Unique engagement shoot...

zoomer · April 25, 2009

I just finished an engagement shoot on a dairy farm in Idaho, and then we went up into the red rock cliffs for sunset.
A very unique shoot, I see lots of posts on here asking for ideas about doing engagement shoots. This was a very cute fun couple and we were able to do some fun shots.
Well there are lots of ideas here and just a fun shoot.
Take a look if you are interested, here is the link:
http://alloutdoor.smugmug.com/gallery/8005781_TpHCa

lashmonster · April 25, 2009

Nice shoot! Definitely something they will treasure in later years as well.

mtmcelvy · April 25, 2009

great shoot!! that sky in the last couple is excellent!

Shima · April 25, 2009

These came out great, what a fabulous setting you had!

frg · April 25, 2009

lovely.

JackieHollow · April 25, 2009

I love these!! Your chocolate conversion on the rocks is just fabulous!!!

Shayebryd · April 25, 2009

These photos ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing.....................LOVE #41.......................plus so many many many more...........awesome job!!!!!!!!!

zoomer · April 26, 2009

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Glad you liked the gallery.

picturegirl · April 27, 2009

I enjoyed these, what a fun couple, you can really tell they enjoy each other. I really liked the equipment pics and some of your black and whites were fantastic!!

zoomer · April 27, 2009

Thanks picturegirl, appreciate your comments.
Just as a post script, the girl in the pictures sent me a mail today and said she didn't like them and wanted to do a reshoot....you just never know what the client is going to like.

picturegirl wrote:

I enjoyed these, what a fun couple, you can really tell they enjoy each other. I really liked the equipment pics and some of your black and whites were fantastic!!

Agnieszka · April 28, 2009

Those came out great Zoomer! What a cute couple! You got some awesome candid shots too!

hoyinsiu · April 28, 2009

nice place for the shoot, especially the red rock cliffs

kdspencer · April 28, 2009

Seriously?? She didn't like any of them?

Wow. Sorry to hear that.

I think they're pretty amazing and hope to copy some of what you've done in my work with couples.

Thanks for sharing!
Kathleen

Agnieszka · April 28, 2009

zoomer wrote:

Just as a post script, the girl in the pictures sent me a mail today and said she didn't like them and wanted to do a reshoot....you just never know what the client is going to like.

Wait ... what????

Now ... that's something else!!

Ok, so now I'm actually curious ... How did you handle this email? I mean the photos are obviously beautiful and it looks like you got different looks so I'm sure mom should have been happy too.

I wouldn't worry about the set, you got many good responses here .. I think eventually we'll all run into a client like this!

Blurmore · April 28, 2009

Agnieszka wrote:

Wait ... what???? Now ... that's something else!!

Ok, so now I'm actually curious ... How did you handle this email? I mean the photos are obviously beautiful and it looks like you got different looks so I'm sure mom should have been happy too.

I wouldn't worry about the set, you got many good responses here .. I think eventually we'll all run into a client like this!

Part of the reason I include an engagement sitting with my services. If I produced images of that quality, and they garnered that response I would refund their deposit IMMEDIATELY and clear my calendar for that day. Some people can not be pleased, and I do my best to steer clear of them before there is a major issue. I'd probably explain the refund as realizing that we are a "bad match".

Agnieszka · April 28, 2009

Blurmore wrote:

Part of the reason I include an engagement sitting with my services. If I produced images of that quality, and they garnered that response I would refund their deposit IMMEDIATELY and clear my calendar for that day. Some people can not be pleased, and I do my best to steer clear of them before there is a major issue. I'd probably explain the refund as realizing that we are a "bad match".

Yeah, but that might come back and bite you .... they might say some bad things about you in forums and other places ...

Outch! But on the other hand ... you are probably right, and this is just not a good match

How try to get out of the contract but reschoot the e-pics? (to calm down the spirits?) Ugh!

picturegirl · April 28, 2009

zoomer wrote:

Thanks picturegirl, appreciate your comments.
Just as a post script, the girl in the pictures sent me a mail today and said she didn't like them and wanted to do a reshoot....you just never know what the client is going to like.

