Oversubscribed Photo Sessions?

[Agent Bristow]

 

the chain of photo stores i worked for used to have a shop in MK - but not anymore!

 

snappy snaps branches are all franchised, so the manager should know what they are doing!!

 

How would VT tickets help though, hmm i see, maybe have it in waves - announcments for "james photo batch2" or something, altho then you'd just get people hanging around anyway, which could cause more crowds. it's a tough cookie.

 

I prefer a portrait shot i think

 

I think you used to work for the same company as me, Klick Photopoint or Max Spielman? We had a store in MK until a few years ago.

 

I also prefer a portrait shot.

Edited May 6, 2007 by Agent Bristow

[zoe_lou]

Of course something else... it's stated on the website that people would get thier photos back ontime to get them signed later in the day. The charisma photo's weren't even developped by the time she and James vanished.

 

Yeh I wanted to be able to get mine signed, probably would of been able to get my Anthony Head one signed I got that at about half 2 but meeting George Hertzberg and Anthonys queue, even with gold pass I didnt have time

[pegasusmarsters]

Of course something else... it's stated on the website that people would get thier photos back ontime to get them signed later in the day. The charisma photo's weren't even developped by the time she and James vanished.

 

Yeh I wanted to be able to get mine signed, probably would of been able to get my Anthony Head one signed I got that at about half 2 but meeting George Hertzberg and Anthonys queue, even with gold pass I didnt have time

 

I thought gold passes allowed you to bypass the queue's?

[Hils]

I had to leave without my Brandon photo

 

To be honest I think SM misjudged how popular Brandon was going to be. According to the FAQ here they were expecting him to have an open queue by late afternoon which, from what I understand, didn't happen.

 

I had to queue well over an hour to get my photo with him, which was longer than I had to wait for anyone else including James Marsters

[zoe_lou]

Of course something else... it's stated on the website that people would get thier photos back ontime to get them signed later in the day. The charisma photo's weren't even developped by the time she and James vanished.

 

Yeh I wanted to be able to get mine signed, probably would of been able to get my Anthony Head one signed I got that at about half 2 but meeting George Hertzberg and Anthonys queue, even with gold pass I didnt have time

 

I thought gold passes allowed you to bypass the queue's?

 

Yeh they just let you join on the end but I had to go at about 3.. they wouldnt let me stay later and after meeting George H it was about quarter 2. Did love the fact I got sent to the start of the queue for the James shoot though

Edited May 6, 2007 by Zoe Lou

[Buffette]

Well guys I think they may have learned their lesson from yesturday by the sounds of it. I had a photo with grace park today at 11.20am and by 1.50pm when I went back my photos were already there, mind you i don't think Grace was as busy as the others but there might be hope they are working around things better.

 

just my thoughts

 

Pauline

[jenniea]

Thought the waiting times for getting the photos back was shocking! Got my picture taken at 10 to 2 and got it back at 6.25 which made travelling home more awkward as I was late. Heard the developers have been getting a lot of blame for not having the photos ready in time but at the end of the day I bought my ticket from Showmasters and it was their responsibility to ge them back in time. £20 is a lot to pay and then having to wait 4hrs for it is terrible.

 

Also to have to wait 2-3 weeks to get your photo posted to you is a discrage. When a rival signing event had problems the photo was sent within a week and recorded delivery.

 

Will never be getting a photo again at Showmasters. Collectormania's etc are things that can technically be done in a day unlike a weekend proper convention so really they should tell you that they cant get photos out in time.

 

Spolied the day for me!

 

 

it is the developers mostly to blame. if the manager of the shop said they can do it, like i said before, why would you think otherwise? they let down on their side of the deal. Showmasters will get most of the wrap, but seeing as the sessions have gone ok at other events, it would suggest the variable in snappy snaps on this occasion.

 

ill be intersted to see how things have gone today with jessops and possibly another helping.

 

 

Although the developers are at fault when were Showmasters informed that were problems?? When asking the crew I kept on getting told that Charismas's would be back between half 5 and 6 and this certainly wasnt the case. Surely Showmasters figured out there were problems earlier on in the day especially as the developers will know how many photos can be developed per hour.

[A007]

Well guys I think they may have learned their lesson from yesturday by the sounds of it. I had a photo with grace park today at 11.20am and by 1.50pm when I went back my photos were already there, mind you i don't think Grace was as busy as the others but there might be hope they are working around things better.

 

just my thoughts

 

Pauline

 

Well it couldn't possibly have gone any worse than Saturday!!!

