I'm SO mad at my photographer!

Something from a client's perspective for a change!

I've scooped up a few clients over the years based on nothing more than the fact they were dissatisfied or disappointed with the services offered by or that they had already received from another photographer. Sometimes it's Walmart or a dept store chain, sometimes it's another boutique photographer, sometimes it's from a larger professional studio. Regardless, the typical kinds of complaints I've heard are:

The prices aren't fair
The services went down
I hated my pictures
The photographer didn't deliver
The photographer wasn't very friendly or accomodating

So I thought I'd address these issues and try to find some middle ground.

The prices aren't fair:
This usually accompanies the photographer raising their prices, or appears when a photographer seems to be charging more than people with the same or greater experience and/or better quality photographs. I'll tackle both.

Inflation: Prices go up. That's the reality of it, everywhere, period. Fuel, clothing, food, and photography alike will see inflation. With shutterbugs it's not usually in relation to gas prices, but to experience. Often the photographer who is just starting out will start out low and creep their prices up gradually, which often leads to unhappiness in former clients who are unwilling or unable to spend the extra money, especially if there's a drastic jump. Reasonably speaking, if you are in good with a great photographer who is just starting out, be prepared to spend more money as they become more successful. And even when you can't afford them any longer, at least be happy that they are experiencing enough success to demand a higher price for the services you've come to appreciate over the years. However, this isn't always the case:

Incongruent prices: Let's use an example of a t-shirt. A t-shirt's a pretty basic thing to buy, and yet you can buy them for anywhere from $2 to $200, depending where you shop. Prices don't necessarily reflect the quality of materials or workmanship, and are oftentimes abitrarily expensive because you are paying for the name, not the product. Let's assume $25 is a fair price to spend on a good quality t-shirt with decent workmanship and fairly nice materials. If you are accustomed to buying that particular $25 t-shirt, any deviation from it will make you question why it's so cheap or so expensive. A $2 t-shirt might be on sale (score!) or might just be crappy materials and shoddy sewing. If certain people put their name in the tag of that exact same crappy t-shirt, there are folks out there who will trip over themselves to pay $20 or $200 or more for it, just so they can say they own a "brand-X" t-shirt. Alternately, there are often times when a t-shirt increases in price for valid reasons, such as a locally made hand-sewn organic cotton t-shirt that doesn't enjoy the benefit of bulk production pricing breaks, in which case you are paying extra money to support local producers and cover the actual expense of more costly materials, so paying $50 for that t-shirt is probably perfectly reasonable. And of course, every now and again, you're going to find that great $2 t-shirt (score!) but at that price, they won't last forever.

At the end of the day, any wise consumer does some comparison shopping. If you have a budget of $50 for t-shirts, it's up to you how you are going to spend those dollars. You can buy 25 crappy t-shirts, two decent t-shirts, one higher-end t-shirt, or hold out and save up for a glitzy t-shirt, and none of those options is wrong or better than the other - it just depends on what your needs are and what you want to accomplish with the end product which might be something to throw in the Christmas cards, or something to impress the Joneses.

So, too, is the case with photography. There are quick cheap trips to department store studios, there are independent upstart photographers who are charging less while they build up their portfolio, there are fantastic photographers with loads of creativity, talent, and skill to offer who charge a fair but slightly higher price, and there are those photographers whose prices seem utterly insane yet people are willing to pay. So my advice is, when you're out shopping for a photographer, think of them as t-shirts and you'll be OK.

The services went down

Often if a photographer isn't wanting to raise their prices, what they will do is decrease the services or package inclusions. Each image a photographer has to take, scan through, process, proof, and print takes time, and time is money. Usually they will include fewer proofs or prints with their packages as a way of increasing their available time and ability to make a greater income. Photographers just starting out often go above and beyond the call of duty - it helps them build their portfolio so that they can eventually raise their prices. But again, just because you found a $2 t-shirt (score!) doesn't mean it's going to last forever, and when the services go down you'll need to do some comparison shopping and decide if you're willing to grow with that photographer or look for one that fits within your budget.

I hated my pictures

There's never been any accounting for taste. What one person sees as a beautiful picture another person may hate. When you hire your photographer, you need to make sure you investigate their portfolio as fully as possible and make sure that their style meshes well with your personal taste. If you want someone who is great at casual candid shots, don't hire a posey photographer, if you prefer funky trendy finishes, dont' hire someone who doesn't use photoshop. If you decide to hire someone who is just starting out, you have to accept the risks that come with being a guinea pig - you may love or hate the finished product, but you were well-warned, and cannot fault the photographer nor are you justified in asking for a refund, reprints, retints, refinishes, or retakes.

