Any idea what this "judge" was thinking?

[KdLaneJr]

Judge allows probation when prosecutors were against it.

The whole precedent was bad enough, but I really don't see this making it any better.

[texkam]

It's hard for the victims to recover damages if he's behind bars. Yeah, 10 years probation and he pays restitution, but restitution should include extra for the hell the victims had to go through. If the victims are made whole and he's under probabation for 10, that sounds reasonable. I'd rather give that prison space to a violent criminal.

[hdctx]

article says the photographer has apparently produced most of the wedding pictures for the customers he ripped off. If he actually shot the pictures and then didn't deliver them, looks like we can chalk some of this up to incompetence. I mean, if he was just going to steal the money, why bother to take pics in the first place.

[Nikonfan]

What I want to know is how he managed to get at least 11 weddings booked?? I can see one every now and then if he were charging craigs list prices. However, he was charging around $5,000 a wedding. I would think for that price he would have to have a great portfolio and examples of his work. Possibly references from past clients? So was he legit at one point and then all of the sudden he just quit caring and cashed in on his past reputation?

[hdctx]

I've always wondered how thieves and con artists convince people to invest in vapor companies while legitimate businesspeople can't raise squat. some people can sell ice to eskimos.

[pbyd]

Article says the photographer has apparently produced most of the wedding pictures for the customers he ripped off. If he actually shot the pictures and then didn't deliver them, looks like we can chalk some of this up to incompetence. I mean, if he was just going to steal the money, why bother to take pics in the first place.

I've always wondered how thieves and con artists convince people to invest in vapor companies while legitimate businesspeople can't raise squat. Some people can sell ice to Eskimos.

Dave, if brides would spend the time to research photographers, they would find that most of them that do wedding do not have a sales tax permit, do not pay business personal property tax, and do not have occupancy permit and some have very poor client relations. You can find that even some of the “Super Star” speakers have F ratings with the BBB, this comes from many complaints by clients yet even the photographers that look up to them never check them out so why would we expect the client to.
We have had at least one photographer a year get on TV because of client complaints.

What I want to know is how he managed to get at least 11 weddings booked?? I can see one every now and then if he were charging crags list prices. However, he was charging around $5,000 a wedding. I would think for that price he would have to have a great portfolio and examples of his work. Possibly references from past clients? So was he legit at one point and then all of the sudden he just quit caring and cashed in on his past reputation?

David, In the last year we had a local photographer get on TV twice because of over 10 brides complaining. She had many weddings that had never received their completed package. This had been going on for over 6 years and she is still in business today, booking weddings, the year before a photographer also had the same thing happen, no deliveries. We had weddings photographers in the Heights three years ago that were doing weddings and delivering nothing until the brides retained lawyers, their web site is still up and they are still doing weddings. These people will give out references; they even have client statements on their web sites. Anyone can take images when they are guest at a wedding, or they are tag-a-longs, or even as second shooters and put them on a web site, but this does not mean they can be wedding photographs. So many people do wedding photography, put up lies on their web sites and impress not only the brides to be but also the unknowing photographers. Sad isn’t it, but this has become the norm for this industry, because people play photographer and never get into the business of photography, and when someone like myself says something we are called “Old Grumps” why, because we want our industry to be respected. I and others have been called out for giving out information on what is required to do business in the State of Texas. People that don’t want to follow the law will complain if someone says they are breaking the law.


Wayne
Photography by Design

[Nikonfan]

Thanks for the insight Wayne.