[Megmac]

I went to see if the Charisma photos were back at 5pm, they weren't - I actually didn't get mine till 7pm, some 5 hours after the photo was taken. This isn't a straightforward winge post, but that is ridiculous! I think they definitely oversubscribed for James Marsters, for how long did his pictures keep coming?!

 

The crew dealt well with the circumstances, IMO the problem was other visitors who didn't seem to understand that the number on the ticket was the batch number and crowded around the tables regardless!

 

Despite the delay, all 3 are awesome pics and the shoot was a great experience (Anthony Head liked my coat lol)

 

Meg

Edited May 6, 2007 by Megmac

[Rodney the plonker]

I like portrait shots, but even with landscape ones it would be nice if the photographer wasn't quite so close in on the faces! I'm quite short and the guests didn't really bend down for me (though I know they did for some people) but that's usually the case with anybody I meet and the pictures seemed unusually close up - you can't even see the top of my shoulders or any hint of what I'm wearing in my Charisma one!

 

Looks like SM used the same crap photographer they had a while back at the Elijah Wood photo shoot.

[a2k]

i am still not happy about this service and i will not be waiting 2-3 weeks for my picture as i was told on saturday they would all be sent out by tuesday and if it has not arrived by friday there will be strong words taken with showmasters.

 

 

as we paid for a service we should get the product it was foolish of them to believe such a small photodeveloper could produce that many photos

 

and when they realised thier mistake they should of looked elsewhere- in a cenre that size ther must be at least a couple of photo development places- jessops, boots, etc?

 

if everyone not recieved them in a week we should all get some sort of compensation- i.e at least half money back or voucher for free photo/ auto at next event.

 

there were alot of angry people last night waiting for thier pictures and we should not just accept it

 

if any1 knows me they will know i not someone who is quick to complain and cause a fuss but this matter has really angered me as it was alot of money i paid and so far i have nothing to show for it and the small hope that myu pictures will arrive..sometime...and not damaged in mail etc

 

...ok rant over...

Edited May 6, 2007 by a2k

[theentsrgoingtowar]

Today, the photo sessions went quite smoothly, I met Charisma, Brandon and terry Jones for the photo sessions, around 2 1/2 hours later both of Charisma's and brandons photos were back. And both of them were really popular!! I have no complaints for the photo sessions except for people pushing in!! arghhhhh It really annoys me!!!!!

[pegasusmarsters]

I have to say, whilst it was clear that the ticket you had was the batch number.. that became useless to me once I had 3 tickets and when you're a 17 year old on the verge of fainting after meeting your heros, you don't make a note of which is which. They could have marked the tickets with the actors name or colour coded them to make life easier.

[jenniea]

i am still not happy about this service and i will not be waiting 2-3 weeks for my picture as i was told on saturday they would all be sent out by tuesday and if it has not arrived by friday there will be strong words taken with showmasters.

 

completely agree, hope you get your photo by Friday, when I asked I was told 2-3 weeks.

[a2k]

i got 2 batch numbers and i guessing which is which

 

SMF28- CHARISMA (SATURDAY)

SMF37- BRANDON (SATURDAY)

 

if that helps anyone who confused with batch numbers

 

when i get them i may post but may be scared of people knowing my face after my little rant

Edited May 6, 2007 by a2k

[abstractharmony]

Looks like SM used the same crap photographer they had a while back at the Elijah Wood photo shoot.

 

Malcolm is a great photographer and lest we forget moved at least 1500 people through with no complaints.

 

Maybe if you asked him to take a portrait or full length then he would oblige. Complaining after the fact is no good.

[jenniea]

i got 2 batch numbers and i guessing which is which

 

SMF28- CHARISMA (SATURDAY)

SMF37- BRANDON (SATURDAY)

 

if that helps anyone who confused with batch numbers

 

when i get them i may post but may be scared of people knowing my face after my little rant

 

dont be afraid to post them and I don't think it was a rant :-)

[philmerv]

No problems with my Grace/James/Charisma/Brandon on Sunday, picked the last ones up at 5pm, & they had already been available for a short time. Made it back home one & half hrs later.

 

 

Also no complaints with my Peter Davison/Anthony Head & Avery Brooks on the Saturday, guess they were not the "big guests" then?

 

& no complaints with photographer so far, always takes anther one if he is not satisfied with the first!

[DIDS]

Had a photo shoot with Charisma and Brandon on Saturday.Started in line at 1.00pm for Charisma,then afterward straight away joined the line again for Brandon.Finished about 4.30.

I am used to this sort of waiting,but it is still very tiring.

When you have had a full day,all you want to do is collect your photos and make the (long)journey home.

