I have been a pro photographer for a while now and like most of us, we have good days and bad. Clients are important to us and we strive to keep them happy as they are essentially the lifeblood of our business. Earlier in May, a long term client asked me to help him with a shoot. As he was a client who has used us several times, i sent him a quote by WhatsApp and he was happy with the number. I went for a site visit on the Monday and talked through the shoot, Friday afternoon, I pre-delivered the gear to the site and set up some gear in advance. Saturday morning, we arrived at 930am, started to complete the set up and start shooting. There was an issue with the strobes but we used an alternate light source and started the shoot as soon as the model was ready.
Shoot finished at 6pm, 90 mins late and more products then we were told but we carried on and packed up and went home.
A week later, sent over some shots, essentially samples then the problems started..
a shopping list of issues:
misread the price, i missed a zero so $150 NOT $1500. A massive red flag
We were late.
Strobes crapped out
Shoot ran late
Result being my fee got cut.
They still used the photos but client re-edited themselves
Re-edits are horrid
Another photographer logo on the pics.
Lesson: Get a written contract, get it signed, get a deposit up front
