The Worst Day Ever - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

06/26/2009 12:18:13 AM · #1

Once there was a girl named Katherine.

One day she was offered a job as the photographer for a rodeo pageant, which she thought was awesome. She typed up a contract, got some signitures, and tada! she was the new photographer. She was very happy, even though she was only being paid $120 (not including all the prints she was sure to sell). After the first day of shooting, she was a little worried about all the crazy people she was working with, but decided to keep coming back.

Five events later she was trying hard not to open fire upon the crowd with her trusty machine gun. Why? Because at the this certain event she had brought all her gear two hours early, made sure it was all set up, tested lighting from all angles, and was ready to shoot, only to have three photographers show up. But wait! It says right in the contract, "no other photographers allowed on the premisis". She thought it would be fine, her territory had been tread on, but nothing was hurt other then pride. Soon the event, and the problems, began.

First her brand new Speedlight 530 decided it needed a whole minute of loading time, so she switched to her old tiny Speedlight. The same problem appeared within minutes. Finally, she decided to rely completely on her two strobes only. Problem: All three other photographers' cameras were overpowering hers, causing the strobes to be "used up" so to speak, before she could fire off a shot. By this time, the event was over, and Katehrine had only taken twenty photos. She then ran back to her table, cussed angrily at her mother, and had a bitch fit internally(since having one externally might get her fired). Soon enough, a board member(the one who vouched for her at the very beginning and ultimately got her hired) came up, realized the program after Katherine burst into tears on her shoulder, and went off the yell at the head of the board.

Katherine then went out to the parking lot to burn off steam and when she returned the head of the board was waiting. Soon enough he was yelling at poor Katherine for not being professional enough for the mighty $150 he had paid and that my photos were not good enough for him or the people participating in the event. Luckily for Katherine, she knew his accusations were very stupid since he hadnt seen more then 12 of the 4046 photos she had taken, so standing there and taking it wasnt so bad. Even with her knowledge that he was also an idiot, this conversation was still enough to fire her up even more. Leaving the facility with flames coming out her ears, she drove home to write this story.

The End

Lydia

Canon EOS-6D

06/26/2009 12:21:01 AM · #2

And LydiaToo commiserated and felt her pain.

And sighed heavily. *sigh*

06/26/2009 12:23:30 AM · #3

That's a super bummer. Sorry to hear about it. Not sure how I missed you getting a 5D or changing your name, either, so congrats on the 5D :)

What do you mean by your strobes being used up though? Were they getting triggered?

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

06/26/2009 12:24:48 AM · #4

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:

yeah, all the other cameras were triggering them and i couldnt do anything about them. i was so mad

faidoi

Pentax K10D

06/26/2009 12:26:27 AM · #5

Originally posted by LadyK:

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:
That's a super bummer. Sorry to hear about it. Not sure how I missed you getting a 5D or changing your name, either, so congrats on the 5D :)

What do you mean by your strobes being used up though? Were they getting triggered?

yeah, all the other cameras were triggering them and i couldnt do anything about them. i was so mad

Wireless transmitter.. Anytime there are lot's of people you are bound to have people with cameras and flashes going off.

Message edited by author 2009-06-26 00:27:59.

06/26/2009 12:27:31 AM · #6

Do your triggers have multiple channels?

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

06/26/2009 12:28:27 AM · #7

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:

Do your triggers have multiple channels?

no, it was just the optical slave(i think thats what its called) getting triggered by the other flashes

Yo_Spiff

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

06/26/2009 12:29:20 AM · #8

Ouch. That sucks. Welcome to the wild world of dealing with customers. I could tell you some stories from my own experience, but I would probably not stop.

Can I at least look forward to a fine image of flames coming out of your ears in the "never before seen" challenge?

06/26/2009 12:30:45 AM · #9

Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

quick! drive over before the sparks stop flying

Message edited by author 2009-06-26 00:30:57.

06/26/2009 12:35:57 AM · #10

Originally posted by LadyK:

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:
Do your triggers have multiple channels?

no, it was just the optical slave(i think thats what its called) getting triggered by the other flashes

Bummer. I figured as much.

How'd all the other photos turn out?

06/26/2009 12:37:37 AM · #11

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:

Originally posted by LadyK:

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:
Do your triggers have multiple channels?

no, it was just the optical slave(i think thats what its called) getting triggered by the other flashes

Bummer. I figured as much.

How'd all the other photos turn out?

im not uploading them. tonight at least

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED

06/26/2009 12:39:26 AM · #12

I just meant if you were happy with them, if you were able to still take something positive away from this results wise, beyond that whole unfortunate life lesson crazy customer thing.

BeeCee

Nikon D40

06/26/2009 12:43:33 AM · #13

When he started ranting that your photos weren't "good enough" you should have sweetly and politely pointed out that it was because he (or others in charge) allowed your contract to be broken.

06/26/2009 12:55:38 AM · #14

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:

I just meant if you were happy with them, if you were able to still take something positive away from this results wise, beyond that whole unfortunate life lesson crazy customer thing.

no im not happy with them, unfortunatly. but photos from the other events are great, so i guess its not a 100% waste

06/26/2009 12:56:19 AM · #15

Originally posted by BeeCee:

When he started ranting that your photos weren't "good enough" you should have sweetly and politely pointed out that it was because he (or others in charge) allowed your contract to be broken.

you should have been there to think it up for me:) im terrible at arguing, i think of all the good comebacks hours later

06/26/2009 01:04:52 AM · #16

Originally posted by LadyK:

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:
I just meant if you were happy with them, if you were able to still take something positive away from this results wise, beyond that whole unfortunate life lesson crazy customer thing.

no im not happy with them, unfortunatly. but photos from the other events are great, so i guess its not a 100% waste

Yeah, that's what I was getting at... from the other events. At least you got some keepers from those. Sometimes salvaging things is all you can do.

