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Quality of service
2.0 out of 5 rating
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Average response time
4.0 out of 5 rating
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Professionalism
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Value
2.0 out of 5 rating
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Flexibility
5.0 out of 5 rating
didn't feel the effort. Very disappointed.
My (current) wife and I get married in July and we hired Jason as our photographer. The overall quality of the picture is very subpar, and the level of preparation and follow-up post the photoshoot has been disappointing.
Jason and us met up in a coffee shop in Kirkland where the main goal was trying to get to know each other and prepare for the big day. The meet-up was very cool as Jason was extremely friendly, easy to talk to and seems to be very committed. During the meet-up, we talked about the transportation(Jason agreed to pick us up using his SUV for the day, since parking would be a huge pain if we were driving two cards and we really don't want to waste any time looking for parking). We also talked about a few potential places and Jason mentioned he's going to do some research about the spots we've talked about. My wife and I left the meeting feeling great.
If you think the actual day went as smooth as the meet up, then you would be disappointed. Firstly, Jason showed up on his 4 seater that I can barely fit in (not to mention my wife with her dress), and when asked he insisted on we've never talked about his SUV -- this is pretty ridiculous... how would we have known he has an SUV if we didn't talk about it. So my wife and I had to ended up calling one of our friends to drive us around following Jason's car (since they also only have a small van). We ended up spending 20 minutes looking for parking, and looking for each other in the Highway park (which is very, very easily lost if you've never been there).
Aside from the empty promise on the transportation, Jason also didn't do any research like he has promised. On the day of wedding, he came in not prepared and asked us for location, route, etc. My wife and I were extremely disappointed because of all those empty promise.
As far as the photoshoot itself goes, it was cut-short to around 3.5 hours from 5 hours due to the lack of planning. However from the pure photography standpoint, the photos are not dazzling. The layout was quite poor( there are many photos taken in a strange angle where our legs look much much shorter than in real life, and plenty of times my head got cut-out by the top of the photo). As far as the detail goes, Jason didn't even both clear up the hairs on the brides face as he simply let the hair flying around, nor did he bother giving any instruction around posture, emotion, etc. The entire photoshoot felt pretty single-directional instead of the bi-directional feedback my wife and I had expected.
Another very disappointing part of the lack of follow-up after the photoshoot. Jason promised the photo was going to take 4-6 weeks, and it actually ended up taking more than 8 weeks. Additionally, Jason initially promised to make 'photoshop adjustment' as part of the original package, and ended up requesting $15 per photo to simply remove a piece of hair out of the bride's face. This is pretty outrages charge given it literarily took me 5 minutes in photoshop as a first-timer.
Lastly -- when sending our feedback to Jason, here's his response: "I will be responding to your email in the next day or so. Just wanted you to know I haven't forgotten about you, or ignored your emails. I do have some thoughts of my own that I'd like to share.". Yet it has been almost 2 weeks we still haven't back. This type of empty promises is truly reflected throughout our entire experience with Jason.
Overall:
- Planning: terrible
- Level of effort: bad
- Photo skills: Mediocre. There were around 10 nice shots out of 500+ photos, and there are plenty of rookie mistakes (I consider myself an beginner/intermediate photographer and I can easily identify the issues in the layout, brightness and attention to detail)
- Senses of responsibility: poor.
My (current) wife and I get married in July and we hired Jason as our photographer. The overall quality of the picture is very subpar, and the level of preparation and follow-up post the photoshoot has been disappointing.
Jason and us met up in a coffee shop in Kirkland where the main goal was trying to get to know each other and prepare for the big day. The meet-up was very cool as Jason was extremely friendly, easy to talk to and seems to be very committed. During the meet-up, we talked about the transportation(Jason agreed to pick us up using his SUV for the day, since parking would be a huge pain if we were driving two cards and we really don't want to waste any time looking for parking). We also talked about a few potential places and Jason mentioned he's going to do some research about the spots we've talked about. My wife and I left the meeting feeling great.
If you think the actual day went as smooth as the meet up, then you would be disappointed. Firstly, Jason showed up on his 4 seater that I can barely fit in (not to mention my wife with her dress), and when asked he insisted on we've never talked about his SUV -- this is pretty ridiculous... how would we have known he has an SUV if we didn't talk about it. So my wife and I had to ended up calling one of our friends to drive us around following Jason's car (since they also only have a small van). We ended up spending 20 minutes looking for parking, and looking for each other in the Highway park (which is very, very easily lost if you've never been there).
Aside from the empty promise on the transportation, Jason also didn't do any research like he has promised. On the day of wedding, he came in not prepared and asked us for location, route, etc. My wife and I were extremely disappointed because of all those empty promise.
