Studio Pictures @ Picture People

Finally, we got our FIRST family picture taken at Picture People located at the 3rd floor of Soutbay Galleria Mall. I received a postcard from this studio for a free 8"x10" 8R picture with no purchase necessary. So we thought we would go and give it a try. If pictures turned out good, we will buy a few and if not, we will just pick one for free.

Called in to make an appointment for last Sunday and the only time available was at 1240pm, so we took it. We arrived at 1215pm and I went in to ask what time we should be there for our 1240pm appointment, either 10 mins early or 5 mins? The customer rep asked us if we wanted to move our appointment up to 1215pm since they did not have any customer at that time. Well sure! He then helped us to register for the portraits session and took our names, address and etc (free pictures only good for one per family).

No camera is allowed in this place so I couldn't snap to show how this place looks. It is very simple with WHITE walls and a lot of framed children pictures on the wall. Very plain and simple which is nice and clean. There is only two studio rooms separated by a colorful curtain. There is a washroom and the developing room at the back. A lot of chairs and tables for waiting and viewing pictures. Inside these studios are a lot of different types of props, mostly for kids. They have very few backgrounds, plain white, blue, black and may be a texture one (we only used the while and blue backgrounds).

The photographer whom helped us is a young man, probably in his early to mid twenties. They are still using film for the pictures and he told me they may be switching to digital this coming September. So first we took our family pictures in three different poses and several shots on each one. Then he had us placed Brandon on his own, sitting against on a BIG BEAN BAG. Several shots were taken but Baby Brandon was pretty serious looking with no smile. Then a second pose where he is on tummy time against the BIG BEAN BAG again. We were able to get Brandon to smile on this one. So that was it. I think it was less than 15 mins for all these poses. Pretty fast.

He told us to come back in an hour where the photos will be done for viewing. They will select nice pictures from the shots and pre-printed them in 8Rs, 2 x 5Rs, and 8 x 2Rs (wallet size). We were not obligated to buy any of them but if we decided to purchase, we could just take and go without waiting for them to print them again. It is like when you go on a cruise and take pictures, if you want to buy then you buy, if not then leave and go. We walked around the mall and went back exactly after an hour.

The pictures were ready and he gave us 5 sets with 5 different poses. 3 of them were family pictures and 2 were Brandon's. It didn't take us long to decide which one to buy. And that guy wasn't pushing or anything. He left us alone after explaining their packages. One sheet by itself is $18, either 1 x 8R (8"x10") or 2 x 5R (5"x7") or 8 x wallet size (2"x3"). One package which include 1x8R, 2x5Rs and 8x2Rs is $46. After purchasing first package, the subsequent packages are only $40 each.

We chose the one free 8R - which we got Brandon's by himself. And we bought one package for $46 with the one family pose (not sure what they going to do with all the rest of pictures we didn't buy, throw them away? what a waste). Luckily, it wasn't difficult for us to decide as Brandon didn't smile on the other pictures (saving us $$). Not bad for the price to have professional pictures taken and get them done in an hour.