Olin Mills

Greatwhite · Aug 8, 2007

Hey Gang,

ANyone here ever work (or still do) at Olin Mills Studio...I am wondering if it is a good gig to get some expierience and build a portfolio....seems better than shooting babies at the mall center court....

Thoughts?

butterflygirl · Aug 9, 2007

Greatwhite said:
Hey Gang,

ANyone here ever work (or still do) at Olin Mills Studio...I am wondering if it is a good gig to get some expierience and build a portfolio....seems better than shooting babies at the mall center court....

Thoughts?

I didn't work there - but i did work at Sears - it was HORRIBLE! I'm sorry, but that's all there is to it. It took everything I loved and flushed it down the tube. I tried very hard to be creative, but you only had 15 minutes to get the customer in and take their photos then another 10 to sell. So hard if you ask me, especially with a screaming baby and a mother who doesn't want to reschedule. I did learn a lot about posing, props, etc. but I'd recommend asking a professional photographer to take you on as an assistant. I did that right after the Sears experience and it was much better. Not so much time constraint and I learned A TON more.

If you have any other questions just PM me.

Hope this helps!

MACollum · Aug 10, 2007

I had my son's picture taken at Sears once...and only once (he was 2 mos old). I used an offer for a portrait package. They took a series of pictures and made the picture from the "first accepted pose". The pictures were on a little TV screen mounted on the ceiling on the other side of the room and gave me about ten seconds to look at it. After that I went to JCPenney and they were so much better. Every time I was there I had a good photographer who spent a lot of time getting the poses and props right (not to mention the smiles). They were supposed to do only six poses but they always did more and offered me a choice from the six best ones. I always had to get at least one of each.

Also, when he was born the hospital gave me a certificate from a local independent studio that offered a free session and 8x10 at 3 mos, 6 mos, 9 mos and one year. The quality of the pictures was beyond excellent (they were GORGEOUS!) but I couldn't afford to buy any.

Christie Photo · Aug 16, 2007

Greatwhite said:
seems better than shooting babies at the mall center court....

Thoughts?

I don't think there's much difference between the two.

JIP · Aug 16, 2007

It might be a good place to get a start learning how a studio works but do not expect to build a portfolio out of it. To start with a studio like Olan Mills is not the kind of photography you are realy going to want to use to show most people. Secondly generally studios like Olan Mills will not let you have access to your images.