc. What they don’t offer is retouching - removing of blemishes, wrinkles, glass glare, baby dribble, spots on your shirt, etc. What you see is what you get, like it or not. And only one pose is available at that come-on price. You know you want more poses - and so do they. Suddenly they’re asking as much, or more, per pose as a full service studio!
Now the whole time you’ve been here the place is crowded with other families, crying unhappy children and rarely do they stick to a schedule. I’ve known folks to wait for a couple of hours to have their pictures taken. I know how my kids are after just 10 minutes of waiting. Getting a smile from them is difficult at best. Bribery works well- buy them a toy or ice cream, but that just costs more money and usually won’t get the best smile anyway.
Ok, so the special was what, one “plain” pose for $10 or $15. Is that what you want? No, not really. You want something bigger, one of the kids for your desk at work, you like one pose and your mother likes that other one. Before you know it you’ve spend $200, $300 or even $400! And I bet the biggest print you got was 10x13, maybe an 11x14. You almost certainly didn’t get it in a frame with mat and glass, although some do offer that now but check out their frames..skinny black things that you can get at walmart for $5 or less. So you’ve got another trip to make for the framing, more to spend, and no expert help to do it.
So you went in expecting to be done in an hour and spend $25. You were there 3 hours, your kids are unhappy, your husband is unhappy, you have to come back to get your prints and park way over there and walk 1/2 mile through the mall, then after that you have to get your ‘wall portrait’ framed, costing you time and money, and in the end you have a small thing to hang on your wall. (go put something 10x13 over your sofa and tell me how that looks). Should we even mention that when you go to pickup your prints they have a few ‘extra’ they’ll sell you - or they’ll shred them, shred your child’s pictures! Is there any harder sell than that?
There is an alternative though.
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What to Expect at Our Studio
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Your first thought is probably we cost more and you can’t afford it. OK, if your house was on fire what gets saved? Your kids, your pets, your pictures, in that order. So the most valuable and irreplaceable things you own are your pictures! Pictures capture a moment in time which is why they have value - you can’t turn back the clock to Johnny’s toothless grin at age 6 or when Becky had braces at age 13. A well done portrait is worth it’s weight in more than gold.
So lets start with what you want. A nice family portrait that captures your family, their smiling faces, that capture the unique relationships and the family bond, right? So if you want something good what do you do? You go see an expert, a professional, for advice and help.
As a full service studio before we start snapping pictures we want to talk about about what you’re looking for - the style of portrait - formal, informal and where you’ll be showcasing it, what the room looks like in color, style and how you’ve decorated it - modern, eclectic, victorian, etc Yes, we feel that a nice portrait enhances your home and is part of the decor just as the furniture and lamps are and so should be ‘designed’ for the room in which you’ll place it so it ‘fits’ in there well. I bet the mall studio person never even asked any of this. They’re gonna see 60 to 80 families today and the they aren’t concerned about your long term enjoyment of the images or what happens to them once they leave the building.
We care about you, the image and guarantee you’ll love it. First, you’re the only one in our studio, we won’t be doing the same thing 50 times today. We’ll take time to get the right poses, expressions and to make sure everyone looks their best - accentuate the positives and hide the negatives. We take the time to get little Bobby to smile. When we’re done we’ll retouch the images to make you look great, and if you like Bobby’s expression better in that one but Herb’s better in this one we can ‘swap heads’ to make one masterpiece everyone will love.
You’ll see your pictures on our big screen - 4 feet tall so you can really judge everyone’s expressions. We’ll retouch everything that needs ‘perfected’ - blemishes, wrinkles (on the clothing or on a face), we can remove that tattoo that uncle Joe thought would look great. And we don’t charge extra for any of this on any wall portraits!
We frame everything that’s 11x14 and larger. And with nice frames too -we have dozens to choose from. Mat and glass or Art Style or canvas or go more contemporary with a Gallery Wrap. What size do you need? Note I didn’t say ‘want’. The finished portrait needs to be in proportion to where it will be displayed. And the more folks in the image the larger it needs to be so that each face is large enough to look good.
So you come here and get a personalized no pressure session that takes less time than at the mall, you don’t walk as far either. (and we’re handicapped accessible if you need to bring grandma). We’ll take as much time and patience as needed to make sure everyone has a nice expression.
We’ll help you plan your image so that it will complement your home, frame it so that you can take it home and display it - no running around during the busy holiday season to get it ready for the wall for the family to see during their holiday visits.
We create heirloom portraits to decorate you home. We feel the picture of your family isn’t disposable and is more valuable than an end table or sofa. So yes, here you can expect to spend $400 to 600 but that’s all inclusive, everyone will be happier with their experience, and you’ll have a wall portrait of your family that you’ll treasure like nothing else you own.
Guaranteed or your money back. Yep, we guarantee you’ll like your images and we guarantee our framed wall portraits for life. You’ve got nothing to lose but the preconceived notion that a mall studio is somehow a better choice.
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