I am a semi pro photographer still with a lot to learn. I had a photoshoot recently where it all seemed to go wrong and I don’t know how to address it with the client.
This is a client I have worked for a lot in the past and they’re always happy with my work and rehire me for all their event photography.
They reached out saying they needed a lifestyle / headshot type shoot in their restaurant. This was split into two parts, one with a child and a food product and 5 different types of shots to get the 4 different type of shots with multiple food products. They gave me 1 hr to do the whole shoot.
I arrived an hour early to set up but client turned up 20 mins late. Then the restaurant didn’t have the correct food products for the shoot. There was no representative from head office just the two staff members to be in the shoot (not models)
We spent half an hour alone trying to sort the food products out and then I finally began shooting. 1st staff member was a reluctant model and it too a while to get her to relax by which time food product had melted and needed to be remade.
By the end, I was on site for two and a half hours, even though I was only being paid for 1 hour.
I’m not even happy to provide the client with the shots because they’re not good enough. (Client with eyes closed, blurred or product out of focus)
Currently, I’m thinking of sending the client what few shots I do have and explaining the issues but I don’t want to make it should like excuses for my lack of experience.
Do I write the whole shoot off and use it as a learning experience? I have definitely learned not to let the client dictate the time of a shoot.
I'm not addressing the quality of the photos. Enough people in the thread have brought up the out of focus thing.
I will say, however, that if I'm contacted by a business owner to shoot them in their business, and then when I show up, the business is obviously not prepared for the shoot, that's not my problem.
If the shoot is for x, y, and z, and then the restaurant says "Oh sorry, we don't have the ingredients for x and y, and z is just gonna be this random employee who wasn't prepared for this.", that's the client's fault, and, honestly, I have a paragraph in my standard contract that covers shit like this.
Mind sharing that paragraph?
Elements of the shoot that are planned to be provided by the client (including but not limited to: client-owned business or other location, employees, props, etc) are provided at the sole discretion of the client and are not the responsibility of (insert business name here). Appointments that are unable to be completed due to these factors will be rescheduled at the client's discretion at the currently agreed hourly rate.