Wedding photographer was unprofessional. What now?

[Deleted]

Former knottie here. (I don't want to share my knottie name right now, since I'm trying to be anonymous for the purposes of this post. But some of you may remember me. )

I got married two years ago and used "Sam," a popular photographer who had been in business for several years. Sam had an excellent reputation. So I didn't think anything of Sam doing 50+ weddings a year, or ignoring my emails leading up to the wedding (among other red flags...). While we did end up with some great photos, I wish we used someone else.

The contract promised "unlimited retouching" and a DVD of color-corrected, high-resolution images. Sam offered albums, but thankfully, we did not pay for them upfront (however, Sam's albums were gorgeous, and we planned to pursue them once our post-wedding finances and lives were in order). The contract states the image copyrights belong to us once we paid in full (which we did).

Ten weeks after the wedding, I was sent a DVD of the color-corrected images (many of which only came back to me in b/w), but many needed further retouching. For some, things like bra straps and face shadows still had to be removed; for others, I wanted processing with vintage effects (one of the top reasons why I hired Sam and put up with flaky behavior). Sam did respond to me, saying that the vintage effects could be done on any photo that wasn't b/w (this was the last I heard from Sam). So it sounds like the raw files were deleted after they were processed (which sucks, because there were many b/w photos that I would have wanted in color). I was unable to reach Sam again to get confirmation.

Sam never reached out to us asking if we were interested in albums. Isn't it the norm for photographers to pester their clients for albums (aka $$$)?

Since Sam was doing two weddings a weekend for the rest of the year, I decided to hold off on contact until after the holidays. But then Sam's Facebook page - the heart of the business, since Sam was too busy to update the website or blog - suddenly disappeared, without warning. Sam also stopped tweeting.

After a couple of months attempting to email and call (and an unsuccessful attempt at contacting the second shooter), I snail-mailed a certified letter indicating that we'd still love to have albums done. The green delivery confirmation postcard was mailed back to me (with a scribble that did not look anything like Sam's name), but Sam did not contact me. There were times I thought Sam had died (because what kind of business owner would act in that way?).

Months later, Sam resumed tweeting and brought back the Facebook page, saying that the business was back. Yes, Sam took a hiatus of nearly a year without telling clients or posting a message on the website. I thought about trying to contact Sam again, but I was still frustrated my letter was ignored, so I decided against it.

I reviewed all my vendors on WeddingWire - except for Sam. As disappointing as Sam was, I just don't have the courage to write a negative review. I'm sure I'm not the only client who had a disappointing experience but was reluctant to go public with it - this is why Sam still has an excellent reputation.

So here are my options... what would you do?

1. Try to contact Sam one more time, via Facebook. Ask if the raw files are still available (I know, probably not - it's been two years and I don't expect anything of Sam anymore), and if retouching and albums can still be done. Of course, Sam is possibly the biggest flake I have ever encountered ... should I even bother? Should I pursue legal action because promised services weren't provided?

2. Give up on Sam and find another source for retouching and albums. This appeals to me more, since there are some great images from our video that I'd love to have stills of. But Sam has a very distinctive processing style - who else can do it? And are there even any photographers out there willing to finish up someone else's work?

[lime]

I would try #1 once. He could have had a health issue or massive family emergency that caused him to disappear for a year.

After that, I'd try to find someone else.

What percentage of the services he said he would provide did he actually do, in your estimation?

[thumper55]

You should have gotten all photos in color. I would have told him I want my money back, at the time it happend. You can ask him for a refund now, but its unlikely he would agree to it. How much was it? I probably would be pissed enough to go through small claims.

It should not be hard to find someone else who can follow iup on retouching the photos.

Why would you contact Sam via Facebook? Call him.

[mollybrown]

I'd try 1, and have no shame giving him negative reviews on every site I could find if he didn't respond. I'd appreciate reading a review with your experience if I were considering using Sam. He's already taken your money and ignored you for over a year, so what do you have to lose?

I had a problem with a vendor last year, and gave them a 1 star review on yelp after getting the run around. They were calling me and offering me what I had been asking for all along within a few hours of me posting that review in exchange for me taking it down. Airing a businesses dirty laundry can be very effective.

