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XtremePhoto

I watched this on 11 news tonight and when I searched this woman, I see she is a Director at Large and an Officer in the PROFESSIONAL Photographers Guild of Houston?

I-Team: Houston Photographer accused of spoiling wedding memories | khou.com | Khou.com - News, Houston news, Texas News, Headlines

Professional Photographers Guild of Houston (PPGH) | Facebook

Wow...I know we will not be looking at her or a Professional Photographers Guild Photographer for our Daughter's wedding...

FIVE years and still no wedding album? How do you justify that?

What explanation do you give someone for this...if any? I can't see how she is even still in business with that bad of a track record!

-G-

ngoduyviet · 11-13-2010, 12:44 AM

Interesting.

TheRandomPhotographer · 11-13-2010, 03:41 AM

im not too sure what to say about this...im shocked to say the least if all these allegations are true

CallMeAl · 11-13-2010, 06:42 AM

This is a sad situation for the couples and all photographers. One thing that stuck out to me was how the guy from the BBB said that, and I'm quoting the best I can remember, "I believe that this is a person who considers themselves an artiste'...with and 'e' on the end, but is a lousy business person."

Sure, I agree that these complaints indicate some lousy business practices, but what is the "artiste" comment supposed to mean? That she thinks she's and artist, but she's really not. I usually hear comments like that when someone is trying to slam someone's pricing structure, but that wasn't the complaint here.

XtremePhoto · 11-13-2010, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CallMeAl

This is a sad situation for the couples and all photographers. One thing that stuck out to me was how the guy from the BBB said that, and I'm quoting the best I can remember, "I believe that this is a person who considers themselves an artiste'...with and 'e' on the end, but is a lousy business person."

The one thing that 'stuck out' in my mind, was the civil action was for a wedding from 2006, almost 5 years ago and she still has not delivered. And now the more recent weddings are piling up because someone brought it to the media's attention.

I don't know about you, but if someone is trashing me on Network TV, I would WANT to do an interview and defend myself...unless it was all true and I was GUILTY. Her only comment to the TV people was to blame an assistant, that was no longer working with her?? I am calling BS on that, you don't have an assistant for 5 years, get sued, cause you all this trouble and THEN fire them. That assistant would have been gone the moment the Civil Action was filed, if that were the case.

I'm sorry, but this is about as sorry as it gets. She has no excuse, at least in my mind that can explain why she is still taking peoples money and calls herself a professional. Just my opinion, but the details sure make it look bad for her.

-G-

ChristopherCoy · 11-13-2010, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Houston’s Better Business Bureau monitors companies like K4 Photography, which has been rated “F” by the BBB. Dozens of clients have lodged complaints, many of which remain unanswered, according to BBB officials.

If its been rated as an "F", why was she hired to begin with. In addition, why is someone like this allowed to lead such an organization. Doesn't sound like a shining example for others.

Quote:

Parsons also criticized the wedding vendor industry, which he said, for the most part, remains unregulated. “You don’t have a regulatory agency in Austin, and you don’t have a congressional group,” said Parsons.

Get read folks. Regulations and state agencies are on their way.

pbyd · 11-13-2010, 08:59 AM

“If it’s been rated as an "F", why was she hired to begin with? In addition, why is someone like this allowed to lead such an organization? Doesn't sound like a shining example for others?”

Christopher,
You ask why someone would hire her with an "F" rating, you should look up a few of the SuperStar speakers that are part of this forum and speak at WPPI, PPA and Texas School and you will find the same type of customer service and the same "F" ratings.
It is very sad that because of web sites people can lie to the public and are believed without ever being checked out. Come on people, when are we, as photographers going to take responsibility for our profession and stop promoting speakers and photographers that only hurt the photography market. I know the photographer in this story and have for the last 6 years tried to get her to change her ways of doing business, and you can see she did not want to change.
If Regulations come to this profession, it will be because of "Want to Be" photographers that only play at the business that some of us have been successful at for years.
-----------------------------------

“This is a sad situation for the couples and all photographers. One thing that stuck out to me was how the guy from the BBB said that, and I'm quoting the best I can remember, "I believe that this is a person who considers themselves an artiste'...with and 'e' on the end, but is a lousy business person.”

