A few easy ways to irritate your Photographer
There are many things that I love about being a Photographer. The unpredictable jobs, different people you meet, the change of environment from time to time....
However, just like all jobs, there are a few things that clients can do to get under our skin and in some cases, make us never want to work with someone ever again.
Last minute cancellations Picture this. You’ve got a booking you’ve been looking forward to, for months. You’ve planned your day, your outfit, gotten your equipment ready. You wake up groggy from late night editing, but you’re determined not to miss this coach/train to “said destination” because you don’t want to be late for your client.
You’re on your way when you get a text. “Hey, somethings come up and I can’t make our shoot, can we reschedule?”. At this point, all you can do is sleep away the annoyance of having to unnecessarily a) wake up early and b) travel on a train or coach hours to a place where you now have no reason to be. Yes. It has happened, and I doubt it won’t be the last time in my lifetime.
“When will the photos be ready”
Asking hours after a shoot “When will the photos be ready?” is not cool. Give your Photographer time to breath or relax after a long day of shooting. If they have given you a turn around estimate, asking before it is over can be rather annoying. You want the finished result to be perfect and the best it can be, right? So don’t rush the editing process. If it is taking longer than expected, a gentle reminder will do the job, PESTERING WILL NOT Asking for a price without supplying necessary any details
Enquiring for a Photographers service without explaining exactly what you are looking for them to do can sometimes be annoying, only because if you approached with a brief summary to begin with, it would have made the process much quicker. Not only this but it is likely that they have different rates depending on the nature of your shoot. In your enquiries include:
Introduction
Type of Shoot/what it is for
How many hours
How many models
Available Dates
Inspiration for shoot
Ask questions if you can’t find them already on their pages or websites
If you don’t do these things, you’ll most likely be asked for the answer to these questions before you get a quote, as pricing can change depending on the size of the production, budget and hours you are working. No greeting in enquiry My top pet peeve when dealing with enquiries is when people are impolite. Yes, you are enquiring about a service, but we are people too and a simple ‘How are you?’ or ‘Hope you’re well’ before you propose your enquiry is nice to receive. Some people don't even bother saying Hi, THE AUDACITY! No credit Photographers work extremely hard to create their art. A lot of the time we rely on publications and reposts to reach more clients, especially as a Freelancer. Therefore, when our work is reposted without being credited, it’s probably the quickest way to provoke a Photographer. It seems like a small thing, but we struggle to be seen as it is, the least you can do is give credit to the creator behind the mastermind who made you look so *heart eyes emoji* drop dead gorgeous! Help us to secure our next pay check, it’s hard being a Freelancer!