06/26/2009 01:07:39 AM · #17

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:

Originally posted by LadyK:

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:
I just meant if you were happy with them, if you were able to still take something positive away from this results wise, beyond that whole unfortunate life lesson crazy customer thing.

no im not happy with them, unfortunatly. but photos from the other events are great, so i guess its not a 100% waste

Yeah, that's what I was getting at... from the other events. At least you got some keepers from those. Sometimes salvaging things is all you can do.

yeh, maybe ill upload some. they actually arent bad:)

MelonMusketeer

Nikon D7000

Nikon MF 50mm f/1.4

06/26/2009 01:18:14 AM · #18

That's a bummer of a day. There must be some way to turn off the remote trigger on your flash, or were you using it remotely and triggering it from your camera?
It's good that you bit the bullet and didn't blow up, making yourself look unstable. Thumbs up for being tough.
I just finished editing informal photos from my schools 50's and 60's class reunion. They decided that since I shoot photos as a hobby that I should be the one to shoot the reunion, and make the hand out photo CD's. I don't normally shoot people photos. Wouldn't you know that my flash (SB 80) stopped working after the first couple of shots, so I had to finish the shoot with the pop up flashes on my Fuji's. I made the best of it by using iso 400 and 800, and converting some of the shots to B&W where color or underexposure was a problem. At least, my problem was not caused by other people/photographers, but now I know what the SB in SB 80 stands for. : )

Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical IF for Canon

06/26/2009 01:44:29 AM · #19

Originally posted by MelonMusketeer:

i had the camera set up to use the strobes remotely so that i could use the Speedlight at the same time, so yeh, the only way i could have stopped the strobes would have been for me to run up and physically turn them off. lame, i know.

and lucky for me supposedly i looked pretty calm, while the guy yelling looked like the droppout from anger management. tehe

oh! and sorry about you flash issues, they always suck so bad. too bad my 5D doesnt even have a pop up flash so i couldnt just resort to it since nothing else freaking worked! did you post any of the reunion photos? i like that type of stuff, you get good emotion shots:)

Message edited by author 2009-06-26 01:45:47.

MelonMusketeer

Nikon D7000

Nikon MF 50mm f/1.4

06/26/2009 02:38:04 AM · #20

It was pretty crazy there. It was crowded and very hot because they didn't expect that about 200 people would show up. There was no PA system at all, not even a bull horn, so getting anything organized was out of the question.

I did manage to move around and visit enough to get some good shots of people interacting, and groups like the football players for a decade in one shot, as well as some of the class groups that were interested enough to bunch up for a shot.

There were 32 in my graduating class, 1967, and 4 of us were there. The oldest ones there graduated 59 years ago, so it was a pretty mellow crowd.
The ones who have seen the pics seem to like them, so I guess I pulled it out of the hat ok without bounce flash.
We have rodeos here, and I would probably enjoy doing that sort of photos, but just as a community service sort of thing, not for pay.

Message edited by author 2009-06-26 02:41:48.

SDW

Canon EOS-60D

06/26/2009 02:41:50 AM · #21

Makes me wonder if he or the board was trying to get you to quit. You drew up a contract and they signed it but in most states a minor cannot enter into a legal contract. The person must be 18 years or older or the contract is null and void.

They may have found themselves in a sticky situation letting you shoot five events. Thus concocted a plan to say your photographs were sub-par. I would find out if they are more to his ranting about your photographs and demand payment.

Sorry for your problems and hope all works out.

Message edited by author 2009-06-26 02:43:58.

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

06/26/2009 02:41:58 PM · #22

Originally posted by SDW:

i have ocnsidered pulling out many times, thinking that i could just stick it to them(i could only really work if they didnt know a minor could enter into a contract, otherwise it would be lame). oh, and i have already taken the photos i was technically paid for, and the board already has the prints, so pulling out now would just suck for me( i wouldnt be able to sell prints).

anways, im not sure it was a plan, since my mom told me that after i was bitched at all the board members came over and sucked up to me and my photos. of course i was paying no attention at all, so i wasnt even aware it was happening.

BrennanOB

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

06/26/2009 03:15:00 PM · #23

If I was

LadyK I would march down to my local courthouse and file a small claims case against the board head for violation of contract in bringing in other photographers, which resulted in some loss of income. Figure out what would have been a reasonable amount, no matter how small it is, sue his butt. He broke your contract and denied you the right to practice your profession as specified in the contract that he signed.

06/26/2009 03:18:00 PM · #24

Originally posted by BrennanOB:

If I was LadyK I would march down to my local courthouse and file a small claims case against the board head for violation of contract in bringing in other photographers, which resulted in some loss of income. Figure out what would have been a reasonable amount, no matter how small it is, sue his butt. He broke your contract and denied you the right to practice your profession as specified in the contract that he signed.

but im a minor. i dont think it would be taken seriously, or if it would even be legal because of my age