I just want to start by saying, I know this is clearly a learning moment for me and my business lol. I'm just curious as to how y'all would proceed, if in my shoes. TYIA π«ΆπΌβ¨
So, I photograph weddings. I love it. Oddly enough, I had a volleyball coach DM me, asking to photograph his team. He said, "I need photos of my girls and I think you'd do a great job." Leading me to believe he's seen some of my work, as he's DMing through IG. And since it was about portrait work, I felt more than able to do this task. However, now I'm feeling weird about this booking.
He's rescheduled on me, twice. If I hadn't reached out to confirm both times, I would not have been notified about his intentions to reschedule/cancel. Both times were less than 24 hours notice, with the most recent reschedule being less than one hours notice.
He's also now asking me to help 12-16 girls get their hair and makeup ready, saying, "it'll be easy because they'll have their products with them." The initial conversation never included me providing H/MU. He's only hired me for three hours, and there's no deposit made or anything. I didn't think to ask for deposit since it was such a short notice booking and I figured I just wouldn't deliver photos until payment was made in full. I just never expected to reschedule so many times.
Now, this is all supposed to be taking place on an outside sand court, in Minnesota. It's now been re-scheduled to take place on December 2nd..
I don't know lol. It feels too real to be fake, and too fake to be real.
If you were in my shoes, what would you be thinking/doing? Am I being paranoid? If this is legit, I'm totally down to photograph him and his team! However, there's been blatant disregard of my time, and he seems really oblivious about what a photographer is expected to do in a situation like this. Also, I can't imagine wanting to schedule a volleyball portrait session outside in December in Minnesota. Should I just say I no longer feel like the right photographer for this job? He hasn't even signed my contract I sent him.
Anyways, hope y'all have a great holiday weekend!!
With them rescheduling twice both with less than 24 hours of notice it seems very fishy. I would require a deposit for at least 1/2 the session fee immediately and make it clear the deposit is non refundable.
If this is just someone trying to mess with you or scam you that should make it easy to tell. Though if they try to send you more money than your deposit or session fee I would run as that is another common scam.
Definitely will do this, thank you for the heads up!