Bum Bul Bee Photo + Films

I am writing to share the same negative experience as some of the other reviews posted here. My wife and I paid $ 375 for a 13 shot holiday package over 6 months ago. Initially Ashbey was friendly and did a good job with the photoshoot, sending us 3 initial shots to use for our holiday cards. However, tracking down the remaining photos we paid for has been an absolute nightmare and I’ve given up hope that we’ll ever get them. Ashbey has been slow to respond to communication and insists on using a file transfer service that doesn’t work (if she’s actually even trying, I am fairly convinced that she is lying about even attempting to send me our remaining photos). Regardless, this is no way to treat a paying client. Ashbey has been thoroughly unprofessional over the last 6 months and managed to swindle us. Do not hire her. Ever.

I just wanted to say that I share in the negative experiences posted by others with regard to professionalism, timeliness, and product delivery. Not recommended.

As of August 18, 2013, it will be TWO YEARS since Ashbey has taken photos of me and my daughter at Navy Pier, and I have yet to get my pictures. Yes, nearly TWO YEARS! Need I say more? Well, actually, I have so much to say…
A little background — I won a contest on Facebook in May of 2011, which included a «Free Session with Bum Bul Bee Photography, Two 5 by 7’s, One 8 by 10, One Social Media Ready Digital Image, and Custom Frame Service from Accentric Custom Framing for Two of my Prints».
Almost two years later, I still have not received my pictures! Ashbey has given me SO many excuses over the last nearly two years, but there is no excuse for it to go on this long. My family, friends and other photographers are in complete shock when I tell them about my experience with Ashbey. Based on my correspondences with Accentric Custom Framing, it’s my opinion that they were in disbelief and caught off guard when I called to follow-​up on my pictures over a year after I won the contest. I was hoping they could help me get my pictures from Ashbey, but no such luck. I understand Accentric’s hands are tied, because they have to wait for Ashbey to get them the pictures.
The first year I was very polite and just happy that I had won the contest and would get free pictures, prints and framing. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful, so, I simply sent friendly emails, Facebook messages and left voicemails for over a year — very nice emails just checking in on my pictures. Many promises, excuses and tons of unanswered emails/​calls later, I find myself here still with nothing but tons of excuses, lies, finger pointing… Whitney’s review sounds so familiar to me! Note — if you send Ashbey Facebook messages on her wall, they will be immediately deleted and you will get a curt email telling you not to post on her page. However, most emails (that only she sees, of course) and voicemails will go unanswered. Funny, huh?
If anyone is interested, feel free to message me directly so I can share with you my personal experience from the last two years and you will understand my frustration with Ashbey. I’m happy to share my experience with anyone. I use professional photographers at least 4 times a year and there are so many great ones out there who are completely embarrassed and apologize if I get my pictures a month or two after my pictures are taken. Ashbey has no shame, and I don’t have words for her.
I even offered to print and frame the pictures myself and just asked Ashbey to simply email the images to me. Again, I sent a cordial email with this request. Surprise, almost two months later, I have heard nothing, nada. This is just a snapshot of my experience with her. I am easy to work with people, but if you run your business like this, I have to let people know!
I have given Ashbey so many opportunities to deliver on her promise… nearly TWO YEARS worth of opportunity, but obviously she has not delivered and has dragged me along leading me to believe that I will get my pictures soon and that they’ve already been printed but then got lost in the mail somewhere in Pennsylvania… what? Don’t we both live and work in the Chicagoland area? Why are my pictures supposedly lost in Pennsylvania? Again, it’s only TWO pictures that I won — forget printing or framing them — just freakin’ email them to me! This is what I’ve been dealing with people!
I wish Unilocal had the option of zero or even negative stars. I wouldn’t even warn you to be cautious before using her — instead, I would say DO NOT use her services… run REALLY fast the other way!
P. S.- I would urge you, Ashbey, to be transparent with Chicago and respond to this review right here on Unilocal or better yet, send me my pictures and rectify this matter, so that everyone (especially your potential new customers) can see that maybe you are capable of delivering on what you promised, even if it’s almost TWO YEARS later!!! And, if you do, I will be happy to provide an update to this Unilocal review to let Chicago know that you finally delivered what you promised… that’s the kind of person I am — fair and honest.

Be VERY cautious before hiring Ashbey of Bum Bul Bee Photography to take any photographs for you! From my experience with her, I have found her to be unprofessional and a liar. I did make some stupid mistakes in the process of hiring her, and so I am writing this review to warn others about her, and how she operates.
I was 8 months pregnant and in a hurry to set up a photographer to do maternity and newborn photos. She was on NPN’s website. I didn’t ask for a contract, and I paid in full before she ever took photos. BIG MISTAKE. Initially, Ashbey was so nice and personable over the phone, she convinced me. My suggestion, should you choose to use her: get a contract for exactly what services she will provide and specfic timelines for when she will get those to you. She took forever to get anything done for us, and made the most absurd excuses for why. Such as, she couldn’t get the proofs of our newborn photos online for over a month because her website was down and her tech support is out-​sourced to India. Yes, she said that, and used that excuse for 2 weeks! Basically, once I told her I intended to design my own baby announcements instread of spending a ton of money to have her design and print them for me, she was no longer interested in providing me good service. She took way too long to get our proofs, email us photo files, and send an announcement (I ended up having her do because I didn’t want to wait any longer) and then we only got what we paid for by repeatedly hounding her for it.
Even now, months after we worked with her, there are still some things Ashbey promised us, that she has not come through with. Over the past month I have contacted her several times, and gotten zero response. Very unprofessional and disappointing.
I don’t have any problems with the quality of her photographs but I would NEVER hire her again, or recommend her to friends. If you are considering using Bum Bul Bee Photography I would really suggest checking out other photographers first. There are so many wonderful options in Chicago and chances are, picking someone else will save you a giant headache (and many many emails and phone calls)
Feel free to send me a message via Unilocal if you want more details about this photographer.

My dog, Harley, and I loved working with Bum Bul Bee Photography! Not only did the portraits come out beautifully but we had so much fun at our photo shoot. Working with animals can be a very challenging task and even when Harley wasn’t being a perfect model she was still able to get great shots! Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I would recommend working with her over and over again!

We used Bum Bul Bee photograpghy to take pictures of our two kids and we were extremely happy with the results. The photographer Ashbey did a great job making my kids laugh and feel at ease. The photographers that I have used in the past do not seem to have much patience with kids, but Ashbey seemed to truly enjoy what she was doing. Besides that the pictures came out great. Ashbey seems to capture the true spirit of my children, I would highly recommend her.