After searching through the numerous profiles and looking at a lot of the sample photography, we narrowed it down to one. It turns out that the Airbnb Experience listing was basically a front for a company called "Sweet Escape" which connects photographers with those who are looking to capture any sort of occasion from casual to formal based on your location. I was pretty put off by this at first since it required me to download an additional app, but I'm happy with the results and have since warmed up to it a bit. I think I'm just a bit peeved that the Airbnb listing wasn't a bit more upfront since it didn't mention anything about a separate company.
Once we were connected with our photographer, Mizuki, through the Sweet Escape app, we discussed where we wanted to shoot and what time we would meet. Based on the sample photos we liked, we chose Shinjuku Gyoen. Mizuki also sent some recent sample photos for this location and a few others that he recommended which I really appreciated.
On the day of, we got a bit lost trying to navigate to the correct gate of Shinjuku Gyoen and, as a result, was late meeting up with Mizuki which was really terrible. However, he was very polite and understanding and we got straight to shooting. Our session was scheduled for 1 hour and we were expected to have about 100 edited shots at the end for us to choose from no more than 2 days after our shoot. This particular reservation came with 30 photos we could select from the 100 and download at full resolution from the Sweet Escape app.
Here are the some of the results of our photoshoot!
Like I mentioned, our reservation was for 30 photos, so this is just a selection. I wanted to include at least one from every location in Shinjuku Gyoen we stopped at. Even from this, you can tell there's a really decent variety that we had to choose from.
I'm happy with the results for what we paid and Mizuki was really flexible and easy to work with. This was really our first photoshoot with a professional photographer, and he provided a lot of direction and helped us out, especially at the beginning. He also mentioned that Sweet Escape is pretty popular in Southeast Asia but isn't as big in America (in comparison) so I'm quite interested to see if/when/how they will expand in the future. I think the concept is pretty cool and especially with social media, this kind of product would be in pretty high demand.
After our 1-hour shoot with Mizuki, we still had a lot of Shinjuku Gyoen to see, and since we paid for admission anyway, we decided to stay in the park a little longer and just take some of our own photos for fun. The autumn-ish colors were in full effect and it was really lovely to see.
It was really nice to not have to worry about getting photos of both of us together since we were confident that Mizuki had us covered in that regard for the day lol. I think this was a really good "nice-to-have" experience, but not something we'll probably do every single time we travel unless it's a special occasion. I will likely check out Sweet Escape in the future if we need photos for something - maybe even in Hawaii!
Have you heard of Sweet Escape before? Is this something you have done or would consider doing for yourself?
I've been following your posts for awhile and I didn't know you got married! Congratulations ^^
ReplyDeleteThank you! I didn't make any sort of announcement, so you didn't miss anything <3 But I appreciate you commenting!
DeleteThese photos are just so beautiful and precious! This is a wonderful idea! And a huge congrats to your marriage. Such a beautiful couple ♥
ReplyDelete~Kieli♥
bunnycraftydream.com
Thank you so much!
Delete