Jonathan Betz Photography

I worked with Jonathan recently to shoot a series of pictures for my business. The pictures were take onsite at a local coffee shop. I really enjoyed the entire experience. From the beginning Jonathan worked to understand my business and the message I wanted to convey through the pictures. And then he went to work getting things staged in the coffee shop. All them time being careful not to distract or interfere with the customers trying to enjoy there coffee.
In the end I felt like we had a good variety of pictures. They looked great. I enjoyed the entire experience with Jonathan and Lindsay.

The best photographer in Colorado Springs.
Need I say more?
No, but I will. Jonathan, is an artist. He’s not just a guy with a camera. He’ll make the ugly look beautiful and the beautiful look freaking magnificent. Hire them!

My experience with Betz Photography began with a gifted Groupon at Christmas. First cautionary note: never EVER gift someone a photography session Groupon. Granted, the Groupon got us $ 100.00 worth of photos and the shoot itself but the pictures are so expensive that the person you gifted the Groupon to either walks away with just one 8×10 or they find themselves having to dole out a bunch of cash they never planned to spend in the first place. We met Jonathan at a pre-​planned outdoor location on the afternoon of our photo shoot. He was very nice and we liked him alot. Unfortunately, nice didn’t cut it in the end. In my opinion he could have put a little more thought and creativity into our shoot. Instead it was much like having a friend or family member with a pricey camera say, «hey — how about we try taking your picture over there» and telling us to go sit on a rock together. There really was no professional positioning or attention to detail. Absolutely no constructive instruction on what might look better than just standing however/​wherever we wanted to. After about an hour we went home to wait a couple of weeks for our photos to be ready for viewing. Jonathan’s wife, Lindsay, is the second half of the business. She handles the scheduling, persuasion and money. I had to go out to their home to view our photos. When I got there Lindsay sat me down with an iPad in front of a movie screen. She turned down the lights, put on some «mood» music and told me to just watch the screen as the photos faded in and out. That was all very nice — I enjoyed it and the music was a very nice touch — but then it was my job to decide while sitting there which photos I wanted to purchase — after having just seen them for the first time. By process of elimination, using the iPad, I was to move my keepers/​maybes and definitely not photos into appropriate groupings. This was tough. You have to think about wall space and actually FIND photos that turned out and go well together. I really was not expecting to have to make such a big decision right then and there within an hour. I felt really, really rushed and unfortunately there was something about Lindsay’s interaction with me that made me feel like she was being pushy and impatient with me. About 30 minutes in to my appointment she wanted me to see the price list which «might help in my decision making». Boy did it. I don’t have access to the pricelist anymore but the 5x7s were about $ 65 each (possibly more) and an 8×10 was about $ 80 (again I could be slightly off but not by much). They really want you to decide there in their home what you want but will agree to let you review your pictures on-​line as long as you do it within two weeks. But you will absolutely receive routine emails and phone calls from Lindsay during those two weeks inquiring about whether or not you’ve made a decision or have questions. I found it to be extremely irritating. What made making a decision so challenging is that there were some «okay» photos but they weren’t GREAT. I could take them or leave them but I hate having my kids’ photos «out there» so it made it hard to turn them down. At one point I had a grouping picked out but one of them was of my son against a rock and I couldn’t buy it in a 5×7 or 8×10 without being forced to crop him off at the shins. Ugh! Needless to say I was frustrated with everything about this experience: the unplanned exorbitant expense for average photos, the tone of Lindsey’s communications with me, having to trek clear across town to review our photos and then being pressured into buying under a certain timeframe (and believe me, that on-​line access was turned off immediately at the two-​week mark), and then the fact that you can’t really get what you pay for when you buy a Groupon from them. You pay more than you intend to either way — either you have to buy more photos or you pay them more for the Groupon than you get in return.