Olan Mills

I'm somewhat obsessed with pictures of Harry, I have 100's of pictures in albums, actually it's a worrying amount considering Harry is only 2 years old! But I just can't help thinking that he is growing up too fast so I want to capture each moment before it passes! We had some Venture pictures done last year and unfortunately they didn't live up to my expectations and the experience was somewhat ruined by the outcome of one picture in particular and the customer service. So when I won a free photoshoot and picture with another photography company Olan Mills, we figured that it would be worth a try, and I called up to make my appointment for our shoot. My local ...  Read the complete review

From the moment you find out you are pregnant one of the first things that prospective parents think about is the scan and the first picture of their unborn child. While packing, unpacking and re-packing our labour bags one of the first items to have pride of place is the camera. As early parents we should have shares in Boots for the amount of photographs we take of our little darlings in the first year. We feel the need to document every first with a photo (or ten). This has not escaped the notice of many a businessman. Before you have even left hospital you will probably have already purchased your first ever collection of professional portraits ...  Read the complete review

About 2 years ago I received a very strange phone call. A friend of mine had just had a baby and had used Olan Mills to have some portraits done of him. Whilst at the studio she was asked if she knew anyone who would like to use their service and she recommended me. I was told about one of their amazing packages which sounded too good to be true. The package I was offered was called "Watch me grow". The idea behind it is that over the space of 12 months you have 4 photos taken of your child or children or family at 3 month intervals. After each sitting you make an appointment to come back to the studio and chose your photo which you are given included ...  Read the complete review

Olan Mills may sound like a great idea at first – only £23.95 for 4 sittings for your child and one free photo per session. But have a closer look at what you are being offered. A simple 10x8 print costs £20 when an e-print will cost you only £2.50. They offer you £380 (their price) of photos for £70 but they could be printed off a lot cheaper than that elsewhere. And you don’t own the copyright so you cannot get other cheaper professional prints made and to get back the copyright (at their discretion) it costs £10 per photo. After our first session we were told the photos had not come out so we had to go back for another session ...  Read the complete review

In an age of digital photography, where anyone can walk into a discount store and purchase a photo package, you would think that Olan Mills would make more of an effort to insure that the personnel hired at their locations are in some way trained in the art of customer service. My personal experience, I contacted one of our local Olan Mills Studios the first week in October and explained that I needed my son's senior pictures before November 1st for inclusion in his school yearbook. The woman assured me there would be no problem. She scheduled an appointment for October 18th. We had the photographs taken and were told that the pictures would be available ...  Read the complete review