[zacksbride]

we also experienced very highly reviewed photographers from the knot being very unprofessional with us after the wedding and ignoring emails, not getting us proofs of our album, etc.  anyway, after years of pestering them, the only way we were finally able to get them to give us proofs of our album was to email them informing we were reporting them to the better business bureau and publishing negative reviews highlighting our experiences on every wedding website we could think of.  that got their attention.  i told them i would remove the review once i had a finished product in my hand. we had a complete proof of our album 48 hours after the negative review went up. and our produced album came in the mail less than 2 weeks later.  we did not get our album until after our 5 year anniversary!  when we contacted the BBB, by the way, there were 18 other complaints against these photographer for similar issues

so, if you want some answers, i would suggest contacting Sam through facebook and telling him you will review about these experiences online.  these photographers get much of their business online, and their business can really suffer from negative reviews, so it motivates them to remedy situations.  we had even threatened legal action with our photographers and that didnt seem to matter at all.  the only thing they cared about was getting that negative review down asap!

good luck~

[kwynn]

I wrote this big long post and changed my mind.

Disclaimer: I'm a wedding photographer and therefore biased. I'm not a lawyer.

I'm not touching this situation as told with a ten foot pole. I think there was miscommunication on all sides.

I think the OP has very high expectations from her wedding photographer, rightly or wrongly. Some posters here saying that you should get all images in color or that he has your money...I'm not sure if they are correct. It depends on the specifics of your agreement.

In my business, you do not get everything in color, and if I understand correctly, you have everything in your hands that was included in the package, right? You just might want to purchase albums and they have not been paid for yet?

As far as suing, consult an attorney.

As far as "Would another photographer make an album with images and can you lift video stills?" That all depends...

As a photographer, I would NOT without express written permission from the original photographer. Do you need the video stills? They usually are expensive to get and time consuming and only used as a last resort for a major equipment malfunction.

However, you can make your own album if your contract and reprint release permits that--I don't know the details of your arrangement, obviously.

[Deleted]

Feb 7, 2013 0:16:10 GMT -5 zacksbride said:

we also experienced very highly reviewed photographers from the knot being very unprofessional with us after the wedding and ignoring emails, not getting us proofs of our album, etc.  anyway, after years of pestering them, the only way we were finally able to get them to give us proofs of our album was to email them informing we were reporting them to the better business bureau and publishing negative reviews highlighting our experiences on every wedding website we could think of.  that got their attention.  i told them i would remove the review once i had a finished product in my hand. we had a complete proof of our album 48 hours after the negative review went up. and our produced album came in the mail less than 2 weeks later.  we did not get our album until after our 5 year anniversary!  when we contacted the BBB, by the way, there were 18 other complaints against these photographer for similar issues

so, if you want some answers, i would suggest contacting Sam through facebook and telling him you will review about these experiences online.  these photographers get much of their business online, and their business can really suffer from negative reviews, so it motivates them to remedy situations.  we had even threatened legal action with our photographers and that didnt seem to matter at all.  the only thing they cared about was getting that negative review down asap!

good luck~

I believe we had the same photographer. Major issues.

I got all my stuff after harassing them and finally writing a negative review on the knot, where we all bitched about them. I even got the wedding planner I worked for involved. Such a mess.

[sratsey]

Feb 6, 2013 23:48:13 GMT -5 @37butterknives said:

Ten weeks after the wedding, I was sent a DVD of the color-corrected images (many of which only came back to me in b/w), but many needed further retouching. For some, things like bra straps and face shadows still had to be removed; for others, I wanted processing with vintage effects (one of the top reasons why I hired Sam and put up with flaky behavior). Sam did respond to me, saying that the vintage effects could be done on any photo that wasn't b/w (this was the last I heard from Sam). So it sounds like the raw files were deleted after they were processed (which sucks, because there were many b/w photos that I would have wanted in color). I was unable to reach Sam again to get confirmation.

Did you see proofs or were you just given a disc with corrected images?
After our wedding we got all our proofs and then sat with the wedding photographer to tell him which proofs we wanted professionally corrected, how we wanted cropping done and any effect we might have wanted. We purchased albums at the same time.
I think if I had decided to do an album and in that time my photographer closed shop or went out of business...I'd be SOL.
I wouldn't read "unlimited retouching" to mean retouching for life....I would take that to mean that every image is corrected and given to you.
For some photographers, they will give 1000 proofs for example, and retouch 300, but anything over that would be extra.  Retouching and post production is a lot of work.
ETA: I had something like 3000 proofs...NO WAY they would have retouched every single one and if I had wanted them to, I would have expected to pay $$$$.
They retouched the photos I wanted.  The number was pre-determined and anything over would be extra.
I don't know any wedding photographer that would consider removing bra  straps as part of the retouching process.  There's a difference between correcting color and lighting and using photoshop to take out a bra strap that made it's way into a picture.

