red flag?

[jonnydonut]

alright. I was contacted by a bride. 8:30pm. yesterday about her wedding in septemeber. 4 months from now. She's the sister of a friend/acquaintance. She said that her photographer didn't fall through. I wasn't paying too much attention to the details, as I was in my car, at night and honestly thought the call was someone from craigslist. She did mention, if I remember correctly, that she was upset with the photos from her engagement session and trying to get her money back, and that the pics on her photogs website were a lot better than what she got. You know what I'm thinking, that she ran into a chump with a nice portfolio and a crappy service.

Well after a little research.
(URL link Removed By Abel)

That's the session, and quite frankly, I don't see a problem.
sure, they're not the best in the world, but mine aren't either.

Now, I don't have all the details, but this alone is enough to make me want to run from the client. Should I red flag and get as far away from this bride as possible, or get more details first?

I'm thinking about the completely honest approach. Ask her clearly, "what exactly happened with your photographer that made it not fall through"... if it was the pictures alone not being good enough, I can just tell her "listen, I'm not any better than your last photographer, if you're wanting better pictures than I'm sorry, I can't help". I guess my worry is offending her. I don't want that bad wrap, and am thinking it might just be best to say that I can't do it on that date before getting any details. Also a small part of me thinks that somehow she was cheated by her photog, and that's why she wants to bail. erg

what about contacting the photog? heck she could be on here for all I know.
also, that blog post was almost a month ago... does that mean anything..

advice?

[janetg]

the only complaint i could see on the engagement photos is perhaps the processing (1 is a little soft) - they seem sort of washed out a bit - and looking through her other stuff - i'm guessing it is just her style as they all have that 'no pop' look, colorwise.

i wouldn't run from this client per se - i would find out more specific details about this photographer 'bailing'. it doesn't appear that she is not taking care of her business. i had a client hire me without 1 second of hesitation one evening, never took a look at anything i brought with me. they indicated they were unhappy with their photographer and had looked at my stuff online and was happy with it. they loved their engagement photos, and we did a bang up job on the wedding. and the groom has his own wedding photography business.

my advice is just to be completely honest - ask the hard questions, ask her what is going to happen if she is unhappy with something YOU do... (and then ask her how old her monitor is...haha)

janetg

[Gama Fotos]

Somebody needs to tell that photographer to save her photos in sRGB because at the moment they're saved in ProPhoto RGB!!!

Seriously, somebody be the good Samaritan and tell her how to properly save photos for the web.

(if anybody's confused by my post, simply save a photo from her blog, open it up in photoshop, notice the color pop in photoshop but none in the blog. If you're surprised by this, then you too need to learn about this as well )

[CaptainTom]

depends on a couple of things

1- how much do you need the booking ?
2- how tolerant are you with brides who are NEVER happy ?
3- can you provide better images and service than the previous photog ?

[janetg]

good catch Abreum - (too lazy to have checked that - haha) - opened the first one up in PS - and color is much better...

[Abel]

i removed the link from the original post...

the photog may be a member here if is he/she is not, they can easily track back link stats to this thread and find this discussion as well.

its just best not to bring up their name/site publicly since that may make matters even worse in regard to their client/photog relationship as it is.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Abel

i removed the link from the original post...

the photog may be a member here if is he/she is not, they can easily track back link stats to this thread and find this discussion as well.

its just best not to bring up their name/site publicly since that may make matters even worse in regard to their client/photog relationship as it is.

If they don't know to save in sRGB, I am guessing they aren't tracking stats.

[photonewb]

Originally Posted by Thomas Campbell

If they don't know to save in sRGB, I am guessing they aren't tracking stats.

I thought about making a joke and calling you all sorts of dirty names and trying to imply that it was me...but well I just couldn't bring myself to do it since I don't know you :o

[jonnydonut]

Sorry Abel. for those who didn't see the link. The pictures are professional quality, and certainly not worthy of demanding money back. In my opinion. They're also no different than the pics on the photogs site.

[Jeff Lane]

I don't even know what the heckie-doodle-durn "sRGB" even means (in other words, I'm not competent to couch these comments in a professional photographer's world), but the basic principle works in all kinds of professional settings, where the creativity, judgment, and skill of an individual is the product being sold.

Complainers complain. Whiners whine. And clients who are unable to hear the truth about their own negligence or other shortcomings will always be a problem.

Jonny, this client gave you a hinky feeling, and I think there's more than enough objective fact out there to justify that feeling. In your professional opinion, the previous photographer's work was not obviously substandard, but it sounds like this client is probably about to stiff him, and badly. Why in the world would you think it's going to be any different with you?

[Howard Barlow]

Walk away. Quickly. Do it now.

[toverman]

If you're in doubt, find something really important elsewhere to do the day of her wedding!

I did not see the photos, but we're thinking about this like photographers. It could be that she just doesn't like the way she looks in them (I've encountered this before). Instead of finding the root of the problem, the other photographer apparently "bailed." So I guess if you take on the job, be prepared to fuss over her big time during formals and only show her flattering images. Might be tons more Photoshop involved than you would otherwise plan.

[texfoto]

I did see the photos early this morning.

If I was to be picky I would say her photos compared to the other engagement photos were not consistent with the others is best I could put it. I thought there were plenty of better photos among the other couples. She might not like the way she looked but I wonder if it was the lack of special moment captured (in focus, looking into each other's eyes, etc). I saw one of the couple kissing and it kind of looked like their lips were either mid-way coming together or apart. Just didn't look right. I saw another and a 1/4 of the guy was cropped out while they both sat looking at each other. Wasn't sure what the photographer was trying to accomplish here. This is a picky critique though.

I don't think this has anything to do with sRGB (good point and catch though) but I would go with others and just flat out ask her what the problem was. We all might learn something from it. I kind of tend to think they weren't "as good" as some of the other photos I saw though.

mike

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lane

I don't even know what the heckie-doodle-durn "sRGB" even means

sRGB = screenRedGreenBlue

In other words, for viewing on a digital display like a computer monitor, and something a photographer needs to understand if he/she is going to display images online.

[jonnydonut]

Conclusion.

No price list was ever sent. Just one conversation on the phone, and a facebook message she had sent prior to that. May I also add that she was not able to meet, because she's living in another city.

I had showed my fiance the images with no other information up front. Her responce, "yeah, I like those". Then I got a call from P by D in Houston, a veteran on this forum who said he'd rather call than type. He said that he will not book a wedding unless the bride is able to meet with him at his studio first. I think that's a darn good standard to follow. Here's my response to the bride

"(brides names), so after further investigation I looks like I will not be able to shoot your wedding on that date. I'm very sorry and I hope you're able to find someone great for your special day.

For what it's worth, I would recommend looking at other photographers in (her home town). The ability to meet with your photographer in person a couple times is so valuable. I'd also advise maybe having another engagement shoot with your new photographer to make sure your styles and personalities meet.

Best wishes and congratulations.

-Jonny Carroll"