Review: Family Photos Made Easy With Splento

Do you cringe a little at the thought of a ‘photo shoot’? If so, I completely sympathise. I can’t say my husband is a huge fan either but we are severely lacking in decent photographs of us as a family. Aside from the odd dodgy selfie, they just don’t happen. So I was very intrigued when contacted by a new photography agency, Splento, to try out its on-demand service. The option to book a photographer, at an affordable price, when you want, sounded pretty revolutionary.

What is Splento?

Branded as ‘Uber for photography’, the online service (with a phone app coming soon) allows you to book a photographer in the London area (inside the M25) and within two hours, one is with you! How amazing is that? We are so used to getting things ‘on-demand’ – taxis, food and TV shows – why not photographers? Because Splento can offer photographers regular work, they are able to give competitive prices (and I have a discount code for you to use too).

Past photo shoot experience

The one thing that has put me off family shoots in the past, is that they can look a bit cheesy and posed. A previous family photo experience, a few years ago, was not entirely positive. It was in a large studio and although the shoot itself was not costly, getting our hands on the photos was anything but cheap. We were pressurised to choose the photo we wanted there and then to get a ‘discount’. We ended up with one framed photo of our daughter -forking out a jaw-dropping £250 for one of the smallest size available! We never saw any of the other photos from the shoot again which was a real shame.

The Splento difference

The experience we had with the Splento photographer was completely different. Firstly, it was not in a studio. As long as it is in the London area, you can have it where ever you want. Perhaps you would like it close to a well known tourist site, somewhere special to you as a family or in the comfort of your own home. The photography style is very ‘reportage’ so it felt unobtrusive and natural.

Cost

One of the best things about Splento is there are no hidden costs (unlike our previous photo shoot). You can choose from three packages online. The most popular one for family photo shoots is £98 for a two hour shoot and you get 40 digital photos  – within 48 hours – which have been edited by Splento’s team of professional photo editors. The best bit is you can print them out at your leisure. A very good price for what you get especially compared to our last photo shoot.

The Splento Photo Shoot

So what was the experience like? On a sunny Saturday morning, at a time convenient to us, our photographer, Bogdan Maran, came around to our house and we had a bit of a discussion about what photos we wanted and where. It felt very informal and Bogdan was incredibly personable. He told us that good communication skills is something they look for in all of their photographers – which makes sense as you end up getting the best pictures. As an experienced photographer who has worked for global news agencies in the past, we knew we were in good hands with Bogdan and he trains the photographers Splento has on its books.

We had some of the photos done at our house and then headed out into the autumn sunshine to our local park. One of the advantages was it felt far more personal. The surroundings were places special to us and it was an environment we could relax in rather than a blank white studio. I just love this photo of our girls. It isn’t often we can get them both looking at the camera!

The photo shoot itself was really fun. Yes, really! We honestly had a great morning in the autumn sunshine as a family – even my husband! It was relaxed and didn’t feel too posed: a weekend activity that we could enjoy together and we have a permanent reminder of it! We have so many fantastic photos it is hard to choose which ones to include in this post. Bogdan captured some wonderful moments I would never be able to photograph myself.

I really love this one of Mrs T playing with the leaves. She had a lot of fun throughout the shoot. For her, it was just another day playing in the park.

The two hours were more than enough time to get some beautiful shots and before five-month-old Mrs C began to get sleepy although not before I got this gorgeous photo of her.

Splento pledges to have your photographs edited and ready for you to download within 48 hours. In fact, they were available just over 24 hours later on Sunday afternoon which was brilliant. One click and they were downloaded onto my computer.

I am very happy with the high quality of the photographs and look forward to adorning our walls with them and giving some as Christmas and birthday gifts (family members, you have been warned!). Splento is a very modern and savvy concept and due to the competitive pricing, it is something I would look at doing yearly or seasonly so we have professional photographs at each stage of our daughter’s lives.

There are so many other instances when we could use Splento too. I could have done with one at Mrs T’s birthday party. I was so busy hosting, I barely got to take any photos myself. Christenings, family gatherings, weddings and special birthdays are other occasions which would benefit. Splento also does corporate events. Being able to get a photographer in two hours offers great flexibility and is surely the future of photography.

Tip: I would recommend thinking about what you want to get out of the shoot beforehand and jot down any specific photos you would like.

– You can book a Splento photographer on its website. I have a special discount code wandermum10 for you lovely readers to get 10% off a Splento shoot. 

* I was given a complimentary Splento photo shoot for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.
**Photos courtesy of Splento