Floretta C.

Joined 1 month ago

I had originally seen the kiosk for Studio M in South Hills Village Mall. I called the number and got more information on what Maria was looking for in a senior model. At this time I had no idea what a fun time I would have. My mom, aunt, and I went to the studio a few times and each time were welcomed with smiling faces and very personable people. The day of my shoot was so much fun and the time flew by fast, I had no clue we were taking pictures for three hours!! When the pictures were ready to look at we had such a difficult time deciding which ones to print. Maria does wonderful work and I am keeping her at the top of my list for future events in which I will need a photographer. I highly recommend Studio M for any pictures you need done.

Recommends

Maria S.

Joined 2 months ago

My name is Maria Sauserman, I am the owner and photographer at Studio M. I feel it is necessary that I post something here to clarify some things that I feel have been extremely unfair and distorted. City search has a policy that all posts stay up and we have no control over them as business owners . . . and yet, people can say whatever they please ... true or not. My studio number is 724.745.4405

I would love constructive feedback on my business, because only that way can I make it better and make it grow :)

I would like clarify some things:

1. ALL the reviewers here are real people, including Janet P. I am an individual of great character and would never post as "multiple fake people" - under the testimonials section of my site, you can see images and testimonials of some of these people on here :)

2. I did ask some recent/dear clients to write a review if they felt so inclined. I did not tell them what to say. That would be incredibly wrong :( Yes, they were all posted within the same time frame because they were all asked at the same time :)

3. Our session costs are listed on the website and are different for babies/seniors etc ... and although we do not have a full price list on the site we do have information on where packages start and such on our site. Go to www.studiom.ms, click on About Us, then Studio Info, then "How much will I spend" - under this area we explain the general averages for spending and that packages start at $700. Packages include beautiful wall portraits... so yes, the cost will be a little higher. We do however have mini collections too, that start at $295. I am not sure why anyone would feel disgruntled:( We do want people to have a realistic expectation of what the investment is and are happy to answer questions on the phone and encourage people to come in for a free consultation to talk about what they want and the costs involved. Saying that you have to spend thousands is crazy :( We have loyal clients that come in every year and that spend a few hundred a year. We are not pushy and want our clients more than anything to be happy :) Why? Well, because we love what we do and we want them to come back too! Building a great relationship with people, creating beautiful artwork and watching families grow is what we do! :)

4. Lastly, we stand behind our art. We are 100% committed. We do not push our clients towards anything they don't want. We extensively talk to them about what they want and help them make better decisions so that they come home with their artwork, they are 100% satisfied. The last thing we if it is negative. I want to make things right. :( Not being given the opportunity to correct something for someone and then to have someone lie online about reviews, saying we wrote them is not just defamation of character but absurd - upsetting to say the least :( I welcome feedback, even negative should it be. In the future, it would be best if you contacted the business owner instead of doing this, I bet you anything, if they are a good business, they would go out of their way to make you happy! :)

Doesn't Recommend

Estcoast1

Joined 5 years ago

1. It's obvious with two comments in over a year and then a flurry of comments within A FEW DAYS that the owner found this site and is posting reviews as multiple fake people. It doesn't take an FBI analyst to see these posts carry the same syntax, style, and wording. Not to mention, going out of the way to add information only the business owner would put up.

Check out some of the other review sites... Looks like it was a concerted effort on a few sites on the same days.

2. Yes, I am disgruntled. I had the same experience as the first two posts below. Great photos, good photo manipulation, good experience being photographed, nice set. Then I was SLAMMED with pricing when I went back with my sister to look at my photos and buy some. Be prepared to spend 2k or more if you want more than a few items. It was too late to get anything reshot with someone else, I had my baby already! HEARTBREAKING!!!!

DO NOT GIVE HER A DIME OR ONE CLICK OF THE SHUTTER UNTIL YOU ASK TO SEE ALL PRICING.

3. THINK ABOUT JANET P's POST

If her household income is truly under 70k and she does 3 sessions a year at a minimum (as she states) then she is spending around 7%-8% ($6000) of her household income on photos a year if her pricing is anything close to mine. What person in their right mind would do that?!? Wouldn't you rather save for your children's education or pay your home off early? We're talking 60k in photos in a 10 year span. My husband and I truly value our children but we also value our fiscal wellbeing and you can do that without going to Sears or WalMart.

4. I have an art degree, good taste, and can tell the difference between a novice with a nice camera and a professional. I don't say that to brag but to show that I have an eye for art. You DONT have to pay these prices to get good results (Janet didn't do a great job on her homework). I ended up paying $1200 for our baby's newborn and 6mo photos (not WalMart prices), got the entire catalog digitally and got dozens of inquiries of where they came from along with hundreds of comments from visitors in our home and on Facebook.

5. PARENTS, YOU HAVE OPTIONS!!! DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!

Judy M.

Joined 4 months ago

If you are looking for priceless memories, Studio M is the place to go. Maria is the perfect blend of professional and personal. Her talent is beyond words and the care she takes with her clients is extraordinary. Be prepared to be amazed by her vision.

Hayley M.

Joined 4 months ago

If you want a priceless photograph, go see Maria. Her vision is innovative, unique and above all - amazing! She is one of the most gifted photographers I have ever seen in my life.

Julie S.