I know a lot of photographers and my husband has photographed weddings, so I will also admit that I'm a little biased...I would say that it is generally the photographers decision to make artistic judgement on which photos are meant to be black and white as they see fit.  Also, as someone who has done retouching and photo processing...some files end up being black and white because something was off with the color or lighting and as a B&W the image is salvaged.

The way I'm reading it, he fulfilled his side of the bargain.  You got all your images, full size, color corrected.  You didn't want an album so one was never paid for.   Why would a photographer chase down one bride over making an album?
That's a lot of work to then lay it out...and I doubt the profit would be worth it.
Disappearing like that and not getting back in touch with you absolutely was unprofessional, but I can also see that some of your expectations are totally unrealistic.  I'm not sure what you would be suing for.

[zacksbride]

Feb 7, 2013 6:49:13 GMT -5 @iheartcosmos said:

Feb 7, 2013 0:16:10 GMT -5 zacksbride said:

we also experienced very highly reviewed photographers from the knot being very unprofessional with us after the wedding and ignoring emails, not getting us proofs of our album, etc.  anyway, after years of pestering them, the only way we were finally able to get them to give us proofs of our album was to email them informing we were reporting them to the better business bureau and publishing negative reviews highlighting our experiences on every wedding website we could think of.  that got their attention.  i told them i would remove the review once i had a finished product in my hand. we had a complete proof of our album 48 hours after the negative review went up. and our produced album came in the mail less than 2 weeks later.  we did not get our album until after our 5 year anniversary!  when we contacted the BBB, by the way, there were 18 other complaints against these photographer for similar issues

so, if you want some answers, i would suggest contacting Sam through facebook and telling him you will review about these experiences online.  these photographers get much of their business online, and their business can really suffer from negative reviews, so it motivates them to remedy situations.  we had even threatened legal action with our photographers and that didnt seem to matter at all.  the only thing they cared about was getting that negative review down asap!

good luck~

I believe we had the same photographer. Major issues.

I got all my stuff after harassing them and finally writing a negative review on the knot, where we all bitched about them. I even got the wedding planner I worked for involved. Such a mess.

I am pretty certain i remember us having the same photographers as well.  considering how fun they were up until the wedding, i was completely shocked at how terrible they were post wedding.  after we posted negative reviews, they wrote us the long drawn out apology and gave us this song and dance about why everything was so delayed - but i got the sense that the same email had been sent to many many people.  i probably read your negative review because there were a few online with the same complaints as us when we posted ours.  so glad i don't have to deal with them anymore!

[Deleted]

My sister and BIL own a videography/photography business and they do a lot of professional networking and a lot of vendors are really strange.

I too was disappointed by my photographer. I think you are expecting WAY too much. I would find someone more reliable to touch up the remaining photos.

[chessie]

Creating your own album is easy, our photographer provided full rights after we paid for everything and got them on DVD's. So many nice sites out there you can create one. We used mypublisher and got a few for less then 100 bucks.

[chia]

I think Sam pretty much gave you what you contracted for.
Vintage effects and other stuff seems to go further than the basic retouching.
Plus, he never promised to give you all of the raw files.

I'd let it go, and get your albums made elsewhere.

[Deleted]

Thanks, everyone!

"Sam" is a pseudonym (name has been changed to protect someone who doesn't deserve to be protected). A couple of knotties on my local used Sam before I came on board, but I was the only Sam bride during my knot tenure. Sam never advertised on The Knot, but enjoyed enough positive word-of-mouth on blogs and Weddingbee (at least one blogger bee used Sam) that there was no need.

While Sam has more than 20 reviews on WeddingWire - all dating from before my wedding, and all overwhelmingly positive, though one mentions communication issues - the business has an F from the BBB, based on two reviews. (However, the local BBB doesn't publish details of the complaints, so both cases only state "problems with product and service" - and Sam did not cooperate with one of the cases, which seems to have been filed during the mysterious hiatus.) Both these reviews were filed after my wedding. (I feel like experience - the No. 1 reason why I hired Sam - turned out to be a liability. Sam probably was burned out by the time my wedding came around and did shoddier-than-usual work.)