Sure, I agree that these complaints indicate some lousy business practices, but what is the "artiste" comment supposed to mean? That she thinks she's and artist, but she's really not. I usually hear comments like that when someone is trying to slam someone's pricing structure, but that wasn't the complaint here.

Craig,
This type of photographer hurts the photography business in so many ways, and what do photographers do, they do as your are and attack the people that are trying to help our business community. When are we going to grow up and act as the business professionals that we claim to be.
Just Saying,
Wayne
Photography by Design

Flores · 11-13-2010, 09:21 AM

I'm concerned with all the usual backlash the media seems to like to promote, which is that somehow, since there isn't a photographer specific 'law' in place to 'protect' people from poor business practices, that the entire industry is unregulated and ripe for corruption.

Does anyone think these folks didn't have a contract? how is that for regulation? I guess it doesn't count?

This is not just a problem for photography, it's a BUSINESS problem, not a photographer problem. You have these same kind of issues in any industry.

rab3rd · 10:35 AM

Thats unfortunate.

Did I hear that number right? 50,000 weddings a year in Houston????

pbyd · 11-13-2010, 11:09 AM

Did I hear that number right? 50,000 weddings a year in Houston????

Yes that is correct, and if you check the numbers we have around 1000 photographes go into business each year in the Houston area, but then about 1000 also go out of business each year. I did the Bridal Extravangaza 22 straight shows in a roll and can tell you that each show about half of the photographers are new to the show.
To quote a song,
"They come and Go....."

Wayne
Photography by Design

Flores · 11-13-2010, 12:55 PM

I bow low Wayne. I don't think I could take the stress... :)

CallMeAl · 11-13-2010, 09:13 PM

Craig,
This type of photographer hurts the photography business in so many ways, and what do photographers do, they do as your are and attack the people that are trying to help our business community. When are we going to grow up and act as the business professionals that we claim to be.
Just Saying,
Wayne
Photography by Design[/QUOTE]

I'm not defending the photographer or attacking the BBB guy. It stuck out to me, because, unfortunately, this is not the first time I've seen a story like this of a photographer taking the money and not following through with the product. It is the first time, however, that I've heard someone from the BBB go beyond someone's BBB rating and make a personal comment on their opinion of the industry in question.

pbyd · 11-15-2010, 10:01 AM

“Personal comment on their opinion of the industry in question”

Craig,
When we as photographers start to listen to the non-photographers (Our Client Base) we will see our industry as our clients see it, and only then can we make our industry better. I would prefer to hear my possible client’s opinions much more than I would want to hear other photographer’s thoughts about what this industry is doing. I have seldom had a photographer come to me and want to pay me to capture their images.
What has made photography studios successful has been their willingness to listen to their client and to give them the service they are paying for. So many of the photographers today do seem to think of themselves as “Artist” and they even use the terms on their websites, I have found over and over again non-photographers (our clients) seem to find that an egotistical thing to claim. This is just my opinion developed over many, many years in the photography business, I don’t want to seem like I am preaching, and I am only trying to share what I have learned.

Wayne
Photography by Design

daveb · 11-16-2010, 09:10 AM

I could say a lot about the "I just got a camera and now I am a photographer crowd" but I wont ... all of that has been said.

But I do wonder if stories like this increase the value of certs like CPP or PPA / WPPI membership in the mind of clients. Could those titles and affiliations actually increase client confidence ?

Just wondering out loud

Flores · 11-16-2010, 09:29 AM

if your going to take the time to know what those mean, why not simply take the same time to look into someones actual reputation.

before social media and google, it was hard to determine if you were dealing with a flake. Research is so easy now, it's hard for me to fathom how folks are able to let themselves be taken in by a poor business person.

taking 5 minutes to look around and see if anyone else has had poor service or a dodgy record of work trumps spending 5 minutes trying to understand what a degree or certification might actually mean or how it relates to what I'm trying to do.

certs and degrees are for impressing your peers, solid reputation is for impressing you customers.