Summary: Strobes blanking out Uncle Bob's camera when you shoot for free may or may not sell prints, but will absolutely cause you to generally be regarded as a piece of crap by every other photographer on the planet. Guests hating you for it is entirely possible if they catch on to what you're doing.
Edited by truthseeker on Jul 05, 2008 at 07:44 PM GMT
It may take some practice to develop the people skills to deal with the couple's family and friends, but it's an absolute professional necessity. To intentionally interfere with the guests' enjoyment of the day to sell a few pictures is behavior that is hard to define within the contraints of forum decorum.
To do so in a public forum and attach ones name to it is mind-boggling.
Craig Gillette wrote:
It may take some practice to develop the people skills to deal with the couple's family and friends, but it's an absolute professional necessity. To intentionally interfere with the guests' enjoyment of the day to sell a few pictures is behavior that is hard to define within the contraints of forum decorum.
To do so in a public forum and attach ones name to it is mind-boggling.
wow, arent you over moralistic
I think he was smart in what he did! Smart thinking.
Yeah, it's probably not the way I would have handled it, but if you have a clause in your contract about guest photography during formals, I wouldn't blame you for it either.
It's been discussed before. How many referrals you think you can expect once the couple figures out you intentionally sabatoged their friends and family's snap shots? Does that strike you as a manner in which a "professional" would conduct themself?
(And we wonder why wedding photographers are thought of as being in the same league as used car salesmen!)
Reminds me of the time I was shooting a year 12 Formal as the "Official Photographer." I had the background all set up with my strobes and brolleys. In those days I triggered my 2 strobes with a small on camera flash that fired the optical triggers on the big flashes. Some of the parents couldn't resist trying to shoot with their p & s cameras and small flashes. I had a sign up asking them please to NOT take photos of this set up, they had been told that all photos would be made avialble through the school. So anyway, their flashes triggered my strobes but all they got was a massive over-exposure and a white screen! It was funny looking at their reaction as they looked at their little blank screens.
Marcus Watts wrote:
You were shooting free? dude you are uncle bob.
too funny
If you can't inherently take better pictures than someone with no training and a P&S then you will struggle anyway.
You'll find most pros let the guests take the pictures they want (within reason), make friends within the party and get referrals. It's not that hard. I do like your line that you did it without pissing anyone off though. Genius.
But on a side note… I don’t think you would have been out of line requesting that the guest let you take your shots without interruptions. I’m sure using good diplomacy the guest (B/G) would have understood. Letting the B/G know (at your meeting) you would like to make a few bucks on prints for helping them out. Remember the Bride is the boss (along with the MOB) they can tell the guest to stop without trouble a-brewing!
Also make your money upfront and any sales from prints are “ca-ching” a bonus.
After working in the profession for a while, you will soon learn it's not worth the hassle to go down that road......a kind word to the guests usually will work.
When it doesn't, talk to someone who can help you to stop the interference.
In my 19 years of shooting weddings, I've had my share of over the shoulder shooters, but i just do my job, have fun and go with the flow......and if some photos are affected by guests interfering and it's out of my control, so be it.........i write it down in the clients file, so that if they ever question why something wasn't captured or why peoples eyes were all over the place, i can explain to them why.
But that is a very small minority.
I understand your reasoning to want to sell prints since you were doing a freebie. But to intentionally sabotage guests photos is crossing the line IF you are intent on growing your business and securing referrals.
plove53 wrote:
But on a side note… I don’t think you would have been out of line requesting that the guest let you take your shots without interruptions. I’m sure using good diplomacy the guest (B/G) would have understood. Letting the B/G know (at your meeting) you would like to make a few bucks on prints for helping them out. Remember the Bride is the boss (along with the MOB) they can tell the guest to stop without trouble a-brewing!
Also make your money upfront and any sales from prints are “ca-ching” a bonus.
-p
I agree with everything except the "smart move" part.
I can understand where you are coming from but, as you get more experience and used to dealing with these situations, then your approach will hopefully change.
There's nothing wrong with asking people to give you your space. Even asking them to not photograph while you are doing formals is acceptable. A very nice & easy way to do this is to let them know your flashes will be set off by their flash and their photos may not turn out.
If someone does start trying to shoot, let them know that you'll be happy to turn off your strobes when you're done so they can photograph, but firing off your strobes can possibly cause you to miss a shot and it'll take longer to get thru the formals (Which no one wants).
Craig Gillette wrote:
It may take some practice to develop the people skills to deal with the couple's family and friends, but it's an absolute professional necessity. To intentionally interfere with the guests' enjoyment of the day to sell a few pictures is behavior that is hard to define within the contraints of forum decorum.
To do so in a public forum and attach ones name to it is mind-boggling.
This is one of those things where if you are the hired pro and it happens by accident, then so be it. However I would not intentionally do this to screw up anyone's pictures.
And I will kind of chime in on what the others said. Now a days its wise to make ALL of the profit you need to make up front. Print sales are pretty hit and miss and you dont really need to depend upon them to meet your bottom line.
PhotosByRDD wrote:
It's been discussed before. How many referrals you think you can expect once the couple figures out you intentionally sabatoged their friends and family's snap shots? Does that strike you as a manner in which a "professional" would conduct themself?
Well, unless he tells them, do you think they're capable of figuring it out. Yeah, didn't think so.
too funny
