I’m not a professional photographer or claim to be one nor do I get paid or charge for any photography I do. The simple act of doing it and that someone thinks I’m good enough that they trust me with their photos is more than enough payment for me. I get to practice and get better and they may get some really decent pictures out of the deal for free. I set the expectations early by informing them I’m not a pro and there is a very good chance that none of the pictures will turn out well and see if they still want me to do them. The answer is usually yes as they know I’ll work with them after the shoot to help make it right.
Recently I had a bad experience with a local professional photographer who has been in the area for well, as long as I can remember. (I’m 42) During the spring I coached kid’s soccer and the local photographer was there for picture day. He had an exclusive contract with the soccer organization to provide pictures. They’ve used him in the past so it was a long standing relationship. We dropped the $40 some bucks down on a small package, got the pictures taken and then waited for them to be done.
Once they arrived we were surprised to see that my daughters name was spelled incorrectly. She had a boys name. “Ok, no big deal.” we thought and headed over to the studio to see about getting them corrected. No one was there so we called and left a message. No response. We called again and got ahold of someone in the office and they said they would correct it and call us back when they were done. We never heard a word from them.
6 months later, my daughter is playing youth basketball and the photographer was doing the portraits again. perfect time to see about getting her soccer pictures fixed. I took the originals and said that we need these fixed before we buy any more and have been waiting for months for a call back from you. The response I got was “What's wrong with it?” (as he looked at the photo.) I had to point out to him that the subject is female (quite obviously one at that) and the name they printed was male.
Nothing more was said, he got their cart full of photos, found the corrected one and handed it to me. No “I apologize about that".” or “We’re sorry we didn’t get back to you sooner.” no attempt to reconcile the customer relationship. this to me was the same as “We are the only photography source in the area, you will bow down to us and you will use our services and like it!” maybe in their arrogance they forgot that there is another photography studio in town or that people are buying their own photography equipment and doing their own work. It’s attitudes like that that drive me to purchasing my own equipment and doing it myself. Heck, I’ll do it for free which hopefully will put a ding into that business’ profits. Maybe then they will gain some humility and realize that the customer relationship is key to their livelihood.
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