Mary J Mann Photography

Rebekah R _{on Google}

Jun 23rd, 2012

She's done a beautiful job with our children's photos. Always end up loving so many.

Maria Canales _{on Google}

May 11th, 2012

I have been going to Mary J since my son was born. She is amazing. Her patience and love for children comes thru in her photographs. Her work is artistic and natural. I can't imagine going anywhere else. My son is now 7 and happy to have made the investment with the timeless photographs that she took for me. Simply fantastic!

Jenny V. _{on Google}

Feb 18th, 2012

Wow the nerve!!!! I have recently decided to be more interactive with others in my community on experiences in the Westside/Rio Rancho/ Corrales area. After a girlfriend of mine told me she went to this studio and had a bad experience I was bummed out because I would have warned her if I knew she made an appointment with the rudest staff I ever experienced in a photo session encounter.I believe it is a responsibility to communicate our experiences both good and bad with eachother. Last year I went to this studio for pictures and was made so uncomfortable with the pushy attitude of the staff when picking out pictures I never went back. The fact is I should have not even spent the time I did to take the pictures because Mary behaved very badly during our first five minutes barking out rules and processes that she must follow. I gave her the benefit of doubt, after all, my family was in attendence and we rarley gather for pictures. First instincts are the best. Mary J Mann is overly proud of her average pictures. I believe you can have the same quality of picture at just about any place in town. If you want the average pics that she deems " ART" hope the stars align and she gets a good picture then be ready to spend at least 800.00 for one picture. You can't get a simple print unless you buy at least one "FINE ART" piece. she trys to sell you. Make you feel like you just must be poor or dumb not to want to buy thousands from my studio. I am the great MARY J MANN. You can hear her bad attitude in the response to a complaint in one of the reviews on this site. I cant imagine that she will stay in business unless she decides to take a real good look at her clients experiences and works to improve them. She has to first want to improve. I would encourage others to look at reviews on Dex, Yellow Pages and Yelp.

valeri blossom _{on Google}

Jul 27th, 2013

i tend to only leave reviews for products when they're positive but as someone who is also conscious of supporting our local marketplace, i find it is even more important to leave reviews for services when the service is less than stellar.
it's been a while since we had our family photographed by mary but everytime i look at the picture i chose to hang up on the wall, i do not have fond memories of the experience.
a friend had gifted me a groupon for mary's studio, as a birthday gift for my son. making the appointment with her assistant was pleasant enough but as soon as we stepped inside the studio on the day of our appointment, it was very tense. as other reviewers who had used their groupon or living social deals, the treatment received was extremely rude. mary was very blunt about asking whether we'd be purchasing a package when there is absolutely NO WAY to know that until photos have been viewed. her assistant remained friendly enough.
when i called i had been asked what we'd be wearing that day (dark browns/earth tones), though the only background mary chose to use for our family was pitch black. my hair and all of our shirts blend in to the background so that all you see are our faces, much like a bad impression of an 80s album cover.
it was also the weirdest experience i've ever had with a photographer...i'm talking even worse than having your photos taken at jc penney (and nowhere even near the caliber i'd expect from an independent professional studio). to start, mary was barefooted the entire time and i mean, i get it. i don't wear shoes in my home and she did ask that we remove our shoes, too, once in the studio, because the backdrop was a cloth that extended along the floor, but it just seemed really unprofessional. socks would have been nice.
there was no way i could relax or smile during the session because, as someone already stated, she barked orders at us and it was very disconcerting. i don't understand how anyone who's had this experience could be pleased with the outcome. one minute she was telling us to smile and then telling us to look natural and then getting snippy with me if i glanced at my children. she kept making comments about nervous parents ruining the photos but she wasn't concerned at all that my son's pants or shirt were crooked, or that her position and her angle would result in unflattering angles. i felt that she wasn't even experienced enough to handle the camera, or perhaps only skilled in handling the camera but not in actually getting a quality frame.
i was right. the pictures were horrible. in the only one that my children were both managing to look at the camera and not have odd, confused expressions (because of mary's odd requests), i didn't like my expression but i selected it because the rest were just terribly awkward. as such, we didn't buy a package and only received the one free pose with our groupon. even if i had liked another one, her prices were quite excessive. i'd rather have a luxurious, relaxed experience at kim jew, with a friendly, knowledgeable staff or have kim jackson provide a personal experience with rights to all the images on disk (and kim jackson does stunning family portraiture!).
perhaps if you're dropping hundreds with mary she has an entire different system and perhaps money makes her smile. ain't no shame in that but to treat her groupon customers poorly when she's the one that offered the deals to get business in the first place just doesn't make any business/financial sense.