Sam had an artist's attitude, so I figured the B/W conversions were typical artist dickery. But a lot of these B/W photos are my only record of details - many of which were DIY and featured color - from the wedding. Sam also did not work with a shot list or consult with us before the wedding - Sam just showed up and shot - but I didn't think that was out of line, because I trusted someone who's shot more than 300 weddings to gravitate toward decor and details. Thankfully, the videographer got those details.

All we're really owed are the costs and labor for the retouching, and I don't know what the going rate for quality work is. We haven't really sat down and determined how many photos we'd need work on, either - it's been a while and life got in the way. Sam probably should have been more specific on the contract, because when I think of "unlimited retouching," I think of Photoshopping things out and adding tints (at our first meeting, Sam pointed out photos where trash cans were edited out). No, the contract doesn't mention anything about proofs (whether for review or for posterity). I probably should have asked, but even my knottie education didn't teach me what a photographer contract should state.

I had called Sam repeatedly, but I always got voicemail, and I never received a call back. Facebook - especially now that the page is back - seems to be the best means of contact, since at least I know for sure that Sam checks it (that's where the latest work gets posted). Sam is back to shooting and posting weddings, but not 50+ per year. A lot of current work seems to be editorial, so maybe Sam is transitioning out of the wedding business. (Still, I am tempted to write that critical review to warn prospective couples; my husband tells me to let it go.)

As for last year's disappearance, Sam could have posted "I am taking a hiatus" on the website and left it at that - no need to explain why. Now, the business has an F from the BBB.

I did expect a lot from Sam, and I was seduced by the pretty, vintage-y pictures on the site and blog (at the time I booked, no one else in my area - at least in my budget - was doing them). I certainly didn't expect a shoot-and-burn job, and I was disappointed most of the photos came back with basic processing - I put up with a lot of bullshit for that?

As for going forward… I don't really want to go the DIY album route. I got a coupon for Lulu after writing reviews (for other vendors) on WeddingWire, and made a photobook. When I got it back, I saw that the processing was inconsistent between images - that's why I wanted a professional album (preferably done by Sam). Maybe we should just go without an album. *shrug*

Thanks again!

[kwynn]

Feb 7, 2013 10:08:33 GMT -5 @37butterknives said:

Thanks, everyone!

"Sam" is a pseudonym (name has been changed to protect someone who doesn't deserve to be protected). A couple of knotties on my local used Sam before I came on board, but I was the only Sam bride during my knot tenure. Sam never advertised on The Knot, but enjoyed enough positive word-of-mouth on blogs and Weddingbee (at least one blogger bee used Sam) that there was no need.

While Sam has more than 20 reviews on WeddingWire - all dating from before my wedding, and all overwhelmingly positive, though one mentions communication issues - the business has an F from the BBB, based on two reviews. (However, the local BBB doesn't publish details of the complaints, so both cases only state "problems with product and service" - and Sam did not cooperate with one of the cases, which seems to have been filed during the mysterious hiatus.) Both these reviews were filed after my wedding. (I feel like experience - the No. 1 reason why I hired Sam - turned out to be a liability. Sam probably was burned out by the time my wedding came around and did shoddier-than-usual work.)

Sam had an artist's attitude, so I figured the B/W conversions were typical artist dickery. But a lot of these B/W photos are my only record of details - many of which were DIY and featured color - from the wedding. Sam also did not work with a shot list or consult with us before the wedding - Sam just showed up and shot - but I didn't think that was out of line, because I trusted someone who's shot more than 300 weddings to gravitate toward decor and details. Thankfully, the videographer got those details.

All we're really owed are the costs and labor for the retouching, and I don't know what the going rate for quality work is. We haven't really sat down and determined how many photos we'd need work on, either - it's been a while and life got in the way. Sam probably should have been more specific on the contract, because when I think of "unlimited retouching," I think of Photoshopping things out and adding tints (at our first meeting, Sam pointed out photos where trash cans were edited out). No, the contract doesn't mention anything about proofs (whether for review or for posterity). I probably should have asked, but even my knottie education didn't teach me what a photographer contract should state.