Joined 5 months ago

I went to Studio M to have a portrait done of my children. Studio M exceeded my expectations. The studio itself is gorgeous and Marias work is as well. She was so great with my children. Our portraits are amazing works of art that I will cherish forever. Thank you so much to Maria and everyone at Studio M for an amazing experience!

Recommends

Janet P.

Joined 5 months ago

I am so incredibly pleased with Studio M Photographic! Studio M is located about 30 minutes South of Pittsburgh, near Canonsburg. The owner, Maria Sauserman has such a wonderful personality, so full of life! During the session, she does a great job of getting the kids perfectly positioned (because we moms know how tough it is to get the perfect smile from our young children, especially in a group photo). We (Our Family) have been a Studio M customer for years. As a family, we are photographed at least once per year; the kids are photographed at least twice per year. We have indoor and outdoor images from all seasons, how beautiful and priceless they are to us. She even does our Christmas Cards! The owner has a real passion for her work and it shows in all of our portraits! She brings absolute perfection to each photograph. Last year she did maternity images of me, I couldn’t believe how beautiful they were! Perfectly edited and gorgeous! Her prices are very reasonable, you are getting a certified professional photographer, so yes, it’s not priced like Wal-Mart, but I don’t want to purchase “wal-mart quality” either. In comparison to other top-quality photographers in the Washington/Allegheny County region (because I have checked), I feel Studio M’s cost and quality are absolutely the best. I have to be very careful about my expenses, our household income is less than $70,000 per year, we own our home, and have a family, these images are well-worth every penny I paid. Perfect images that will last a lifetime… her website is www.studiom.ms

David D.

Joined 9 months ago

I could not echo Hanna P's review from January 14th any better, I would be reinventing the wheel.

The prices she quoted are right on. After the leaving the viewing session I felt like I had to take a shower from the high-pressure sales feeling and the gratuitous over the top compliments spewing.

The product is quality, no doubt but unless you make 200k+ a year these prices are insane. You basically cannot get out of the door for less than 1k and have any proof you were even there.

We paid for the maternity and baby shoots and never went back. It was better off finding someone else (which we did) and paid 500 for 1mo and 6mo and had beatiful pictures with better editting.

UPMC should be ashamed they're suggesting them. I'm not one of those 99% freak shows but this studio is truly for the 1%.

Doesn't Recommend

Hannah P.

Joined 1 years ago

Quality But Extremely Costly Photography. When my husband and I were expecting our first baby, we were obviously excited and about the whole process and wanted to preserve the experience for ourselves and our family to come. That is when Studio M's ads and coupons, that found their way into one of the many coupons packs given to expecting mothers, caught our eye. She has a website where you can see examples of the work she does.

They are talented at Studio M and there is no doubt about it. Friendly and personable. It is a well established and good-looking studio out in Strabane (about a 40m-1h drive outside of Pittsburgh).

We had a coupon for $250 photo session for our baby at 3 sessions: newborn, 6 mo, and 1 yr. This price covered only the picture-taking sessions and a small 3-panel photo of all 3 sessions. We could add a maternity photo session for $50, which we opted to do.

The biggest complaint we have is that we were never given a straight answer about the cost of extra photos until the day we went in to see the photos, after already having made 2 trips out there and a 2-3 hr long maternity photo session. Beautiful slideshows set to music are created to start reeling us in, an easy job to do with soon-to-be parents. Next they helped us eliminate the ones we don't like. Even though I had asked again to see the price list, she still preferred waiting until we decided which photos we liked.

Finally when we narrowed in on the (many) beautiful images, and discussed with her how we would like to arrange them in our home, we were handed the package brochure with the long awaited details. By this point we had been steered and mentally prepped for the joy of owning these portraits, but to our surprise her prices were astronomical. I knew we weren't at JC Penny's and we were ready to spend a little money, but these prices were out of our range and more than we imaged. I was not allowed to take the price list home with me, but I kept my invoice to remind myself. $1,064 for a photo book (the medium size), and packages of photos ranging from $300-$4000 (at the $4000 range she would throw in a DVD).

Yes, it is true that we were still free to walk out the door and not spend a penny more than the $250 photo session, but we had already invested so much time and thought. It felt almost like a crafted emotional trap in our, again, vulnerable state.

When we left, we felt terrible for having spent so much money for one of the smallest packages available ($495 for 1 11x14 and 3 8x10 photos) and we felt we had been taken for a ride as we were swooned into it and never told upfront, in a timely manner how much this experience was going to cost us.

We did the maternity shots and the newborn, but never returned for the 6 mo or year old ones. In the end we spent around $2465 + $250 for 2 photo sessions, 8 wall portraits and a photo book. We would have had to take out a loan to pay for any more photos from Studio M.

When we got home with the images and hung them on our wall, we even noticed that some of the touch-ups are all little off. She moved an image of my head (that I liked better) into a photo with my husband and I (that my husband looked better in), and the size of my head is not in proportion. Also, a maternity shot of my stomach looks like sections of my stomach were bruised, which was not the case. It must have been touched up by someone who couldn't see the impact of their color choice well enough on the computer.

I don't want to take away from the beautiful work that the studio produces by posting this review, but I think it is only fair that people know what they are getting themselves into. You may want to take out an insurance policy on the photos after you get through paying for them. But Studio M needed to be more upfront with us the very first time I asked about the costs of the whole affair and they may need to hire more careful people to do the touch-ups.