fotoman150

Why do they beat the videographer. They must have been drunk.

Bill_de Loc: US

Why was never brought up since the groom and all the guests denied anything happened. For three days we listened to a parade of liars saying the same thing almost word for word.

The prosecutor introduced a video that the defense attorney hadn't seen, but said go ahead and show it. The judge even offered him time to watch it but he said it wasn't necessary. Oops!!!


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E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Yet another thread of dreadful "Bridezilla " stories. My grammar check tells me that the word "Bridezilla" is an inappropriate colloquialism- I agree! It is one of my least favorite words because it is misogynistic, misogamistic and disrespectful. This word is in abundance on this and many other threads. This remind me of when was 6 years old and cussed in front of Grandma. She scolded me and threatened to wash my mouth out with soap of I persisted. So...being a mouthy little monster, I would repeat the "bad" word over and over again just to test Grandma's reaction.Well, I soon became a aficionado of various soap flavors, textures and aromas of SOAP. Palmolive was my favorite but Oktagon, a brown octagonal bar of laundry detergent for use with a washboard, finally clean up my vocabulary

As I mentioned in a previous post, every time complains about some aspect of wedding photography arises all of these horror stories of nasty clients, failed businesses, underpaid photographers, drunken fumbling and incompetent shooters, photographers becoming involved in fights and brawls at weddings and more nightmarish scenarios.

I guess I am a lucky guy in that in over a half-century in professional wedding photography, I have rarely experienced any of this. I would like to take this opportunity to address some of these complaints, perhaps and misunderstandings about the profession. I'll categorize each common complaint and provide a remark and a remedy.

"Theses is no money in wedding photography- I can make more money in whatever another kind of photography..."
Well, there is good money to be earned as a wedding photographer provided your work is competent, creative, artistic and comprehensive and is accompanied by sound business management, through marketing research and marketing strategies and profitable pricing.

You are the arbiter of what your work is worth and you set the prices accordingly. You can't be underpaid unless you somehow underpay yourself. If the market you are serving can't afford your fees, you need to explore other markets.

"The client screwed me": Didn't pay, canceled at the last minute, never placed an order, copied my work without authorization, reneged on our agreement etc.- and a litany of misadventures. This usually results from poor business management, working without proper legally binding contracts, not collecting sufficient deposits and retainers, taking on big time-consuming jobs on speculation without profitable minimum orders and not spelling out your copyright and exclusivity rights and privileges.

"They didn't cooperate at the wedding": This usually results from poor planning, not creating a mutually compatible wedding day schedule, nor informing the couple exactly how much time you will require and to what extent their participatin is needed for you to deliver the quality of work you are promising. This is more likely to occur if you have not conducted an in-person planning session and have simply taken the booking online or over the phone. It also occurs if you have significantly underpriced yourself as compared to the other vendors. If they are well invested in their photography, the will usually tend to cooperate.

"The bride and or the groom did not like the pictures": This is a hard one and some of Y'all might not like my answer. Unfortunately, they may be right! Hopefully not! Some folks, however, are out there taking on wedding work with little or no experience, no training in corrective and aesthetically pleasing portraiture. The may miss important must-have shots, omit important groups and family members and/or fumble their way through the wedding in an intrusive and unprofessional manner. You gotta make sure you know what you are doing.

Even if your work is wonderful, it may not be in the style, mode, era, fashion or motif that the client expected- all the more reason to conduct through sales and planning meeting to make certain that everyone is on the same page as to your style, treatment, the extent of corrective measures or retouching. Folks may assume things that you don't do and then they become disappointed.

"I wouldn't do a wedding for all the tea in China etc...: I like to do landscapes and birds" Please! Don't do dat! There is no logical reason to do something you simply do not enjoy let alone dislike, hate, detest, cannot envision yourself doing or have been unsuccessful or disgruntled with, in the past. Not every photographer, regardless of their talent, technical prowess or business savvy is cut out for this kind of work. It requires a lot of patience, the ability to perform with technical precision in very limited time frames and a great deal of hard physical work and oftentimes long hours. Undoubtedly, a good photographer can profit from an advanced level of landscape, nature, ornithological and fine art photography but these specialties can also be an enjoyable hobby, however, WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY is NOT a hobby by any stretch of the imagination- it's demanding and serious work that requires
many technical, artistic and people skills sets and it ain't for the lazy photographer or the faint of heart.

Stories of "fights" and commotions at weddings: Obviously and logically speaking, the photographer is not there to participate in or be victimized by any kind of altercations or violence. Sometimes emotions at weddings run high, folks drink too much etc. and the wise and observant photographer can sense potential troublesome situations and avoid them at all costs. My staff is instructed to immediately vacate the assignment if there is any such danger or confrontation. If they are threatened or witness any kind of assault, to immediately call in security personnel or the police. This policy is stated in our contract forms and required by our insurance carriers. Thank goodness, in all my years in this job, things never got that bad.

