So I was doing a wedding last Saturday. During the reception, I saw a guy sporting an xti with an external flash on a bracket walking around and taking pictures of guests. I thought it was another "uncle bob" so no big deal, right. Then he disappeared and when he came back, he had 8x10 pictures in his hands and he puts them on the tables. The couples look at them and he approaches them and asks for payment.
I approached the bride and groom and asked them if they approved of him doing that. They said no so I pulled the "photographer" to the side and asked him politely who he worked for. The guy says he worked for the banquet hall and he said that he saw his boss ask the bride and groom permission to take photographs. I told them that I'm the official and exclusive photographer and that I wanted to talk to his boss since the couple clearly did not approve of him being there. He said "But you work for the couple, right? I work for the banquet". I asked for his boss again and he said he'll call his boss so I went my way and continued taking photos. He disappeared for a while and reappeared again with new pictures in his hand. I spoke to the director of the feast and asked him to handle the situation. He talked to the guy and the guy said he's done taking pictures and he just wants to get rid of the ones that he took.
Some guests noticed it as well and gave me a pat in the back for putting a stop to it. It was a real douchebag attempt and it really pissed me off. Out of the 10-15 pictures he took, he sold 2 or 3 of them. And according to one guest, he saw him selling a picture to a child. A CHILD!!!. The child supposedly took out 5 dollars from his pocket to pay the guy.
In the end I found out from the bride and groom that the banquet manager approached them and said that someone will take their (the bride and groom's) picture for free as a part of the package so they just said yes but they weren't told that another "photographer" will be taking pictures of guests to be sold at their tables.
I was really ticked off but I kept my calm and stayed professional. It was a long day and I wasn't prepared to deal with that kind of douchebaggy ambush. Photographers should now how to land their own gig and not crash at somebody else's gig.
"someone will take their (the bride and groom's) picture for free as a part of the package"
No such thing as "free" in this world, anytime someone out of the blue offers you something "for free", there is always some kind of strings attached or hidden cost.
I often stay a couple of hour at a function and often see them. If you regularly leave after the cake cutting you would not see them - but if I do table shots I often get a annoyed reaction that they do want to buy the picture at the door later.
Happy Medium photo company is the major player and there are other smaller independents and we see them at venues such as Manor on High etc and especially big Asian, Greek ... functions. Happy Medium has about 70 shooters during peak
I often talk to them and ban them from shooting the couple and I have had them kicked out after talking to the venue and couple that they are in my territory. The venue gets $50 - 100 - it was 50 cents per guest - higher now.
In the USA it seems photographers stay to the end - In Australia they do not - the need is taken up by this service to some extent - some clients in-fact rely on this service - some hate it.
Most photographers here in Melbourne only do a fake cake cutting before the couple enter the room and never see the reception proper. In my mind this half of the day lost...there can be lots of emotion at receptions.
julian45 wrote:
In the USA it seems photographers stay to the end - In Australia they do not - the need is taken up by this service to some extent - some clients in-fact rely on this service - some hate it.
Most photographers here in Melbourne only do a fake cake cutting before the couple enter the room and never see the reception proper. In my mind this half of the day lost...there can be lots of emotion at receptions.
So it would seem that the photographers in Aus have essentially brought this upon themselves by not wanting to stay the course. They have totally enabled this offshoot of wedding photography to exist. Its a little late to complain about it now.
Were that to happen in the states...especially in the south....someone would likely get there ass beat. Not sayin thats right...just sayin.
How about adding it into your contract that you are the exclusive commercial photographer at the event and anyone else trying to sell or profit from photography at the event itself must surrender the photographs and forfeit any sales income, in its entirety, to you.
Access wrote:
How about adding it into your contract that you are the exclusive commercial photographer at the event and anyone else trying to sell or profit from photography at the event itself must surrender the photographs and forfeit any sales income, in its entirety, to you.
Well, the venue just might have the same thing in the contract, that they are allowed to have a photographer roam and take pictures. Not in the brides hands, nor yours. Bride's fault.
If you were a wise photographer, and had previously run into the situation, it would be your job to help the bride find out for herself if she knows whether or not something like this is going to take place at the venue.
Yes, thats the key. Now that you know its likely to occur, that bridge should be crossed long before the event. That way you avoid the situation all together.
The key is to have some immediate form of recourse (ie. forfeiture) that can be done then and there. Complaining after-the-fact is a pointless gesture, the damage is already done.
Problem with making a scene on the day, is that you end up the bad guy. Its kind of a no win situation. The solution is to resolve the problem before it occurs. This simply isnt an issue in the states, but in Australia..if this is happening, and now you know its happening, then its now on you to address it up front and get it dealt with before the weddign so you dont end up taking the guy out back and resolving it Carlito's way.
bb
Maybe this is a Melbourne thing and not a Sydney thing because in over 600 weddings I've never had this happen to me. And before you say this is Australia thing and not a US thing the original poster is from the US.
I must say however I'm not surprised that this type of "business" is starting to spring up it's just too easy to turn up somewhere with a camera and a portable printer. But then again having said that with the sheer amount of digicam's and phone cameras that the guests carry it must be a real hard sell for these guys.
It's just another good reason that we don't sell reprints. We have priced our packages so that there is a component in there that covers what we used to expect to earn from reprint sales. So now we do is give the bride and groom a disc with all the photos were taken and they send them out to their guests for free.
I'm a sydney guy as well and haven't seen this though i do stay to the end of 99% of receptions. I'll be mighty unimpressed when it does finally happen.
I only said that about Aus, as several posted that they had in fact experienced this...and they were from Aus. Regardless of Continent it is a foul play for sure. But one which would stand no chance if we (pro wedding photographers) hadnt let the opportunity grow by not staying and covering the very thing these guys have begun to cover.
I'm there to the end of the reception. That is part of the gig. Many dont however, and surely this "opportunity" is/has been exploited. It should be just as easily quashed with a bit of diligence and changing the ways we shoot such that there no longer is an opportunity.....or dont complain when it does happen.