Wow I am suprised that she didn't like any of them. Did she say why? I guess she is at least offering a reshoot but.... what a hassle, she obviously like working with you but I guess wanted a different style of pics??? I thought they were great, but you are right you never know what someone is going to think, usually it's the very insecure people that are not happy with how they look in the pics even though the pics are great.

zoomer · April 28, 2009

Yeah I was doing a lot of head scratching, I expected them to love the shots as we had a seriously great time during the photo shoot.
I feel that their photo shoot produced the best work I am capable of.

At first I was going to refund their money and tell them they obviously chose the wrong photographer as this gallery is very representative of what I do....my other galleries support this....but I could just imagine all the bad mouthing that would have generated.

Then I tried to see it from their point of view. This is each of their first marriages, I want their wedding to be a positive experience of which the photographer can be a bit part of that.
So I decided to take the high road and make lemonade out of this....thus hopefully generating positive word of mouth for going the extra mile to make them happy.

I told them to send me examples of the exact photos they want.
I will give them a 30 minute reshoot to take only those pictures.

I want them to be happy as I still have to shoot their wedding and a trash the dress session after.

You can see from the shoot that the couple was a blast at the photo session and attractive to boot. So as a photographer that is a win win for me. I don't know what happened to them between the photo shoot and the time they decided they didn't like any of their pictures.

I have a bad feeling that this is not going to be the end of the problems with these folks, however I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt.

WingsOfLovePhoto · April 28, 2009

zoomer wrote:

Thanks picturegirl, appreciate your comments.
Just as a post script, the girl in the pictures sent me a mail today and said she didn't like them and wanted to do a reshoot....you just never know what the client is going to like.

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!! UGH...

You've done some seriously good work Zoomer. And on every angle imaginable!! 118 pictures of awesomeness. I just had the same thing happen to me. Found out the motivation was that she just wanted a cheesy grin and a full length shot. Could that be her motivation? Just wanting a closeup for the paper where they are both looking straight into the camera and smiling? Are you gonna charge for the reshoot? Cause you must have put so much time and effort with all the conversions and all... total craziness. I feel your pain. My person ended up buying a $300.00 package anyway and decided against a reshoot. I wish the same for you! But on another note...were they all natural light or did you have to light them in some way?

Blurmore · April 28, 2009

Agnieszka wrote:

Yeah, but that might come back and bite you .... they might say some bad things about you in forums and other places ...

Outch! But on the other hand ... you are probably right, and this is just not a good match

How try to get out of the contract but reschoot the e-pics? (to calm down the spirits?) Ugh!

In my experience you rip the band aid off before you get a major infection. The work speaks for itself, it is quality work. If they bad mouthed what would it be specifically? "I didn't like them" thats opinion. Most people don't rant and rave on the internets because of simple opinion. Again, the work speaks for itself. Now if they came to me with specific shots that they didn't like or shots they DO like that were not taken...that is a different story. But seriously if I felt this represented my best effort, AND my style (which I think it does for Zoomer) I'd really try to make nice but get out of shooting their wedding.

Agnieszka · April 28, 2009

zoomer wrote:

I told them to send me examples of the exact photos they want.
I will give them a 30 minute reshoot to take only those pictures.

I have a bad feeling that this is not going to be the end of the problems with these folks, however I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Way to go

...

zoomer · April 28, 2009

thanks wingsoflove,
Really appreciate your comments, knowing other people like the photos helps a lot.
All were with natural light until right at the end as it got dark and I incorporated the sunset.

