customer unhappy

[kamari]

I shoot a lot of club events. I got introduced to a promoter who does frequent events in Dallas but they're usually low-turnout events and the customer pushes to take several hundred photos.

It got almost confrontational at one event where he's specifying that he's gonna need 250 shots. I replied that "there's 50 people in here--and that's pushin it." Half of them have no desire to have their photo taken which now leaves me with approx 25 people. I have to find a balance of not pissin these 25 people off by posing them for multiple photos while they're just trying to have a nice night out with friends. I'll switch between shooting individual candids and backing up & using a long lens so as not to be disruptive to conversations and personal space.

Well this past weekend I shot another event for him that had, at the peak of the evening, 33 people (yes, I coulted, lol). Verdict: I was able to get 75 shots over a 3-hour period. The customer is PO'd. I am having the hardest time trying to diffuse this situation.

On one hand I feel bad because it feels like I haven't done enough to keep the customer satisfied. On the other I'm like "dude, bring 30 folks to an event with half of em literally turning their heads away when i pick up my camera and you'll almost always end up with NO photos."

Any advice/encouragement/similar gripes???

[ronocnikral]

what exactly is the customer's reasoning for wanting 250 shots? Is he strictly just looking at the quantity of photos?? Does he want the pictures to convey a huge turnout?

Seems pecuilar that he would just specify that he wants 250 shots at his event...what's the rest of the story (what does he really want?)?

I feel for you. Seems like you may have to bend over backwards to keep his business (and your reputation) by doing something such as shooting the next event at discount.

[texkam]

Ask him if he wants quantity or quality.

dude, bring 30 folks to an event with half of em literally turning their heads away when i pick up my camera and you'll almost always end up with NO photos.

He's clueless. You may need to politely move on.

[HotHolly]

This type of client wants quantity, not quality. Most of them think they hired a monkey with a camera. If you dont think of yourself like that, note the unusually high number of photos as a red flag in the future.

Do you have duplicates, similar shots, or more shots from the event that you could give him?

In the future, you will want to specify that an event of this size typically yields X-Y number of images. It should be written somewhere so they cannot forget. Clients often talk to lots of other photogs. We had people merge together what we said and what others said once. It was horrifying. I had a paper trail, so it was sorted out, but it still didnt help the client feel better.

Now, everything is spelled out. The entire process, why we dont fork over all the images, and why the number of images we supply is 'low.' Freakin knotties (knot.com forum brides) should just buy a pack of monkeys and hand them all cameras. They cause so many problems. The brides, not the monkeys.

[CaptainTom]

It's situations like this where 10fps can be your friend.

[dracula02]

What if you gave him 250 copies of the same pic?

[texxter]

Any advice/encouragement/similar gripes???

Find a better customer?

Shooting lots of pictures just to meet an artificial number of frames is going to dilute the quality of your work. Either you convince them to let you decide how many shots are needed to cover the event well, or you suggest that he find some other photographer to do what he wants.

[mattman]

Originally Posted by dracula02

What if you gave him 250 copies of the same pic?

AWESOME!

[doctahjones]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

Freakin knotties (knot.com forum brides) should just buy a pack of monkeys and hand them all cameras.

isn't that what the set out all those disposable cameras for during the reception?

[kamari]

Originally Posted by ronocnikral

what exactly is the customer's reasoning for wanting 250 shots? Is he strictly just looking at the quantity of photos?? Does he want the pictures to convey a huge turnout?

Seems pecuilar that he would just specify that he wants 250 shots at his event...what's the rest of the story (what does he really want?)?

I feel for you. Seems like you may have to bend over backwards to keep his business (and your reputation) by doing something such as shooting the next event at discount.

He never gave a reasoning for it but I'm assuming he uses his own philosophy of shoot shoot shoot shoot and maybe get a good photo here & there. The number of photos they post on their website of the events is usually in the 1 to 2 dozen range. That's why I brushed him off (politely) when he kept throwing that number out, but then again he's the customer so I try to find a balance and not be rude about it.

I thought about shooting a future event at a discount but I dropped the thought because 1. I give them a hell of a deal to begin with and 2. It's not MY fault if they do a crappy job at marketing their events. My time is my $ and so I've decided not to budge on the future discount. I asked myself "would the DJ or bouncers charge a lesser amount because the crowd's light on a particular night?" That gave me the no-brainer reply.

I told him in our 2nd email convo that the number of photos I supply is directly proportional to the number of attendees. 300-500 range of attendance can very easily yield 250 photos over a 3 hour time period.

[HotHolly]

Originally Posted by doctahjones

isn't that what the set out all those disposable cameras for during the reception?

disposal cameras = disposable images. The last wedding I was at that had them - I wanted to laugh my head off. A bunch of toddlers grabbed them and shot photos of their feet all night. The toddlers really liked their new shoes.

[CaptainTom]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

disposal cameras = disposable images. The last wedding I was at that had them - I wanted to laugh my head off. A bunch of toddlers grabbed them and shot photos of their feet all night. The toddlers really liked their new shoes.

that's funny. I sometimes get asked if it's OK to have those disposables at the tables and I say I don't have a problem with it except my experience has been that 1- they don't get used 2- kids take them and the images are unusable 3- money down the drain.

[L Stegall]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

disposal cameras = disposable images. The last wedding I was at that had them - I wanted to laugh my head off. A bunch of toddlers grabbed them and shot photos of their feet all night. The toddlers really liked their new shoes.

I can just picture that. My toddler granddaughter seems to really want my 5D. Now that she's mobile, I'm having to be much more careful about where it gets set down! She does have cute shoes, though. And I have pictures to prove that.

[J Eddington]

But a disposable camera can save a wedding. If our hairdresser had not grabbed the disposable off the table we would not have had any photos of the first dance.

[LEATHERNECK]

I just had a gig last weekend similar to this. BUT...spelled it out to the client what he was getting. It was one of those live radio broadcast at a club thingies and when he told me what he was wanting I had to be blount and straight forward..."ain't happening"
He got 13 shots, but was happily satisfied once he understood that with, what he was giving me to work with and what he wanted, was just going to be repetive shots of people (a few people) who didn't want a camera pointing at them for an hour.
I told my assistant we could do this in 10 mintues and go home but had to honor the deal....which we did with a free drink from the bar.