After reading other reports that were filed by other customers, I felt compelled to write about our experiences so that others won't fall victim to this individual.
We booked Lyndsay Wregget, of Focus Photography, for a Prenatal/Newborn photography package after doing a search on the internet. What appealed to me was the fact that Lyndsay was a (self-described) stay-at-home-mother whose passion for photography and children led her to open up her own business. At the time I was researching, Focus Photography also happened to be offering an incredble deal on this package, so we booked her.
Our prenatal photography session (Feb/10) went without incident. We showed up for our session, and she presented as a professional who was experienced and creative. Our proofs were uploaded on her website in a timely manner and we received the disk shortly thereafter.
It was when our son was born that the nightmare began.
We booked our newborn session with Lyndsay for when our son was 2 weeks old (end of Mar/10). For the most part, the session itself went without incident. However, when we saw the proofs, I discovered that in all of the shots that included me, she had overlooked the fact that the top button of my jeans were undone - I was exposed in all of my shots! Would she not have seen this through her lens? I contacted her to ask if something could be done about this - photoshop, cropping, etc. I was highly dissatisfied. We booked a "redo" session with her - by that time, it was the middle of April.
Once the new session was over, we waited for our new proofs to be uploaded on her website (she had removed all of the shots from our previous session). After a month had gone by with no contact from her, I decided to send her an e-mail (dated May 10/10) to inquire about the status of our shots. A week passed - and still no response so I sent along another e-mail (dated May 17/10). I also attempted to contact her via telephone, leaving several messages. She did not return any of these e-mails or telephone messages. On June 1/10, I sent another e-mail, literally begging her to give us our pictures of our newborn son. Again, no response.
I became so upset that I drove all the way out to Airdrie to try and catch her at her studio. Her studio was closed, so I went to her mother-in-law's preschool (located next to Lyndsay's photography studio) to talk with her and try and figure out some way of getting hold of Lyndsay. Her mother-in-law ended up phoning Lyndsay at her home and telling her that I was there for her. She handed me the phone and I spoke with Lyndsay, asking her to upload the photos. She did so that afternoon.
There were many issues with the proofs (poor lighting in a lot of the shots, etc.), and some of the photos she took were missing. I made the required edit requests and got back to her immediately.
Two weeks later, we still had not heard back from Lyndsay! By now, it was June 23/10, so I sent yet another e-mail inquiry. She did respond to this e-mail, indicating that the pictures would be done in the next couple of days. We did not hear from her again until the beginning of July...
On July 3/10, she sent her clients an e-mail stating that she was experiencing "personal issues" and apologizing for her lack of contact. She indicated that all photo CDs were to be mailed out on July 5/10. However, by July 21/10, we still had not received our images. After several attempts to try and get in touch again, a lady whom Lyndsay hired as her "assistant" got in touch to say that Canada Post attempted to send the package, but it was getting returned to them on a "non pickup" (which was a lie - we did not receive ANY notification that we had a package to be picked up at the post office).
How does this end? My husband finally sent an e-mail on July 21/10, after having contacted a lawyer. This lawyer advised us to inform her that we were going to seek legal action against her for what she had done to us. We sure heard back from her quickly after this! We arranged for me to drive out to Airdrie to pick up the CD from Lyndsay's mailbox at her home.
The photos we received were totally disappointing - NONE of the photos had been edited. Some were dark (she had turned off the studio lights at one point to try and use "natural lighting") and others had flaws that I had requested she fix up. She never did.
This experience was truly a nightmare for us. I have never dealt with someone so unprofessional in my life. I'm not sure how she could live with herself, knowing that she was withholding photos of something so precious from new parents. She made excuse after excuse after excuse and we firmly believe they were all lies. We believe this woman to be very unstable.
Please - steer clear of this woman and her services. It's definitely not worth the trouble - and there are much better photographers out there anyway!
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