As a photographer learns and grows, their style or approach will often evolve. Often this is a pleasant process which adds value and variety for you, the client. It does happen though that whatever new-fangled Photoshop trick your family portraits have been subjected to or the photographer's newfound love for shooting with only a fish-eye lens isn't going to fit within your likes, and it's OK to just say no. Buyer beware - it's important to keep track of your photpgrapher's current work to see what they're up to lately!

Let's talk t-shirts again. If you bought a t-shirt online in a certain style, fabric, and colour, and got something completely different and unrelated, you are entitled to a refund or replacement because you did not get what you paid for. If the company were completely unwilling to accomodate, then I think it's time to shop for another t-shirt, and if it was me, I'd probably complain loudly to anyone who'd listen about the company that screwed me over.

The photographer didn't deliver

There's usually some sort of verbal or written contract when a photographer is hired. When a photographer raises their prices or reduces what's included in their packages after that contract has been entered into, they cannot apply it retroactively. Also, it is the photographer's responsibility to inform cleints if there is going to be any delay in the delivery of their proofs or prints, either up front, or when the delay becomes evident. Reasonably speaking, a family package should have proofs to the client within 3-4 weeks, and a wedding within 6 weeks. Prints require about an additional 10 business days from the time the clients choose them. Anything outside these parameters is unreasonable, and ideally would result in the photographer offering a discount to the price of the overall package or a discounted session for a future date or something of the sort. Anything less than that is simply disrespectful to the client.

The photographer wasn't very friendly or accomodating

You'd be surprised how often this is the sole reason a person leaves one photographer for another. Sometimes personalities don't mesh, and that's OK, but some of the horror stories I've heard give me the hives - snide comments made to or about rambunctious children, feeling rushed or like their session was an inconvenience to the photographer, the photographer just not being very kind.. and, I've even had a complaint that the photographer was flirting too much with the spouse. Any successful person in any profession knows that there's an art to getting people to do business with you. Whether the ultimate goal is getting you to buy a $200 t-shirt or be comfortable in front of the camera, 99% of your success rests on your personality - patience, creativity, understanding, humour, and propriety all add up to whether or not you're going to be successful. For $2 a t-shirt, you might be wiling to put up with shoddy customer service -you get what you apy for, after all - but no one's going to fork out $200 for it. If you've managed to hire a photographer who makes google eyes at your spouse, keeps looking at the clock, and asks if your kids took their Ritalin this morning, then you need to find another photographer.

The important part at the end of all this is if you aren't happy with your photographer, you need to get the right information to the right people.

1.) Tell the photographer. Beyond not paying for them anymore, be honest about why you aren't hiring them again. Some photographers will be offended or arrogant and write you off, but many will take your feedback to heart and reevaluate their business practices. If you're one of those wishy-washy types like me who can't just say it straight, here are some diplomatic ways of firing your photographer.

Instead of saying you can't afford them, try, "The new prices have outgrown my annual photography budget."

Instead of saying you think they're overpriced, try, "I've done some comparisons and I've found a better value for my photography dollar."

Instead of saying you hate your pictures, try, "I think the creative direction your photography is taking doesn't suit my tastes."

If, however, you are firing your photographer for non-delivery of services or for being an unlikable person, you need to come right out and give specifics. Try, "You did not deliver what I paid for, in the timeframe we agreed to, therefore I will be looking for someone else to provide our photography services." Or, "I found the way you spoke to my children condescending, and men have died for less than checking out the cleavage of another man's wife."

2.) Let the photographer know you are going to tell your friends and family. In this business word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool at our disposal. If the photographer is unwilling to help resolve whatever issue is at hand, this may be a way to impress upon them that you are quite seriously unhappy and have no desire to see them succeed. Make a client happy, and they will tell all their friends. Make a client unhappy, and they will tell all their friends, and their friends' friends, and their friends' friends' friends. And unlike those unwritten rules about not talking about exes with new partners, unhappy clients tell their future photographers ALL about their past photographers...

3.) If the photographer did something truly heinous you may want to consider reporting them to the Better Business Bureau or calling one of the TV consumer hotlines to do an expose on them before someone else gets unwittingly sucked into paying a person who should have their camera taken away.

I hope this gives some sound advice to you, the client, and I hope you find a great photographer who is a perfect match! For those of you who have had a negative experience, I promise, there's one out ther for you!

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