Good Lord. Shyrell, I'm sure I speak for everyone on this list when I tell you we feel your pain. I can only speak for myself when I tell you (and you know this, I realize) that 20/20 hindsight is a beautiful thing. In this situation you are the paid professional. You are in the driver's seat. If I may be so bold, may I suggest you assume the responsibility and drive this situation the way you want it to go. Your job as a professional photographer is not to bend every direction to make your client happy at the expense of making yourself look like a dishrag. You need to step back, think this thing over and assess what you want. You have some choices, as I see it: Give in and give your client everything they ask for, including copyrights, negatives and money back so they go away and leave you alone. (Not an option for a second, in my book..you are definitely a passenger in this situation) OR Let your client know that you did do what they asked and paid for. You photographed their wedding. You supplied proofs. Hopefully you have a contract outlining your responsibilities and theirs...if not, this is the wake-up call to get one drawn up before your next event. Do you have any other obligations to them...enlargements, book, etc? If so, let them know you will meet those obligations in a timely, professional manner, with professional products and prints. Then do it. Inform them that they may NOT, under any circumstance without written permission from you, reprint your images or scan them for distribution in any way. AND don't offer to do this for them. I am certain that they are disappointed and I'm also confident that you will have to do some fancy footwork to undo some of the promises you've already made to them (correct the images and burn them to cd so they can go to Walmart for reprints, for example. You're killing me with that one.). Your job was not to supply them with proofs so they could have them copied at sub-par quality. Your job was to supply them proofs so they could make choices as to what images they wanted reprinted and enlarged. And then you do that for them. Like all professional photographers, some of your images will have problems that need some correcting...dust, scratches, dodging, burning and the like. Correcting these problems should be a matter of course for you...not an afterthought once they are discovered by the client. Going back to the idea of being in the driver's seat. As a professional you should CARE what your images look like when they leave your studio. One way to ensure they look the way you want them to look is to control the process. Find a professional lab, let the lab know you expect quality and will stand for nothing less...your goal is to make the lab a partner with you in your work. Let them know when a client is thrilled and they'll be more than happy to work with you to make an unhappy client happier. The following is the text from a card that I created and insert in every order that I send out...proofs and final orders. It lets my clients know they can depend on me for quality and it also lets them know what they need to do to keep their images safe for a long life. Enclosed are the proofs from your photo shoot. These are yours to keep and enjoy. Catalog numbers needed for ordering reprints and enlargements are handwritten on the back of each print. A few things to know about the keeping and storage of photographs: Photographs keep best when mounted behind glass in a frame or stored in an album which does not use magnetic pages. If using tapes or corners to mount images in albums, be certain to use archival materials which avoid deteriorating the paper the image is printed on. Photographs are susceptible to fading; when hanging framed images in your home or office, try to avoid any direct sunlight that may fall on the print. All negatives and digital files are archived in my office; they are never thrown away or deleted so reprints and enlargements may be ordered at any time, even years from now, with confidence. Please be aware that copyright of these images stays with me and any scanning, reprinting or reproducing of any kind is prohibited without written permission. Get in the driver's seat and direct this where you want it to go. Vroom, vroom. Lea ----- Original Message ----- From: "Shyrell Melara" <shyrellmelara@xxxxxxxxx> To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students" <photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 7:24 AM Subject: Re: weddings (might be a bit long-sorry) > Yes, and all sorts of problems right from the start. It was only after I agreed to do the wedding that I was informed it was only one week away! After I recovered from the shock, I still failed to turn them down. Next, we had our first interview at which time the deposit was to be made. I was told they did not have the cash on them, they left the checkbook at home, and they had a car full of groceries so they had to leave and could they pay me with a check at the rehearsal which was two days away. > > Again, shock. (Boy, I need to quit getting shocked!) The story only gets worse from there. The pictures and negatives come back scratched and when the Bride comes to look at them she tells me she does not want any enlargements. (What? We had a contract. But she wants to nearly double the order with the smaller prints. So I figure, okay, it's still good money.) I kept waiting for her to see the lines so I could discuss options, but she didn't see them. > > That's when she says (about the enlargements), "I have a scanner at home so I can do my own." (What?) I thought, she has a scanner, she's cheating me out of my potential income, she can fix the pictures herself. So what does she do? She goes to Wal-Mart and has the enlargements done there, discovers the lines, call me up and screams about getting all her money back or she's going to take me to court. > > At 7pm last night her husband shows up at my door! (My studio is in my garage.) So I tell him I will fix the pictures myself, put them on a cd and they can take that to Wal-Mart for their enlargements. Again cutting me out of any potential income, but I'm just trying to defuse the situation. > > Hubby & I go out. We get back home to find a message. They want the pictures for the enlargements fixed, but since that is only about 5 out of 60, they still want 'some' money returned. And that's where we are for now. Personally, now I'd rather fix all the pictures and bite the dust on the reprints as opposed to any refunds. My position being, I did not scratch the pictures and neither did my camera. I showed the lab's letter to the husband, so he knows it wasn't me that messed up. > > Any ideas as to where to go from here? I'm stuck on the fact that I did not damage the pictures so I shouldn't have to refund any money, and I'm willing to do the touch ups and eat the extra expense. I'd even be willing to let her take me to court if that's what she wants. But I just can't swallow refunding any money at this point. > > Shyrell > > For the Quality You Deserve! > Melara Family Photography > http://shyrellmelara.tripod.com > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: wildimages@xxxxxxxxxxx > > Your experiences have only confirmed for me why I've always said. > > > > "I don't do weddings" > > Did you have a written contract? > > If not, do purely verbal contracts hold up in court in the US? > > > > > From what I remeber the bride hadn't paid you up front (unless they did right > > before the service). > > > > Bob > > > > > > > -- > _______________________________________________ > Find what you are looking for with the Lycos Yellow Pages > http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default .asp?SRC=lycos10 > > >
