Real Rant - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 16-85 f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

11/09/2004 09:38:37 PM · #1

Clients!

"I've never seen a model release like that!" (from an 18 year old who's probly never seen A MODEL RELEASE!!)

"Could you make this one black and white, this one 5x7, those two from black and white into color, change the prices cuz you're overcharging us (excuse me!) and while you're at it, the site you use to host sucks cuz it's difficult." (This from a wedding I DID FOR FREE!)

"You didn't shoot any pics of my family. You got all the groom's family. Also, you didn't really get the out of town guests. We want pictures of the out of town guests." (This after shooting 1300 pics, including ALMOST EVERY PERSON THERE and basically shooting everything that MOVED for 10 hours! What, her family was comatose?! They slept in their vans during the dancing? Forgot to get up and clap during the intro's? WHAT!)

Man...who was the other wedding I shot? Oh. Yeah.
"I want these pics. Thanks."

ONE. We had ONE decent client so far. ONE who didn't expect the moon and then some.

I told the first not to bother with the model release since IT'S ALSO IN THE CONTRACT!
I told the second "sure, sure, sure, no plm, sure" and did the damned work.
I told the third "let's meet - look thru the 1000 I didn't edit and put online and see if you like something."
I want to tell the fourth "if your husband ever leaves you..."

StevePax

Canon PowerShot S50

11/09/2004 09:42:48 PM · #2

Friggin' people.

My brother shot a wedding recently. It was my sister's wedding. The groom's family was upset saying he didn't take enough pictures of them, and he needed to do better. He's not a photographer - he just volunteered his time to help the (very) young couple save money, and now I have one more little sister who won't have a brother doing the photography, because he was so turned off by the groom's family.

Not to steal your rant, but I feel your pain. Tell them all to stick it.

cbeller

Nikon D300

11/09/2004 09:50:15 PM · #3

Never shoot a wedding for free!! At least then, after you pound your head against the wall, you can say you made a few bucks. It's never enough, I'm sure, but it's something. :)

I've heard horror stories before from people that did free or cheap weddings and those always seemed to be the worst clients.

I feel for you man! Best of luck.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

11/09/2004 09:56:35 PM · #4

Originally posted by cbeller:

I've heard horror stories before from people that did free or cheap weddings and those always seemed to be the worst clients.

I'm seriously considering doing a few more for experience and then tripling prices. On the spot.

M

zeuszen

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II

11/09/2004 09:59:04 PM · #5

Control, my friends, control.

"I've never seen a model release like that!" - "Show me a signature I haven't seen before!"

"Could you make this one black and white, this one 5x7, those two from black and white into color, change the prices cuz you're overcharging us (excuse me!) and while you're at it, the site you use to host sucks cuz it's difficult." - "I won't charge you anything, custom orders however need to be prepaid."

"You didn't shoot any pics of my family. You got all the groom's family. Also, you didn't really get the out of town guests. We want pictures of the out of town guests." - "If you would like to arrange an appointment for everyone, I'd be happy to be there for you."

The last one? Well, I have to concur, your intentions would, no doubt, out-charm any flip-in-reply I could conjure.;-)

petrakka

11/09/2004 10:15:58 PM · #6

yea people who get free amateur wedding photogs suck. im making prints for this one lady who brings me negatives, i make the prints...she says theyre no good, not "what the photographer proofs look like" (the photos are all horribly backlit, half silhouette when its supposed to be a bride portrait" so its my fault from printing right from the negatives that they suck...then i do them all over again...still no good. by the way she "cant bring in the proofs for me to go off of cuz she doesnt want them to leave her house." no doubt if her proofs look good at all they were drastically edited in photoshop...which we just dont do at a photo lab. after all this and her being pissed at me ...she goes '''grrrr, we should have just got a professional!" yea, especially if you're gonna be a lunatic and expect the world for free. stupid lady.

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

11/09/2004 10:18:05 PM · #7

Originally posted by mavrik:

Originally posted by cbeller:
I've heard horror stories before from people that did free or cheap weddings and those always seemed to be the worst clients.

I'm seriously considering doing a few more for experience and then tripling prices. On the spot.

M

Do it the smart way. Triple your prices now. Offer your next few clients a 66% discount.

11/09/2004 10:19:23 PM · #8

Originally posted by Gordon:

Originally posted by mavrik:

Originally posted by cbeller:
I've heard horror stories before from people that did free or cheap weddings and those always seemed to be the worst clients.

I'm seriously considering doing a few more for experience and then tripling prices. On the spot.

M

Do it the smart way. Triple your prices now. Offer your next few clients a 66% discount.

That may work!

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

11/09/2004 10:19:40 PM · #9

This is story 3:

I had a bride call me tonight and say that in all 325 photos from her wedding that I put online, I missed several "important" people. Now, I gave her a shot list twice. She never returned either one. I also asked for two people to help arrange formals and "point out important people." Clearly they didn't provide those people or at least they didn't speak to them about their role.

Is it unreasonable for them to come back and gripe to us that we missed shots? Is this normal? We shot the best wedding we EVER did, but we missed grandma it looks like. 15 pics of grandpa, but none of grandma. Don't ask HOW we did it...

But who's being the unreasonable party here? I offered to meet with them and show them EVERY one of the 1300 pics we took to see if they wanted us to edit up some others - but I'm not sure what to do if we truly missed these people. Any suggestions? PUHLEASE?

Matt

mrorange002

Canon EOS-5D

11/09/2004 10:20:05 PM · #10

never ever do a free wedding.