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Wedding photographers that flake on clients?


12 years 3 months ago #195212 by I shoot RAW
I just got a call from a buddy of mine who has a friend who apparently got married yesterday and the wedding photographer failed to show! So far the photographer is completely MIA. One of the guest of the wedding luckily had a DSLR in their car and took some photos.

I've never heard of a wedding photographer flaking on a job. Once you make that "I'll do the job" commitment to the client, that's bad business if you flake!
Wasn't me :)
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12 years 3 months ago #195217 by john_m
Well, there should have been a contract written to protect both parties. If a photographer can't make it on a last minute emergency, then he/she should have someone that they can call to fulfil the wedding shoot. But yeah, I agree with you about being bad business and opening yourself up to a law suit.
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12 years 3 months ago #195234 by photobod
This gives photography such a bad name, any photographer worth his salt has someone on standby in case of an emergency, its a good reason for having a second shooter also, then at least one of you makes it, unless this person died on the spot then they deserve to be sued.
www.dcimages.org.uk
"A good photograph is one that communicate a fact, touches the heart, leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective." - Irving Penn
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12 years 3 months ago #195246 by scifitographer
To quote Firefly - "They're going to burn in a very special level of Hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater."

Poor bride & groom. Glad someone there was able to take over the duties.
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12 years 3 months ago #195266 by Trilby
It is extremely poor form. Of all the complaints I've heard about wedding photographers, at least the dodgy ones show up!!!! One of the reasons I have opted to avoid wedding photography is that you just can't flake on your clients. My partner was going to take me to the Byron Bay Blues Festival one year to see my favorite ever band. But I had a wedding booked....I swore that that would be the last one.
There is no black & white; it's all 18% grey.
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12 years 3 months ago #195283 by effron
Sounds pretty low, but remember we haven't heard the photog's story, just a third party account. Maybe the wedding party are the flakes?
That being said, back when I was active, I did a few weddings at the last minute for different reasons, and earned a good rep for coming in with NO notice and delivering a quality product. There were a couple I worked I thoroughly understood the no show......:P
Why so serious?
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12 years 3 months ago #195285 by Henry Peach
Always ask for references.
mattneedham.zenfolio.com
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12 years 3 months ago #195316 by ThatNikonGuy
Any updates on this?
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12 years 3 months ago #195421 by Henry Peach
I've been at a couple of weddings where the wedding cake never showed up. Several times the wrong flowers arrived, and it was too late to do anything about it. The guys are always missing/losing parts of the tux. Or the pants are wrong (a foot too long or short). Once the groom realized he was missing his shirt 5 min after the portraits was supposed to start. Once no one showed up to unlock the chapel, and no one was answering the contact number the B & G had. It was a July wedding. Everyone stood outside in the heat for several hours before we were able to track down a security guard who had a key. So crap happens, as they say, but I do wonder how wedding vendors stay in business with such marks on their reputations. An implicit part of the job description for a wedding business is that there are no do overs.
mattneedham.zenfolio.com
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12 years 3 months ago #195427 by Mont Photography
It's wrong, but I'm not surprised. I'm a member to onemodelplace.com and I hear it all the time from models saying they had a photographer never show for their photo session. It's just wrong. If you can't make it, call.
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12 years 3 months ago #195437 by Darrell
This is not good, and would mess up the special day. Saying that I think the organizers of the event should do some calling the day before to reconfirm, location and times. This would mean calling everyone, flowers, cake, caterers music, photographers etc etc, the only facts that we know of this issue is the photographer did not show up and no one can get a hold of him. So we don't even know if they are alive!!! Don't want to sound morbid but things happen. .
You will not be judged as a photographer by the pictures you take, but by the pictures you show.
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12 years 3 months ago #195596 by Addicted2Photos
Oh that isn't good, thank goodness someone had a camera!
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12 years 3 months ago #195666 by HawaiiGuy
Hopefully for the sake of the industry, there was a very good reason for the photographers absence.
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12 years 3 months ago #195685 by Henry Peach

Darrell wrote: Saying that I think the organizers of the event should do some calling the day before to reconfirm, location and times.


These days people are pinching pennies, and that means having weddings without a wedding coordinator. Before 2008 about 50% of the weddings I shot had a hired wedding coordinator to take care of this stuff. Since 2008 I've been to three weddings where a coordinator was hired. People label a friend or relative "the wedding coordinator", but it's just like asking a friend to do the photography. They really don't know what's involved in the job.
mattneedham.zenfolio.com
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12 years 3 months ago #195737 by Pa2tr7

photobod wrote: This gives photography such a bad name, any photographer worth his salt has someone on standby in case of an emergency, its a good reason for having a second shooter also, then at least one of you makes it, unless this person died on the spot then they deserve to be sued.


:agree: a 2nd shooter is great to have. Then again, if the main photographer doesn't want to shoot the wedding, there's not much a 2nd photographer could do. I don't know the rules a 2nd photographer has when it comes to a wedding photography business, but I imagine they don't call the shots.
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