Problem with tog - grrr

OK from a photographers POV

... if I am booked for a date, I am booked for a date. End of

... if you come to me late and want me to do something at short notice, then if I am free, I shoot it, If I am not I explain I am booked

... Your wedding could be wet, dull, sunny, snowing, whatever... I cant dictate the weather and lighting on your wedding day, neither can I for any other shoot. Good photographers just deal with it

I'm slightly confused... You had arranged the date with the tog and when you went to arrange a time, then she told you she had to cancel because she's booked a charity thing? That's pretty uncool...

My couples always come first, always - I absolutely pride myself on customer service.

I'm sorry you're disappointed, I can certainly understand your frustration.

I'm not sure there is much else you can do but schedule another date with her.

Good luck with it all, brides have enough stress planning their weddings without the added headaches. And I hope your wedding goes smoother.

We told her give us a date that suits you and we will fit around you to make the booking. This weekend wasn't perfect for us but it was the one the tog told us was perfect for her 6 weeks ago.

Thank you for your help. I guess we might have to put this down to inexpedience and a lack of professionalism on the togs part.

100% agree with the above. From our perspective, if we are booked, we are booked. We will go above and beyond anything previously agreed to honour that booking where it is humanly possible to do so. Anyone who isn't willing to do this, in my opinion should not be offering wedding day coverage. They aren't the sort of occasions you can flake on simply because you have a better offer.

Ultimately you can have the most amazing photographs in the world, but that becomes irrelevant if you are unreliable. I'm not even sure it's a case of inexperience, just sheer lack of professionalism.

Personally, I feel you have every right to be annoyed and I would make it clear how let down you feel if you haven't already.

How cast in stone was the date? I agree with the other togs that an agreed date is always ringfenced for a couple, although your post suggests time off issues from work might have muddied the proverbial waters......No excuses for your tog, although was the date 100% confirmed?

Yes, the tog choose the date herself. She gave us the date and we booked it off to suit her.

If you confirmed this quickly, then there is no excuse for them....

Just to explain the reasons behind my questions....sometimes we can give a couple a possible date for a shoot and then will hear nothing for several weeks. No confirmations, telephone calls, emails or anything. If something else becomes available, it is realistic business wise to consider it. Probably an email/voicemail/telephone call to you would have been a better way for your tog to advise that without confirmation, they would do something different with the unconfirmed date.

That all said, I don't know if this scenario is pertinant to your circumstance...

Peter

You have a amateur tog, they tend to lack experience and professionalism.

Everyone's got to start somewhere though Chris. Doesn't excuse this, I don't think.

True, but goes some way to explaining it.

I keep reading about amateur photographers who promise way more than they can deliver and always seriously undercharge for it, so much so that they have very little get up and go or enthusium for a job.

It seems out of all the wedding sectors there are a lot of not very professional photographers out there, and you really get what you pay for.

not a case of you get what you pay for in this situation, every photographer has to start somewhere.

Im with peter on how cased in was the appointment? - I would have atleast expected her to contact you before booking the charity event.

I would let her know how disappointed you are and how difficult you find it to get time off and if it cannot be done at that stage which the date was given by her, there may be a risk that it cannot be done at all.

...Indeed they do....many togs also quote "bad light" when they mean low light. What is really important is the quality of the light, which can exist at low levels. Too many switch on their flashguns too quickly and often spoil really nice low level lighting.....

Peter

I have to agree with the above, technically there is no such thing as bad light, you work to the conditions given. in winter im often in the position where i have a 4pm wedding when it gets dark at 4.30.

You get a different style of photographs but often you get more creative shots at low light.

If she is *selling* herself as a professional, fullt or part-time, she should act as such. Experience or no experience.

It sounds to me as if you booked her cheaply, and now she now wants to go full-time and has decided to give more attention to the possibility of increasing her business profile at the expense of your photo session.

I once was asked to cover a job for a fellow photographer because he was hospitalised. I had an e-session that day and told him that although I wanted to help, I would only say *yes* if the couple were happy to reschedule. Luckily for my fellow photographer in trouble, the couple had no problem rescheduling. However, I would never dream of rescheduling any photo session without prior agreement from a client.

If she had been hospitalised or fallen seriously ill, I'd understand. None of us can swear this will never happen, and all true professionals will try their utmost to get you a replacement photographer. But that's a different story altogether!

Professionalism has nothing to do with experience. It means caring how your actions will affect those whom have entrusted you with the work you said you can/will deliver.

That's my take on it, in any case..

Andrea de Gabriel

Like I eluded to in my first post... On your wedding day you might get great light, or poor light. It might be a glorious sunny day, it might belt it down with rain. Wedding photographers have to deal with this, its part of the job description

I recently shot a wedding for a Hitcher where the venue was in a very dark cave. Was I bothered - No, I just took the right gear with me. Was I bothered that the tide had come in a bit when I wanted a night shot of the venue - nope. I had the right boots with me - it did get a laugh from a few guests though.. mad photographer with a huge torch, huge boots setting up a tripod in the dark, in the wet stuff!!!

Professional wedding photographers figure things out, and have 2 or three backup plans, and car full of gear they "might use" when things start getting tougher

I would be mightily peeved if I had booked some leave from work to suit a photographer, and then found out the photographer had ditched out on me at the last moment. I know how hard it can be to get a day off work, especially in the year of your wedding when you have probably already stretched your employers limits a bit