Ok, so my client has gone crazy...

[Lil Chillbil]

So I recently shot a wedding, now when I got the call from these people (they go to my church so they know I work for the department) she asked if I could film her wedding, We got to discuss price and I said $1000 she then laughed... 1ST RED FLAG CLIENT HAS NO IDEA HOW MUCH WORK IT IS I then said $100 and she says oh I only need 5 dvd's. So I took the job for $50. I shot the wedding and it turned out just fine I will post a link to the video in a later edit so you can see. So then as i'm taking down my tripod with my 2nd shooter to get the camera over to video the cake cutting this one ***** says "hey cameraman, we need you to take some portraits... I take the portraits leaving my assistant to setup. Then after I shoot the rest of it they still want me to hang around and just take photos of random people. Go home edit the footage, and get a call asking where the prints are after I emailed the bitch the photos. So then I made 17 prints and framed them out of my own pocket. So now today my 2nd shooter turns up with his crap he shot and insists I give it to her. So now she wants to cherrypick images and have me make her some more prints...

 

 

I spent the $50 on food and drinks after the wedding because they didn't feed me or my assistant.

 

 

C:\End Rant 

[helping]

$1000 she then laughed...then said $100 and she says oh I only need 5 dvd's...I took the job for $50.

 

demand more or don't do it, simple as that. If your work isn't good enough to earn more then you're stuck with that. 

[Whiskers]

You should tell her something along the lines of "Honey for the money you paid me, you should be thankful your photos weren't printed on recycled toilet paper".

 

Seriously, though, that really sucks man.

[AlwaysFSX]

You shouldn't have taken the job for anything less than $500. Would have saved time and money...

[Lil Chillbil]

You should tell her something along the lines of "Honey for the money you paid me, you should be thankful your photos weren't printed on recycled toilet paper".

 

Seriously, though, that really sucks man.

 

I know, its like a situation where my mother is friends with these people and whatever they bring up. my moms all like 'OOOH YOU'LL BE LIKE A WREAL PHOTOGRAPHER"

 

really mom I didn't know I was shooting with a buzz lightbeer camera... 

[Whiskers]

I know, its like a situation where my mother is friends with these people and whatever they bring up. my moms all like 'OOOH YOU'LL BE LIKE A WREAL PHOTOGRAPHER"

 

really mom I didn't know I was shooting with a buzz lightbeer camera... 

 

Haha, yeah. At least she's trying to be supportive though.

[Lil Chillbil]

Haha, yeah. At least she's trying to be supportive though.

 

yeah, I guess best of a bad situation 

[Whiskers]

yeah, I guess best of a bad situation 

 

Yup.

 

And I don't want to sound harsh or anything, but it may prove to have been a valuable experience and lesson for you. You should never agree to do photography work for $50, man! In future, set your limit - if they're unwilling to pay, it's their loss.

[niksuto]

Just don't deliver any more until they pay more. Simple as that.

 

This is the reason I dislike wedding photography, people have unrealistic expectations of what to pay their photographers.

 

You should never agree to do photography work for $50, man!

Agreed, gotta price yourself up and don't take anything that makes your work impossible. 

 

People are only gonna pay if you demand a pay. Just take the photos hostage or delete them straight away saying the files corrupted.(I have done this before)

[Blade of Grass]

Yeah, it can suck.

I shot my sisters prom (for free, I'm a nice brother and I didn't actually want money, my parents paid for my lens rental) so I ended up taking about 500 shots. The next day

"are the photos ready yet?"

lol no, give me two weeks

"why aren't they ready?"

because I haven't had the time in the last 12 hours (8 of those I was sleeping) to edit your 500 photos. No event/wedding photographer has a turnaround time of 12 hours, much less a week.

Then my parents intervened and informed my sister that it's quite common to have to wait 2 weeks to a month for big events.

She got them a week latter.

Clients be craycray, luckily, if you know them well or are related you can politely tell them to fuck off

[juretrn]

Sounds like problems in any bussiness, big or small. Clients refuse to understand that man hours, especially those of highly trained professionals, are not free.

They will always try to cheat you out of any kind of profit, and god forbid they realise you are actually to make some profit off them. I guess working for a bare minimum is always an option, but you might as well stop doing your bussiness and try to get a better job. 

[Silvercall]

I hate to say it but, you made your own bed by agreeing to shoot the thing in the 1st place for only $50!! You might as well have shot it for free. And did you have to pay your second shooter?

If you are serious about becoming a photographer, you have to know the value of your own work. If you think your photos are worth $1000,then only do work that pays that. How do you go from $1000 to $50? There is something wrong there...

Do you have a contract? If not, I recommend that you get one or that you stop taking photos as one day you will get royally burned. You work for the department? I'm surprised they don't require you to have a contract with the client as a contract protects them too. A contract would have solved a lot of the problems as it details what exactly you will do, when they will get the photos, if they get prints or just dvd, how long you will work, if you get fed for free... You get the picture. With no contract, I'm not surprised they want more.

Just remember, your work is only worth as much as you are willing to "sell" it for.

[mcmxcii]

I say the first mistake was saying you do it for $1000, as someone said in an earlier thread if you have nothing to prove that your work is worth $1000 then you can really ask that much.

 

Second mistake was saying that you would do it for $50, going down from £1000 to $50, is like whaaaat...

 

Thirdly before the wedding you should have met with the customer to discuss what they want and what you will deliver. Make a contract and get them to sign it.

 

Fourthly if they want physical prints... then that is an extra cost.... charge them for the prints, it is one thing to give someone your time for cheap/free it is another thing to go out of pocket for them. That is a terrible business model.

 

Fifthly after you have had the worst costumer of your life. Then don't come on public forums and say "after I emailed the bitch the photos" calling your customer a bitch it just terribly unprofessional. It doesn't matter how bad they were.

 

I think that you should have approached this: Charged $250-$350 for the day. With a contract that outlines the final product. If they want anything physical then charge the costs of it.

 

But then i am looking at that from a photographers point of view, you said that you did videography,