WingsOfLovePhoto wrote:

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!! UGH... You've done some seriously good work Zoomer. And on every angle imaginable!! 118 pictures of awesomeness. I just had the same thing happen to me. Found out the motivation was that she just wanted a cheesy grin and a full length shot. Could that be her motivation? Just wanting a closeup for the paper where they are both looking straight into the camera and smiling? Are you gonna charge for the reshoot? Cause you must have put so much time and effort with all the conversions and all... total craziness. I feel your pain. My person ended up buying a $300.00 package anyway and decided against a reshoot. I wish the same for you! But on another note...were they all natural light or did you have to light them in some way?

zoomer · April 28, 2009

Thanks Blurmore,
We have been pretty lucky with weeding out potential problems during the pre booking meetings. We have turned away several potential clients cause we knew they were not a good fit. These guys slipped through and during the shoot were excellent to work with.
I had a long discussion with my partner about just returning their money cause if they didn't like these pictures they probably aren't going to like anything we do for them.
We decided to go forward with the contract...hope we don't regret it.
I will have to remember to report back later on how it all ends up.

Blurmore wrote:

In my experience you rip the band aid off before you get a major infection. The work speaks for itself, it is quality work. If they bad mouthed what would it be specifically? "I didn't like them" thats opinion. Most people don't rant and rave on the internets because of simple opinion. Again, the work speaks for itself. Now if they came to me with specific shots that they didn't like or shots they DO like that were not taken...that is a different story. But seriously if I felt this represented my best effort, AND my style (which I think it does for Zoomer) I'd really try to make nice but get out of shooting their wedding.

VayCayMom · April 28, 2009

Zoomer, I am speechless about the response. Honestly, those pictures made me want to MOVE to Idaho so I could do work like that. That is the photographer in me. Now here is me the Mom, both of my daughters are married, we hired a great couple for the photos ( I was not dreaming I would ever one day do this myself!) We did research, so we knew the style, in fact this duo is retired from Hollywood and are kinda well known in photography circles. I rate YOUR series right up there!! And not to mention my oldest is the former Miss Arizona 2003 and I KNOW ALL ABOUT attractive photography from a Mom's viewpoint after 7 years in pageant circles.
Something a bit funny here, maybe her young age.

please keep us posted as to what she does want, and why did she not speak up during that extensive shoot?

lilmomma · April 28, 2009

I don't chime in much but I couldn't resist on this. I looked through your gallery yesterday and thought the whole time how awesome those were. then I hop on here today and see this? it's possible she's part blind, because I can't begin to imagine what she wouldn't like about them. Whatever you end up doing with this or take out of it just don't be discouraged. I'm no pro, but I think they are amazing.

mmmatt · April 28, 2009

Zoomer... something doesn't smell right here. I would think long and hard about working with these people. Do you know what they didn't like? maybe they don't like processed, or pano/square crop photos? This isn't just good work Zoomer, there are about 100 portfolio quality images in that gallery. Either they are trying to rip you off and get a price break or the girl has a mental illness. If this isn't some sort of sick joke you are playing on us you should be running away screaming IMHO. For anyone to not like these images is just crazy talk. They certainly looked at your galleries before hiring you and this is how you do what you do... most certainly representative of your work. I would start by finding out specifically what it is she doesn't like, and go from there.

Matt

VayCayMom · April 28, 2009

I just shared this story and the gallery with my husband. His take : the photography is great, awesome... seems to him the gal has an agenda, perhaps financial, but this does not pass the smell test in our HO.
I think she doesn't want to pay for it. I would cut my losses and run.

zoomer · April 28, 2009

I appreciate all of your support.
I should be interesting to see how this all plays out.

time2smile · April 29, 2009

Zoomer

These are fantastic, what a location.

She liked them so much that she wants more...
But doesnt want to pay for a reshoot...

zoomer · April 29, 2009

Wouldn't that be a twist,,good one.

time2smile wrote:

Zoomer

These are fantastic, what a location.

She liked them so much that she wants more...
But doesnt want to pay for a reshoot...

elizabeth_Luna · May 11, 2009

Zoomer sorry to hear about this - How did the pictures go on the 2nd shoot?

Unique engagement shoot...

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