Studio Max by Portraits International Northwest Avoid at all Costs Beverton, Oregon

So I interviewed with this comapny for a photography position about 2 months ago. Excited to get into some studio photography, I was eager to have the job. Who woudlnt? I was excited to get there and discovered this was the most awful gig I have ever had, pay and expirence wise. Heres whats completely wrong with Studio Max.

In my interview was told the photographers didnt do any editing. This was not the case. In fact the photographer is expected to do the entire 5 pose family portrait session, including editing, (Selection and cropping) every 15 min. Obvously not going to happen. Of course you can edit after work, but you wont be paid for your time.

The day rate starts at 75 dollars per day. Sounds pretty good, except you start at about 830-9 and finish your last session at about 745. On the last day of the shoot, you are also required to tear down the studio. There is no hourly/overtime pay.

You can work your way up the ladder to a pay rate of 100$ per day, and a small commission. According to the handbook, this should happen within a couple weeks after training. According to the other photographers, this raise usually takes 3-6 months.

The majority of the sales staff is paid commission, so they basically will flat out lie to the customers. They tell them whatever it takes to make a sale. They present the package as a 30 min session, when it is auctually 15 min. Also, completely lie about the price and content of the picture packages. Dog eat dog, how can you blame them right? But, when the familys come in for their picture session, it then becomes the photographer's job to explain why they are being rushed thru, and charged way more money than they were origionally quoted. 

Also, I was told I would not have to handle money, this is also untrue. Even tho, the clients have prepaid $14 for the session, the photographer or assistant is required to hold them hostage for and additional $5 dollars before they get a picture. Nobody in the company was able to explain to me any locigal explination for doing this instead of just charging $19 up front. Long story short, these guys screw over their customers and leave it to the photography department to do damage control and PR. At 75$ a day? Im not getting paid enough.

The handbook and contracts were filled with mispelled words and syntax errors.

I was told I would be working every weekend, but I was never told if, when, or where I would be working untill a day before the shoot. I am a freelance A/V pro, so this didnt work at all for me. I guess operating on faith works for some people, but I like to schedule things a little more than a day in advance. Basically staying with this company would have jepordized my ability to work and pay bills. Lets say the call didnt come on thursday, or the weekend got canceled. I would not have the time to take an auctuall paying job in the interium.

The checks come 3 weeks after the day of each shoot, not terrible, but was not mentioned in the interview. Basically, you better have some savings lined up before you accept this job. If you have read this far and are still considering working for them, god bless ya.

The other photographers and staff I met were pretty nice people. Unfortunately, due to the work environment, there is a general malase over everybody during the day.

They didnt disenfect the hats, or clothes

On my first day in Yelm, the police were called, and found a crack pipe stashed in the dressing room....We would probally have found it ourselves but with a 15 min portrait session per family, the dressing room was always full and it was rare that we got the time to go clean it :/

So, the trouble with the 15 min sitting time, along with crack pipes and lies. Is that the famlies are requied to fill out paper work, pay the 5$ itiot fee, get in wardrobe *Up to 8 people* and then finally get the pictures done. 15 min are gone by the time we even get to wardrobe. The auctuall sitting time is about 5-7 min best case. Not alot of time to get a great shot. Basically this translates to absolutely no respect for the art of photography in my opinion. Im not saying its impossible to take a great shot in 5 min......but even Peter Hurley would be sweating these ones out.

They told me in the interview that they paid 30 cents a mile, when it was auctually 20, and then deciced to esitmate their own milage for me....aka I drove 380 miles ...they paid 54 dollars and 30 cents.....mabye my calculator is broken but last time i checked 380x.20= 76 ......icing on the cake

Theres plenty more, but I must get ready for my real job now, if you are also looking for a real job, I would look anywhere but Studio Max by Portraits international Northwest. Nice guys, full of lies.