I had called Sam repeatedly, but I always got voicemail, and I never received a call back. Facebook - especially now that the page is back - seems to be the best means of contact, since at least I know for sure that Sam checks it (that's where the latest work gets posted). Sam is back to shooting and posting weddings, but not 50+ per year. A lot of current work seems to be editorial, so maybe Sam is transitioning out of the wedding business. (Still, I am tempted to write that critical review to warn prospective couples; my husband tells me to let it go.)

As for last year's disappearance, Sam could have posted "I am taking a hiatus" on the website and left it at that - no need to explain why. Now, the business has an F from the BBB.

I did expect a lot from Sam, and I was seduced by the pretty, vintage-y pictures on the site and blog (at the time I booked, no one else in my area - at least in my budget - was doing them). I certainly didn't expect a shoot-and-burn job, and I was disappointed most of the photos came back with basic processing - I put up with a lot of bullshit for that?

As for going forward… I don't really want to go the DIY album route. I got a coupon for Lulu after writing reviews (for other vendors) on WeddingWire, and made a photobook. When I got it back, I saw that the processing was inconsistent between images - that's why I wanted a professional album (preferably done by Sam). Maybe we should just go without an album. *shrug*

Thanks again!

I can't help take offense a little at what you said...I know I'm overly sensitive to my profession because I care that much about it. I put my heart and soul into this job.

There was another post here a few weeks ago about someone feeling like their photography was not a good deal because they were offering digital negatives for $400 instead of the poster's preferred price, $200.

Then I read about "artist dickery" in your post. I don't know if that's an actual term or not...I take that to mean when an artist is doing something you don't like or controlling the images? Sometimes the client does not know better than us but thinks they do. It's a fine line to walk.

Also, you imply he may have been burnt out by your wedding day...burnout is definitely possible, the same as any other job. I work very hard to maintain my excitement week after week, but not all weddings are created equal, and it's difficult to explain that to brides as well.

The poor customer service, there's not a good excuse for that.

Are you sure you didn't miss an announcement where he "disappeared" for a time? I ask because I have made several announcements on my business page and yet ppl still don't always pay attention and read them.

I work my butt off 80 hours a week in this field--I'm sorry if this comes off as defensive.

Did you see a full wedding prior to booking? I always recommend that so you can see an example of the types of editing.

At this point, I'd let it go. I might contact Sam once last time and ask to make an album somewhere else.

Not all consumer labs are created equal as far as books. A photobook isn't equal to an album, and I know Zookie, My Publisher, and a few others might be decent consumer lines for you to explore.

[Deleted]

kwynn, I don't fault you for being defensive, or protective of your field. (The "artist dickery" comment was spoken out of frustration over the photographer's communication and c/s issues - which were dismal before the wedding but much worse afterward - that it made me see the entire product, including the photographs, as defective). There are so many crappy wedding photographers. I'm just upset that one of the "best" turned out to be a disappointment.

The photos were very good, overall - I'd probably grade them a B- (with A being the highest - I don't do the "A+++++++++++++++++++" grades lots of brides seem to assign. ) I expected better, obviously. Sam had a great reputation, so I assumed that key images wouldn't be missed, and that so many of the better shots wouldn't come back to me in B/W (especially because a big reason why I hired Sam was because of expertise with colors. I don't claim to know best, but it wasn't easy to find a decent photo for our thank-you cards because so many of the better ones were only available to me in black-and-white).

My fault, I must admit. I did my homework, but I admit I let red flags slide because of Sam's reputation and talent.

Yes, we did see footage of a full wedding before booking.

Sam's Facebook page was pulled without any announcement. I followed Sam on Twitter and subscribed to the Facebook feed - so if a statement about going on hiatus or break had been made before the fact, I (and others) would have been aware of it.

[sratsey]

Feb 7, 2013 10:08:33 GMT -5 @37butterknives said:

All we're really owed are the costs and labor for the retouching, and I don't know what the going rate for quality work is.

If you got a disc with color corrected images, those images ARE retouched, IMO.

