How to deal with an unprofessional photographer?

Honestly after reading all the comments, all I have to say is “caveat emptor”, and I personally side with the photographer. The quoted response from the photographer suggests that you aren’t telling the full story of what you said to him about this matter and quite likely deserved the response you got.

poetix said :

You call your wife Wifey? If Mr Poetix did this, even in jest, even on a forum like this, he would not have a good time of it at all.

Of course, he wouldn’t.

Wifezilla?

You call your wife Wifey? If Mr Poetix did this, even in jest, even on a forum like this, he would not have a good time of it at all.

Of course, he wouldn’t.

Corrections to my post: Wifey told me I have incorrect details in my post (she is the one who hired the photographer). Some were great photos, not all (according to Wifey). Reference to AIPP is yet to be confirmed as also suggested in one of the above comments. Invoice details the photos that were suppose to be provided. The list of photos required was handed, not emailed. But thank you for all the comments and suggestions, we will take them on board when we consider our next steps forward. Lastly, wifey wants zorro29 to know she wasnt a bridezilla. emotional, maybe…

Sounds like something went wrong with the group photos in question. Any of a number of possibilities exist:

Corrupted storage card. Quite possible and nothing the photographer could do about that, some cameras even show a good review image although the full res version is corrupted.

Wrong setting on the camera. Can happen to anyone but should be picked up quickly especially if the photographer is checking every few frames for quality.

Equipment failure. Possible even with today’s cameras. However once again if a ‘pro’ photographer isn’t checking each group of photos then he’s not a ‘pro’.

Something wrong with the pics that he preferred to delete, such as inappropriate branch out of ear as suggested above. If that happened to a job I was doing I would pull out all stops to Photoshop out the error rather than delete the photos, but then again I am pretty conscientious compared to most in the trade.

Silly mistake at home. If the files were deleted by mistake a ‘pro’ would have had a backup kept until the photos were delivered and accepted, and a real ‘pro’ knows that deleted photos, unless overwritten by subsequent photos on the same media, can be recovered quite easily. So if this ‘pro’ got into a situation of having deleted the photos unintentionally and then declaring they were lost he needs to go back to photo management 1.1 and start again.

On a side note… today’s weddings tend to have every man woman and child taking photos of every conceivable angle. Chances are that amongst your guests’ collections will be a number of photos of the groups you want, albeit from slightly different angles. Often they are candid and in some ways more appealing than the run of the mill standard posed shots. I went to a wedding last week where there are so many photos already showing on Facebook etc and many excellent shots to boot, that when the hired photographer’s efforts appear in a couple more weeks, most shots will seem old hat and just a repetition of what’s already been out there. Obviously the special dreamy romantic photos of the couple will be new and admired but the rest of the coverage might just as well have been left to a committee!

Hi Rioters, thank you very much for all your opinions.

shoebmahmud said :

Hi Grail…yes, I understand all that but don’t you think the photographer should have at least attempted to talk to us to discuss it instead of threatening us to report to authorities when we wanted to talk to him about the photos. I thought customer service was the key to their success.
Also,I don’t remember of agreeing to or seeing any terms and condition of his service.

I find this surprising – without a contract, any of the photographer’s claims to not be ‘contractually obligated’ to retain photos don’t really mean much!

Are you sure you didn’t sign a contract before agreeing to use him? When I’m signing up a client, we sit down together, I explain what the contract means, what all the terms and conditions mean, etc etc so there’s no confusion going forward. They’re not locked in with me until I have a signed contract, and their deposit. Any photographer who doesn’t operate with a contract is playing with fire – and if you’ve paid for a photographer without a contract in place, I’m afraid you’ve been playing with fire too.

Incidentally, the situation you’re describing here is covered in my contract, and it covers me. As a wedding photographer, you’d be crazy to promise to deliver every photo the client desired – sometimes things happen, and you can’t deliver a certain photo. On the other hand, I make every effort to take everything they want, and I have the skills, equipment and knowledge to deliver, even if the situation is difficult. I do everything I can to minimise the chances of that one photo with your friend you decide to take on the spur of the moment being taken properly, without you blinking, etc etc.

Out of interest, do you mind sharing what you paid for two hours of work? Guessing the deliverable was just the photos on a disc?

I guess it all comes down to what you have signed and thus what you’ve agreed to.

If there is a clause that says that the photographer holds the intellectual property to all photos taken, then you don’t have much grounds to argue your case.

If you feel strongly about it, and you’ve already got your own legal advice, then you can take it to the ACT Civil and Administrative tribunal: http://www.acat.act.gov.au/

The fee to have a hearing is $47 for claims under $2,000 or, in your case, no money is in dispute.

Again you should get some legal advice (does not necessary have to be a lawyer) to prepare for the hearing.

shoebmahmud said :

zorro29 said :

quote]

Hi Zorro29…In our wedding there were well almost 32 guests who can confirm the photographer took well more than couple of group pictures. We didn’t receive any of them 🙁
Before the wedding we emailed the photographer a list of people whom we specifically would like to have photos with. Most of them were also not given to us.
We have guests who can confirm they took pictures with us but we didn’t receive any of them.
We know that he took the pictures and we are trying to get them.

yeah it’s a tricky one…but if you have an agreed email trail of people you wanted photos with and this was not agreed to, to hell with him. others can advise on how to pursue…i don’t know much about prof photographer bodies (just on ACAT)

Grail said :

This attitude is why the first advice given to budding photographers about wedding photography is: “DON’T”. Wedding photography combines all the hassles of portrait, indoor, outdoor, landscape and architectural photography, adds the restrictions that most scenes can not be posed or held or replayed to be shot again, and your client will be ultra demanding.

It is important to understand that a photographer’s reputation is based on the photos that people see. Thus if some photos were not of the quality that the photographer wants associated with their name, they will destroy those photos, never to be seen again. The problem might be something as awful as a fuzzy, out of focus image. It might be as subtle as poor flash fill putting too much shine on people’s faces, or not realising that certain components of the environment were detrimental to the framing of a picture (such as a tree branch sticking out of the bride’s ear).

You have what you paid for: great photos of the wedding.

Check the contract for any recourse you might have, but ultimately it is the photographer’s decision about which photographs end up on the cutting room floor.

Hi Grail…yes, I understand all that but don’t you think the photographer should have at least attempted to talk to us to discuss it instead of threatening us to report to authorities when we wanted to talk to him about the photos. I thought customer service was the key to their success.
Also,I don’t remember of agreeing to or seeing any terms and condition of his service.