As far as the photoshoot itself goes, it was cut-short to around 3.5 hours from 5 hours due to the lack of planning. However from the pure photography standpoint, the photos are not dazzling. The layout was quite poor( there are many photos taken in a strange angle where our legs look much much shorter than in real life, and plenty of times my head got cut-out by the top of the photo). As far as the detail goes, Jason didn't even both clear up the hairs on the brides face as he simply let the hair flying around, nor did he bother giving any instruction around posture, emotion, etc. The entire photoshoot felt pretty single-directional instead of the bi-directional feedback my wife and I had expected.
Another very disappointing part of the lack of follow-up after the photoshoot. Jason promised the photo was going to take 4-6 weeks, and it actually ended up taking more than 8 weeks. Additionally, Jason initially promised to make 'photoshop adjustment' as part of the original package, and ended up requesting $15 per photo to simply remove a piece of hair out of the bride's face. This is pretty outrages charge given it literarily took me 5 minutes in photoshop as a first-timer.
Lastly -- when sending our feedback to Jason, here's his response: "I will be responding to your email in the next day or so. Just wanted you to know I haven't forgotten about you, or ignored your emails. I do have some thoughts of my own that I'd like to share.". Yet it has been almost 2 weeks we still haven't back. This type of empty promises is truly reflected throughout our entire experience with Jason.
Overall:
- Planning: terrible
- Level of effort: bad
- Photo skills: Mediocre. There were around 10 nice shots out of 500+ photos, and there are plenty of rookie mistakes (I consider myself an beginner/intermediate photographer and I can easily identify the issues in the layout, brightness and attention to detail)
- Senses of responsibility: poor.
Jason Lucas Photography's reply:
Hi Mia + Hugo,
Thanks for the review. I'm including my response below (some of which was taken from the email I sent back to you):
I'm incredibly sorry you are disappointed. I've honestly never had to respond to a review like this one in the 4+ years I've been shooting, which is why I'm pretty bummed out to hear about it.
You are absolutely right about the SUV mix up. I completely forgot to drive my Jeep due to the fact that on the day of your wedding, I was thinking about how to conserve on gas and did not consult the notes I took prior to leaving. That's completely on me, and I apologize for that. I remember how terrible I felt when you mentioned it on your wedding day, and was kicking myself because of it. But it should be noted that I *never* acted as if we never agreed to me bringing my SUV. In fact, I apologized for it and even mentioned that I was pretty sure we could all fit in my car. I'm always the first to admit to my wrongdoings, and I did not once act as if it didn't happen.
As for the edits you requested: I usually only receive a few photos (3-5 tops) for editing. In which case I usually try and take care of them myself. However I received 16 edit requests from you both, which is why I requested payment for those. You also requested that I "lengthen legs to make [you] look taller." I do remember the conversation about only editing a few, but in the future I suppose I will be more clear with what that means with clients. Since receiving your emails, I have committed to making sure you're happy and I am paying the cost of the edits myself.
Per my composition & timing:
My job, as a photographer, is to capture your day according to how it happened. I did mention in our conversations that I was a little worried about the light during the time you wanted portraits because it was mid-day when the sun was highest in the sky. I also informed you both that I would likely need to put you in the shade to make sure the light was also ideal. However, I also have to balance that with what you both would like on the day of your wedding. During the portrait session, you wanted to be in direct sunlight for a few of them and I had to do my best to balance your request with my understanding of light. So, I do what I did at every wedding day and did the best I could with the light given to me and my knowledge of my craft.
I apologize if you were less than satisfied with the result, but I shot it the exact same way I've shot weddings of past clients who were very happy with the end result. I also assumed you were happy based on the emails you sent back saying how you would gladly refer me out to others because of "how much we've enjoyed our time with you." In addition to that, I assumed you were happy because of the photo(s) you shared on your social media with very kind captions.
When I make the conscious decision to crop the photo up close, it's to convey an emotion—something more intimate. This is why I made that stylistic choice. This style is also very congruent with all of my work that you see on my galleries, website, and social media. If that was something you didn't like, I would have loved to know beforehand so I could make sure not to let it happen. The photos I delivered were right in-line with everything you had seen on my site and in galleries.
Lastly, I'm sorry for the delay in response. I just finished up my busiest time of year and have been tending to many clients, while also trying to word an email to you both and try to make sure I didn't miss anything.
Again, I apologize deeply that you're less than satisfied. It hurts my heart to know that. I, too, enjoyed working with you both and I absolutely loved the photos from your wedding. And I'll be honest in saying I'm having a hard time seeing where the disappointment is coming from with the quality of what was delivered. I'm not discrediting your opinion, just simply saying that these are all photos I'd be so happy to share with future couples.