If anyone ever said "I don't like this bra strap" can you edit that out?  To me, that's not retouching a photo...graphic editing is a totally different thing.
Retouching is brightening it up little bit, making sure that contrast is right when it comes to blacks&whites...cropping out a trash can...maybe...but removing a bra strap?
That almost falls into the whole "can you make my arm look thinner in this one" category... (and yes, I've heard that too)
I'm sorry, that's just crazy to me. 
Removing shadows from faces is another one.  That goes beyond retouching and in some ways, messing with the shadow throws off the entire image.

And I also think that "artist dickery" is offensive to photographers.
When you hire a photographer you do so because you have seen his work and you're confident with his abilities.  As far as I'm concerned, once that's done you entrust that person to take the shots as they see fit from their point of view.

When we did weddings we didn't give options so that anyone could have color/B&W or Sepia...an image was produced in whatever way made the most sense.  I know a lot of that is subjective, but that again goes back to why you hire certain photographers.  You shouldn't hire someone out because you like their work and then expect them to work by your definition of what makes a perfect photo.  And if there were photos that were must haves, those should have been specified from the get go.  Also, as I mentioned, without seeing the original image...you would never know what the color looked like from the original shot. 

I'm curious as to how much you paid for you package.

[Deleted]

We paid about $4,000. This was in an expensive market, and albums were not included. As I said upthread, Sam did 50+ weddings a year.

We did have engagement photos done. But the session took forever to schedule, and during the shoot, Sam told us that we'd have the photos within two weeks. However, after two weeks passed, we sent Sam an email, which was ignored. Then we kept emailing once a week (with no replies) until we finally got the disc in the mail - more than two months after the shoot, and five months before the wedding, so the STDs were mailed later than they should have been.

By this time, we felt it was too late to start looking for a new photographer. We were fairly happy with the pictures, but very disappointed by Sam's CS.

Sam refused to work with a shot list (true photojournalists don't do that, we were told). Sam did a lot of detail photography, based on the website, so we had no reason to think they'd be missed. And as I was going about my wedding day enjoying being a bride, telling Sam, "hey, did you take photos of the escort card display that I designed?" was the last thing on my mind.

I appreciate the insights from the pro photographers here, and I don't mean any offense - it's easy to assume everyone "should" work the same way based on what other people (who used other photographers) have said. It's also good to know what "retouching" really means.

[Myrrhine]

I'm sorry you had such a disappointing experience. It does sound like his customer service was extremely poor. I think the wording of "unlimited retouching" was a bit misleading as well. Although I wouldn't have thought to expect to have bra straps removed, I can see why your conversation with him in which he specifically mentioned removing unsightly intrusions gave you that impression.

In the contract with my photographer, I indicated that I would receive fully edited, high resolution images, meaning I wanted them all (I received a few hundred photos, not every one he took that day) processed to look like the beautiful photos on his website / blog. It sounds like that's what you wanted, but I think color corrected is somewhat of a lower level of editing. That said, I don't understand why he (or anyone) would think you would be happy with a disk of photos that he has not edited to the same level that he had apparently edited the photos on his website / in his portfolio. That is what he was advertising and what you thought you were getting, even if it's not what was specified in the contract.

However, I also think you have dodged a bullet in not having him make an album for you. You know that he can make beautiful albums, but since he is so unreliable, how could you ever be confident that you would get what he actually wanted? I would try a little google-fu to see if you can find someone to make a professional album for you. I was happy with the one I made on blurb, but it sounds like you want something more than that.

[Deleted]

Feb 7, 2013 15:55:41 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

You care way too much about your pretty princess day 2 years later. Move on.

Give me a break. I don't think about Sam - or my wedding, which I never treated as or considered a "pretty princess day" - every day. But when I do (a second anniversary is a good time for that), I get a bit wound up. Sometimes, I do kick myself for choosing and trusting Sam, even in the times my gut told me to try finding someone else. But Sam built up an excellent reputation over several years, strong enough to override my gut feelings.

Photography was extremely important to us, and we put a lot of work into finding who we thought was the perfect photographer - all I wanted was what I paid for, or at least an explanation from Sam as to what "unlimited retouching" entailed (Sam did mention it separately from "color correction" in the contract).

Feb 7, 2013 16:36:05 GMT -5 Myrrhine said:

In the contract with my photographer, I indicated that I would receive fully edited, high resolution images, meaning I wanted them all (I received a few hundred photos, not every one he took that day) processed to look like the beautiful photos on his website / blog. It sounds like that's what you wanted, but I think color corrected is somewhat of a lower level of editing. That said, I don't understand why he (or anyone) would think you would be happy with a disk of photos that he has not edited to the same level that he had apparently edited the photos on his website / in his portfolio. That is what he was advertising and what you thought you were getting, even if it's not what was specified in the contract.

