Hello all,
My girlfriend and her family recently booked a photographer for a shoot in a small studio closeby to them (Northern Ireland). They had seen her photography online and wanted to hire her for a shoot, shoot was booked online and a deposit paid. The photographer didn't give a phonecall to discuss options, ideas, or anything about what she may have planned for the day of shooting, now this will come back later too.
So alls good and they get to the photoshoot today, get to the building, welcomed into the small studio, no contracts to sign, no discussion of ideas for what they wanted done today, just straight into shooting. Shoot goes ahead, they all take their photos and the family members dart off pretty quickly, photographer hands my girlfriends mum a booklet.
So they take it home and look at the booklet which then mentions the pricing, and that the photoshoots will not be given in any digital form and no loose copies, you can only buy framed prints with the cheapest of her range being a desk framed 7x5 image for £95. With some packages being as high as £2499. Also no mention of pricing on her website either.
Am I right in saying this all seems a bit bait and switch? Any clients I have ever worked with have had a consultation meeting or call before I take on what they want, aling with a discussion about payment and delivery.
There's arguments to be fairly made in every direction, here.
This pricing model isn't even kinda rare. In my experience it used to be pretty standard.
And not to get too deep in the weeds, but actual numbers aside, I think charging by the image makes way more sense than a flat rate for a flat time and just dumping a wad of images on you so that you can all print and enjoy just one or two, anyway. The photographer is able to give exceptional thought and care into that one image.
I do retouching for several photographers like that. And I'll be doing head swaps, giant object removals, etc., to get you the most perfect image we can. Makes enough sense to me compared to getting a gallery you'll flip through and predominantly forget about.
I'm sorry you guys feel cheated, though. Truly. The balance is being upfront with clients and not scaring off people before they get the experience.
You're obviously going to have a somewhat biased account, but even by your own admission most of your folks couldn't even be bothered to stay, so I get the feeling you were all about as invested as the photographer was, if not less so. Doesn't sound like the kind of environment where stopping everything to unpack deep number crunching results in higher sales/ better experiences. Also just jumping into it generally gives a way better impression than putting off the session to unpack ideas, all you what you want and have you say "we are here to trust the professional" anyway.
But obviously on the flip side it would be great to only have transactions that are free of surprise. So perhaps there's more the photographer could have done to lessen the shock.
In my mind, the biggest reason you guys are taken aback is because you are trained by other photographers/ vendors pay structures of giving you about as much as they can for a flat fee. Basically the new-ish norm for wedding photos. Not nearly as sustainable for other photo niches.