Views By The Sea

My wife and sister-​in-​law arranged for a photo session in July of 2013 for their mother’s birthday gift, as the entire family would be spending a week in OC NJ and it seemed like a great photo opportunity.
When the whole gang showed up at the appointed place and time– 3^rd street– we were met by a really nice high school kid who held us for 20 minutes while he tried to contact the lead photographer and find out where she was and when she would arrive. With 9 smallish, impatient kids and a larger, impatient father-​in-​law, we tried to help this kid buy more time, but eventually he gave up and proceeded to take the pictures himself. I certainly have nothing against high school students apprenticing, learning, helping out… but this wasn’t our expectation. Through it all, he was professional, kind, accommodating, and genuinely tried… while some photos were great, other pictures came out with shadows on faces, sun at the wrong angle, and other issues that should not be present on a professional photo shoot. Certainly not his fault… he did his best under the circumstances.
The post photo-​shoot didn’t go so well. My sister-​in-​law had to make repeated calls to keep the process moving, and it wasn’t until November that we finally were sent the photos on a flash drive.
I really don’t like leaving negative responses on Unilocal,but we didn’t have a great experience. I’m just one client– and I hope others Unilocal with more positive experiences– but a $ 450 photo shoot is a lot more disappointing than a poor $ 2.50 Frappuccino!