However, I also think you have dodged a bullet in not having him make an album for you. You know that he can make beautiful albums, but since he is so unreliable, how could you ever be confident that you would get what he actually wanted?

Yes, yes, yes!

At least this thread has given me perspective on what, exactly, I paid for - my RL friends, like me, see "retouching" as removal of wayward objects and have told me to sue Sam in small-claims court. So I appreciate knowing that we're possibly wrong.

Were my expectations for Sam higher than they should have been? Possibly. But when someone has developed a great reputation, I think it's fair for clients to expect professionalism and cooperation.

It's much easier to move on now knowing that maybe Sam did fulfill the terms of the contract (while also noting that Sam was, indeed, unprofessional and flaky). It would have been nice to hear back and get official word, though.

Now, how do I find someone to retouch photos?

[msmerymac]

Everyone looks for different things in a photographer. It sounds like you thought Sam had a lot of wedding experience and that would be valuable. I personally looked for a photographer who didn't do exclusively weddings - she only does a few a year, really - just for a bit of a different perspective. She also did a photojournalistic style, but she had a shot list! We met with her and gave her examples of what we wanted, gae her a timeline, told her where we wanted to shoot, gave her lists of family members for the only posed shots of the day - with family.

But that's water under the bridge. Personally, I'd trash the vendor on Yelp, Weddingbee, etc. I did that with the one vendor who did his best to ruin my wedding - our shuttle driver (I can't even go into all the ways they messed up without writing 3 paragraphs, but suffice to say our wedding started 20 minutes late solely because of them). They still don't get how to run a business and still try to add me on linked in and send me ads in the mail, but that's their problem. Since my wedding, others have trashed this vendor, so I hope they don't get much wedding business. It takes 15 minutes, it will make you feel better, and it will be helpful for future customers.

[kwynn]

I will admit to the OP that as a wedding photographer, this is something we constantly worry about---living up to the customer's idea of our reputation. It's so hard. It keeps me up at night.

I try to be really clear with my policies to avoid any issues like this.

OP, if you can get permission from the original photographer to have an album made, I can put you in touch with people that will do it...

If you want to PM me the name, I can also reach out to them and just ask them if they would be okay with it too. It doesn't hurt to ask.

I probably don't offer the kind of albums you are looking for (I don't have a vintage style at all) but I know many ppl that do and can put you in touch with them. PM me if you need some help.

[thoseareradishes]

I have nothing to add except I think the OP said the name "Sam" at least 500 times in the thread.

[kadams767]

Sorry you're disappointed, but it sounds like you got what you paid for. Your expectations beyond what you've received sound like a bit much, to be honest. You really expected him to contact every couple that didn't order albums? Think about how crazy that sounds - you're mad that he didn't pester you and try to upsell to you. If you are worked up about bra straps showing in a few pictures, or that he missed a shot of the escort card display (WTF is that?) you made, I don't know what to tell you. It sounds like a PP mentioned, you need to get over it.

[Deleted]

Feb 7, 2013 21:31:19 GMT -5 thoseareradishes said:

I have nothing to add except I think the OP said the name "Sam" at least 500 times in the thread.

Haha. I was trying to conceal the photographer's gender and avoid stating "him"/"her" and "he"/"she." (That's why I picked a gender-neutral name and kept saying "Sam" a lot.)

Most here are assuming Sam's a guy. I won't confirm or deny.

Yeah, I admit I have been obsessive over Sam's shortcomings. (Yes, it is crazy that I felt a tinge of jealousy when other knotties were talking about their photographers contacting them about creating albums, while Sam was busy ignoring me.) Thanks for setting me straight.

[Deleted]

Sorry you aren't happy with your photography experience.

I liked the advice from PP that emphasized trying once more, and then moving on to find a photog that can help you take them across the finish line.

The silver lining here is that you (painfully) learned a lesson that will serve you well - don't trust reputation alone, but instead your own experiences...and ensure your expectations are in line with the service providers.

Good luck and I totally do not think you are coming across as anyone other than a dissapointed customer.