Nathan Whitchu
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Upload & Sell: Off
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 p.1 #8 · Different Kind of Prego Photog Situation | |
I was in a similar, if not as severe, situation several years ago. I was working for a 'family owned' studio (the family was on the other side of the country and had a manager here) doing sports and portrait work. I didn't particularly like the portrait side of it but was pretty good at it. My direct manager was pretty inept in ALL aspects of his job (like getting in focus shots, making schedules, editing, showing up, etc...) and I was getting bored/lazy with the work. I had a part time job working for a local weekly newspaper that pay VERY well for the amount of work that I did, but I couldn't live off of it. I was laid off for a couple of months (a regular occurrence for the school portrait industry) and came back just in time to be offered a promotion at the newspaper. I was offered enough work to replace the studio job (I wound up making about 10% more then the full time job in about 15 hours a week). I could have just told them to shove it and move on. Instead I gave them about a months notice and made sure that they knew I would be more then willing to freelance for them when they needed it. several years later I still work for them on occasion. One of the smaller newspapers in the area that I shoot for covers one of the schools they have a contract for. I often cover an event for both, two paychecks is better then one. It cost me nothing to keep a friendly relationship with them. I make a couple thousand a year extra off of them, they have a little easier time scheduling shoots during the busy months. If they ever stop calling me I'm not going broke. Sometimes it pays not to burn bridges.
Now, I was never insulted or treated bad. No one ever blamed something they screwed up on me. (well there was one screaming match between me and my immediate boss, but that's a whole 'nother story). But you can either tell her to sit on it and spin and walk away. Or negotiate from a position of power. If you're ready to walk away then tell her you want to either change the business relationship or walk away. You want to be paid on time, you want respect, you're going to be building your own business back up, and ::insert other demands::. Either she says yes and you get what you want from her, or she says no and you move onto your own work.
Either way her being pregnant is HER problem, not yours. You can either feel sorry for her running her business into the ground or use it to your advantage.
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