Hockmeyer Studios

They’re only getting 1 star because I have to give them 1 to write a review. Over a month and still haven’t received my son’s photo. I’m ticked off its taken so long, but relieved that we had our kids photos done by a real professional photographer and got those photos back within a week. Next year I will not even bother with SUCKmeyer.

Our school has always used Hockmeyer. I thought the photos looked a little off the past few years — skin tone, hair color, quality of photo paper etc. Then I pulled out some older photos from the same studio. It looks like back in 2011 or so they swtiched to some cheap photo paper rather than the Fuji paper they used to use. Boy — it makes all the difference! Despite using what must be much cheaper photo paper which produces sub-​par results; they keep increasing their package prices. Simply not worth it. Photos we take at home come out MUCH better. I would recommend just selecting the base photo for home use and spend the money at a local big box store photography department for better quality pictures at a much cheaper price.
Agree with other comments — if these photos are being taken digitally, photog should be able to determine if photo came out with a smile/​glare or not and re-​take as necessary. These are not photos that we share due to poor quality of current photo paper this company opts to use to reduce their costs.

I am convinced that the school district gets a kickback from this studio. I see no other reason that they switched from the wonderful quality and reasonable prices of Lifetouch to the subpar images that Hockmeyer produces and outrageous prices they charge. The first year, my son’s photos came back with horrible glare from his glasses. The photographer didn’t bother to coax a smile out of him. The retake was horrendous, with his skin so washed out that he looked terminally ill. After this experience, I don’t know why I even bothered to order photos the second year. Neither the original photos nor the retakes were worth the paper they were printed on! This year there a comparable photo package with Lifetouch costs $ 10 LESS than Hockmeyer’s photo package. But, hey, Hockmeyer gives you plenty of little 1“x2″ photos in every package to wallpaper your bedroom. I gave up and had my son’s photos taken by a professional photographer this year.

Yet once again I can not use my son’s school pictures for Christmas cards. Hockmeyer Studios is horrible. Each year my son has had his school picture taken he has to go back for retakes. not quite sure if the people taking these pictures are photographers or not but I don’t really think so. This year there was 2 shadows on each side of my son’s nose (nope he does not have a big nose either) last year I ordered online requested a red back drop pictures came back with a green back drop I double checked yup I placed the order correctly called left them a VM and emailed them they never responded. Several years ago I had my son’s hair perfect, yup gelled dried and hair sprayed. they gave an 8 year old a comb and told him to comb his hair. who does that? knowing the teacher I asked her and she said nope his hair was still perfect. she was surprised when he came back with his hair combed. I would not recommend Hockmeyer to anyone and I wish our school system would ask parents what they thought. I posted a comment on my facebook page an hour ago and I already have 10 comments with the same issues. my son is in the 8^th grade now and there is only 1 school picture of the school pictures he has had taken that I like on the first shot and it is not me being picky it is shadows, bad angling and bad photo taking. Probably so they can make an extra dollar so you have to order the touch ups. Bad business, and bad customer service.
Gave 1 star because I had to.

I don’t know how this studio keeps getting bids/​jobs to photograph kids at school! My 1^st grader has had 2 school photos taken by Hockmeyer and this is the 2^nd year in a row that the photos are bad. The photographer clearly does not care how the photos turn out. My child is quite photogenic, but sometimes you need to coax a smile from her. Any professional photographer who deals with children know this and are prepared to work with kids to achieve the best result. They didn’t bother, it’s as if they just sit the child down, say smile and snap… never caring what the end result may be. With the convenience and instant gratification of digital cameras and a few pushes of a button, a person can quickly review the photo that was just taken and determine if it’s worthy or not to keep! The same can be done in this environment.
That said, if they photos that wind up printed and distributed are the best of the ones they took, then this studio ought to re-​evaluate their business.
In my 1^st year dealing with them, I had my child do a retake, the result was actually worse than the original. I called the customer help line making the request that they insert her original photo into the class composite photo. I was assured very nicely and assuredly that they could accommodate my request. In the end, that didn’t happen.
Lastly, prints made my child look orange, as if she had on faux spray tan! Ugh!!! They tried correcting the color but it was never quite right.
All in all, I just feel like this company does not care one bit about the kids and parents they serve! I’ve heard MANY similar complaints and sentiments from other parents.