On difficult clients. Here's my philosophy:
No matter how excellent your products and services are and regardless of how hard to try to satisfy each and every one of your clients and no matter how much planning and preparation you do for every assignment, you are eventually and inevitably going to encounter the occasional problematic client. It's part of every business and profession. It happens! Whether you do photography, sell hot dogs and burgers or build houses, it's one of the many risks of being in business. Every smart salesperson or business person qualifies their clients and works hard prevent problems and to satisfy the customers they serve but occasionally, bad things happen to good people and something goes south. The only remedy is to rectify the situation whenever possible and somehow manage to placate the client and make good on your guarantee. The caveat is, things can go very wrong and seriously affect your business if issues like this occur frequently. When folks tell me or write that their experience with wedding photography was plagued with dissatisfied, disgruntled and uncooperative customers, I have to suspect that something is wrong. It's a matter of frequency- if a photographer has a high rate of dissatisfaction and seems to engage in personality conflicts and incompatibilities with many of his or her clients, they have to be doing something wrong. If the expect to remain in business, prosper and maintain their mental health, they need to get to the bottom of the problems, diagnose the faults and make corrections. Introspection and honest self analysis can be painful and requires courage, sticktoitiveness and determination but it can be extremely beneficial in business and other aspects of life.

For photograhers who are interested in this kind of work, please don't be discouraged by all the naysayers and doomsayers. The profession is alive and well among many masterful shooters and the industry deserves new blood and enthusiastic shooters.

Right here on the Hog, there is a Wedding Photography Section. All interested parties are invited and welcome to join in with questions, answers, suggestions, shop talk, business issues, technique, marketing and good conversation in a friendly atmosphere. Pros. aspiring pros, rookies, or just folks who are interested in many techniques that can be applied to other areas of photography are more than welcome.

fotoman150

I’ve been shooting weddings for many years and have only seen one bad client, one fight, and this is the first wedding I am turning down. So you’re right. But I disagree with the Bridezilla being mysogenistic. Some brides earn that name very well. It came about for a reason. Some women are just unadulterated bi****s and come by the name Bridzilla honestly. But in reality it’s very rare I agree.

Creative Images by Judy

This has been very interesting.They were friends and I was sadly dusappinted. I could have said to sorry based on the contract as I have that both parties qill respect one another....but in good faith I carried out my end.
Like I said now I know why I love nature and waterfowl!!!°

YellowDog Loc: Gulf Coast near New Orleans

I'm just an amateur photog. Way back I used to work as a flunky for a professional photog in the town where I grew up. I noticed he did mainly in-studio portraits, aerial photos, industrial photos, convention photos, etc., but did exceedingly few weddings. Now I know why!

It's sorta like Jackie Gleason said to his bumbling son in the movie,"Smokey and the Bandit,"...… I'm paraphrasing his statement, "Ain't no way I'd ever do wedding photos if I were a pro photog."

Enjoyed reading all sides of the issue though.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I was sorry to see that this thread reemerged because I firstly, find the term "bridezilla" distasteful and disrespectful. In this case, if the photographer did feel he could not service this bride and groom effectively due to a personality conflict or whatever, he should have simply and gracefully declined the job rather than going in a long distasteful criticism of the client, or actually the folks that ended up as a non-client. I've been in business for a lifetime- not everyone who comes to see me turns out to be a client- you win some, you lose some. I just make certain to treat everyone who comes in with respect and kindness. If they decline my offer, I shake their hands, wish them well and send them on their way with good vibes. I have had folks who did not book with me, perhaps they couldn't afford my rates or like my style BUT they actually recommended me to others. I would NEVER say disparaging things about anyone behind their back or worse put these bad scenarios online- the word gets around- what goes around comes around!

People appreciate honesty- it is the best policy. The best thing to do in a case where there is an incompatibility between the photographer and a potential client is to be straightforward and sincere. Look them in the eye and explain that you would love to do their wedding but you don't want them to spend their hard earned money on photographs they don't really like or with someone who is not on the same page as to the method, style, price, schedule or whatever.

As I alluded to, the folks who dislike wedding photography should simply not do it. Nobody is forcing anyone to shoot weddings. It certainly is not for everyone.

Why do you call yourself a "flunkey"? You assisted the photographer, you provided a service, and I assume you worked hard to do your best in an environment that you were not comfortable with. You must have learned something about photography from a pro, that's a good experience. I call my assistants, photographic lighting technicians, assistant photographers, and professional photographers in training. I want to show them respect and I want the clients to consider them part of my professional team. I don't care for the term "helper or gofer", let along "flunkey"!

I once attended a photographic workshop seminar. It was expensive, I had to pay the fee, travel, hotel accommodation for 3 days, etc. It was a disaster- the instructor was an egomaniac- brag-brag brag! It was three days or torture! After it was over, all my fellow "students" were groaning and complaining that the did no learn anything, I disagreed and insisted that I learn something very valuable- HOW NOT TO PRESENT A WORKSHOP!
AND...next time to investigate more thoroughly as to the instructor's reputation before writing the check!

Ain't no way I woud ever become a funeral director but I did not tell that to my Great Uncle Ruby who invited me into his funeral business many years ago- I prefered weddings!. Gotta respect those folks- somebody's gotta do the difficult work!

Photocraig

I had a customer who couldn't negotiate unless he had something to pick on and be mad about it. He was a professional and it didn't get in the way and it was amusing. I think you uncovered an obnoxious style that cant make doing yhat job at any price worthwhile.

I think I heard that you got a call form a loyal past client who needs you out of town on their specific wedding day. Tooooo Baaaaad. Didn't you get that call??????