arrgghhh!!!

[pippin]

Ok, so I was hired to shoot some kids for a fundraiser. Not bad money. Could have been paid more, but since I don't normally shoot kids for a living, it wasn't bad.

Anyway, one parent as I'm taking photos (now, this is one out of 80 over the space of three days), is standing RIGHTNEXTTOME with her camera taking EXACTLY the same shots as I am. Then, she starts looking over my shoulder as I'm doing quick previews on the screen, and demands I reshoot her kid as they didn't look good.

Now, during this entire shoot, we keep telling the parents to stay inside (we were shooting outside) as it was upsetting/distracting the kids.

Would she listen? No. When it came to the group shots, she wasn't next to me - she was IN the shots!! So pretty much all of the group shots have her in it in some way shape or form. So I stopped taking photographs until she got the message.

Ever had someone else piggyback off your shots? This is for a fundraiser fer cryinoutloud - not for you to take the same damn shots as the photographer!!

[Daniel Bates]

1. Purchase or rent the Sigmonster.

2. Hit the annoying parent over the head with said Sigmonster.

3. Put on your portrait lens and get back to work.



Was there a person running the event (besides you) or some security types that you could have called over? That's what I would do (besides the Sigmonster, of course)... just make her someone else's problem. Preferably someone else with the ability to force her to leave.

--Daniel

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

If she was within a couple feet if you while shooting you should have just stopped shooting and given her a "look". If the "look" didn't give her the hint then I would have gone to any of the organizers of the shoot and told them that if they still want to use your services they need to corral the stray and get her out of the shoot since she was causing distractions to both you and the subjects. If perchance she was a "VIP" and you were informed of her "VIP" position I would still have heald my ground with the "staff".

Or you could have stopped shooting and sat down, if she or someone else asked why are you stopping you could have said something along the lines of " Oh, I didn't want to get in the way of Ms XXXX so I decided to let her finish her shooting for her scrap book", they would have gotten the hint as if you used a sledgehammer on her.

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

...Or you could have stopped shooting and sat down, if she or someone else asked why are you stopping you could have said something along the lines of " Oh, I didn't want to get in the way of Ms XXXX so I decided to let her finish her shooting for her scrap book", they would have gotten the hint as if you used a sledgehammer on her.

I've done this and it works like a charm. The parent hates you but they get the message loud and clear.

_/oe

[pippin]

Oh, she got the message. Once I started ignoring her and refusing to shoot her kid, she got the hint. I'm more pissed off as this is for a fundraiser and you just KNOW she's not going to purchase any reprints as she has her own now.