The photos should have been ready,hats of to the photo distibution people who had to answer questions,and try to give as much info as they could.

With not much info about which photos were coming back,i just had to wait more......no one likes to go home without photos,and the thought of filling in the horrible sheets for them to be posted was awful.

I just didn't want to fill in the sheet just in case five mins later the batch arrived.

The anouncement came that Brandons photos would not be back,so i had to fill the sheet in.....and a little while after my Charisma photo arrived.

 

Something has to be done about the photos in the future.

It was a great day,but the waiting for the photos took the fun out of it in the end.

[fugaziuk]

Like other said today no probs with my Grace Park pic was back way quicker than I imagined. Although my friend picked up his pic of tony head only to find a great big finger print in the top corner before he had even touched it!

I must say the tickets for the photos are way too small

[Ven Halcyon]

My only complaint really was that the Charisma photo was so tight - but i suspect that was the star/her agent rather than the photographers choice!

 

The Q's were a bit of a 'mare on Sat, but kudos to the crew who were helping out there and trying to deal with all the people getting annoyed - yeah it was furstrating, but they sorted a lot of the problem they had yesterday and today seemed much more fluid - though I didn't do any big people today - so be interested to see how things went for those who saw Brandon, James etc.

[Poppy]

I have had several photo shoots with showmasters before and have really enjoyed the experience and loved my photo. However I did not have any such luck with the Brandon Routh photo shoot.

 

That I felt like I spent the whole day Saturday either waiting in a huge Brandon queue to get the photo taken or hanging around to get it back. I know one of the photo shoots over ran but the brandon one started around the time it should have been finishing. Everyone had been queueing for a very very long time and we should have been updated more by the staff.

 

Also I would have preferred to be told there was no chance of getting the Brandon photos back today, instead of hanging around the centre waiting for them, I would have preferred to have been back at my hotel having a nice meal and slowly getting ready for the party, rather than the mad dash that it ended up being - and I was rushing and still didn't have my photo. MORE UPDATES would have been excellent. although I understand it wasn't the staff/pit bosses fault that all this was going on, I was increasingly frustrated by no one knowing anything.

 

When someone made a complaint they were (by a lady pit boss, who you could tell she was doing her upmost so this isn't a direct criticism of her) complaining in the wrong place and they had to go to the front desk. Someone should have been brought down and everyone should have had the situation explained to them in great detail, instead there was a good few hundred people waiting to know what was happening and getting increasingly bored and frustrated. I am not surprised some people were angry!!

 

I was also rather cross by the assumption that it was okay to come back tomorrow, I was staying overnight but alot of the staff I spoke to seemed to think that it was easy for everyone to come back tomorrow.

 

Also one other matter I would like to address, was that my photo is awful - I am obviously in the process of saying something as I am pulling a face. I know this is my own stupid fault, but I know the photos are checked after each one taken, and that a high percentage of people had TWO brandon photos taken, how is it decided that a second one needed to be taken? As I obviously needed a second one taken. I am quite annoyed that I felt like I wasted my whole Saturday afternoon on this photo shoot to have a ruined final photo!!

 

Overall however I thought that Collectormania was brillant, but this photo shoot problem really needs to be addressed!!

[KURGAN]

i had another photo shoot with charisma on sunday and it was nice to see SM had sorted out the developeing problem as by about half 3 i had my pictures in my hand

 

 

as you can see from the pic above im not the best looking guy in the world (ok im butt ugly) so if i was to say im not happy with the way i look in the pic its not realy the photographers fault, so anyone who was not happy with there expression should maybe practice in a mirror before so they get something close to what they can live with.

 

my last comment may have sounded a bit mean, it was not ment to be, please concider the realitys of the situation, the actors come to the photo shoots well prepared, they chose an outfit got there hair and make-up done and the deciding factor is they have loads of experiance .

you and i have been trawing round all day then stood in a que for how everlong then in, stand/pose , flash and out in on average 20 seconds.

 

me wearing the full hawian sith outfit was a bit redundant as the shots were so close , thank god i had the hat but i think it gave charisma a bit of a laugh so thats good.

 

this event is the first time i went for one of the photo shoots and despite the long wait on saturday im happy with the outcome and will go again when they do another one for someone i like.

[chole110]

I had no problem at all with the Sunday photos, had them done with Charisma and Brandon and they were in my hand by 4:30 pm!

[abstractharmony]

So it sounds like the problems were confined to Saturday and the 'third party' problem.

 

As I said in my original post. Should SM look at leasing their own high end photo printers?