photographer is freaking out about my review

[LC_Rachel]

Although it probably doesn't even help much, I didn't notice your train at all in any of those pics. I thought the b&w window one was gorgeous.

I can't believe all that was only $800 too! Wow.

[Lizz]

Originally Posted by TammyB

Ok so I remember back when I got married many women were upset with JC because he was behind in his photos, ono bride posted a VERY honest review. JC commented to it and accepted that is was a problem and is taking the steps to correc it. My point in telling you this is because IMO she should have accepted the review as it was and took it as a learning experience. That is pretty sh*tty on her part that she is blaming you for ruining her rap. Shame on her..


BTW on this forum we are happy to hear comments back from vendors, sometimes it helps to see both sides of the story. Ya know?

I remember when this happened and it really impressed me the way that he handled it.

Your photographer needs to learn how to handle criticism. Otherwise she's not gonna make it too long in the business (because no one is perfect)!

[SunBride]

yeah, I purposely chose the black and white one by the window because it's too dark to notice the train. In the color ones it's more noticeable.

Again though, totally not a big deal, I'm ony slightly disappointed about it.

[leigh miller]

as a photographer im not sure if i should put in my 2 cents or not. but since i always have an opinion - here goes!

i think while not all reviews will be 100% positive, some can be. sometimes you can be 100% happy with things. i think back to my wedding and there were definately aspects of it that i was 100% happy with. so i think you can be honest and still write a review that is 100% positive when warranted.

as a photographer i have to tell you i work my ass off at weddings. i put everything i have into every wedding and it is personal. it is business but personal too. i develop wonderful relationships with my couples and seriously just love them to death. i think in all the time ive been doing wedding photography ive had 2 couples with issues related to their pics and in reality they just wanted a more traditional photographer than i am and neither one of us realized it until after the wedding date. (in fact one complaint was about the train being messed up but im 90% a PJ shooter and no way am i going to interrupt a moment to straighten out a train) i work really hard to screen my couples and make sure we are a good match. no ones happy and it doesnt work if we arent. and thats no good for all of us. i want couples who love and i mean LOVE my work and see my vision. so id rather turn down a wedding and lose the money than have a bad match with a couple. am i perfect...no way. but i work my hardest on every single wedding and want everyone to be so happy at the end they want to name their first born after me (yes i had a bride who said she was going to do this!)

so i dont want you to feel bad at all about giving an honest review but i just want to give some perspective about how photographers feel about their weddings and couples.

there is one thing i read in the review that i would call your attention to...this part...(3) in some of the photos of our rings on the starfish my ring is placed with the diamonds down (no big deal as in one of them its fine, plus in all the ones of the ring on the flowers its showing properly so I’ll mostly print those instead)

it seems to me there is the one photo that the ring is facing the right direction and the rest it isnt. so you have the one you need right? as a photographer i probably would have edited out the ones that werent and then...there you go...you wouldnt have seen the wrong way ones. but every photographer has a reason for the way they do things so im not say the way your photographer edited is right or wrong.

im trying to think of an example from my own business to share...i had a bride who wanted to know why the sky wasnt blue behind her during the ceremony and she wasnt happy about this as she had always imagined those beautiful blue skies behind her. well the reason was because of where the sun was positioned that time of day. the pretty blue skies were the other direction. opposite her ceremony site. so sometimes there could be a reason that you just dont understand cause these arent things we think about everyday and probably dont even know if youre not used to thinking about light. if she would have gone on to a forum and posted how i messed up the blue skies in her pics i would have been upset and felt i was reviewed unfairly. so thats just an example i can think of.

i agree that feedback is important. if there some areas where clients feel i could improve i wouldnt mind hearing it at all. weddings are emotional events and i know emotions play into reviewing. it sounds like you were feeling stressed about somethings and she was too. i have a therapy background and i think it helps me maintain my cool in stressful situations. i remember being more stressed about my first few destination weddings than i get now. i prepare as best i can but do get a little anxious before every wedding, domestic or destination. just a little ball in my gut. but i look at that as a good thing. if i didnt get that little ball i think it would mean i quit caring. and then i just need to quit all together!

it seems overall youre very happy with your pics and thats the most important thing, well that and the fact you are married to the man of your dreams. i hope this all gets resolved. it might feel really intense right now but will feel less intense in a few weeks and then you can get back to focusing on what you like about your wedding pics and your wonderful wedding memories! best wishes :)

ps - i know im not on here as much as i used to be and a lot of you dont know me. i hope this has be helpful nonetheless.

[SunBride]

Thanks Leigh for responding. I did feel bad knowing she would probalby be disappointed or uspet when she read the review (although I never imagined it would be so bad), because she worked so so hard (and I think I say that a lot in my review) but I still thought that brides should still know. Maybe I should have only mentioned the first one or two negative aspects and left out the rest. I was definitely nitpicking when I posted the comments about some of the photos, I tried to make it obvious that I was being nit picky so that people could just dismiss my comments, or think "wow, if that's all she can think of to complain about that's great"

about the ring pictures, there are lets say about 10 pictures of my ring on the starfish on the beach. The one where it is okay was taken inside the room, so totally different picture (starfish is leaning against my little ring jar). Of teh ones on the beach the only one I would put in my album is the one that is farther away and taken from the side (rather than the top) so that you can't see the ring details. I wouldn't bother printing the others since they don't show my ring properly. Again, this is being really nitpicky, I said I didn't really care because I have other awesome photos of my rings on the flower, so maybe I should have just not mentioned it at all.

[Morgan]

Thanks for a photographer's view Leigh. It's great to hear your prospective.

I do feel that the discount you get for hiring someone who is doing one of their first DWs does come along with getting someone who is more stressed about the situation. Hopefully as she does more she'll be able to keep her cool better.

Again, I don't think there was anything wrong with your review. You have posted so many great, detailed reviews on the forum. I think I just can see her side a little too from an outside perspective.

[SunBride]

The minute she saw my review she deleted all her photos from the dreams tulum facebook group (and also removed me from her professional facebook account) because she said that she can't imagine anybody would want to see them after reading my review. Yikes!

[leigh miller]

i definately didnt want to make you feel bad or guilty about your review, at all. i hope i didnt come across that way. just some observations from my experience as a photographer.

congrats on your marriage! what a wonderful time in your life. im an old married woman now. i miss those newlywed days ha!

although my hubby had a nice present for me when i returned from riviera maya sunday and took 1/2 a day off monday to go to lunch and hangout. i told him i should be gone more often!

[Morgan]

Originally Posted by SunBride

The minute she saw my review she deleted all her photos from the dreams tulum facebook group (and also removed me from her professional facebook account) because she said that she can't imagine anybody would want to see them after reading my review. Yikes!

Wow that is her loss. Now she won't have your pictures for her portfolio. I hope you can straighten it out. You don't have to be buddies, but hopefully you can come to an understanding.

I'm not sure why she hated Punta Cana so much either. Theft will happen at any tourist spot. maybe destination photography is not her thing. She'll figure that out in time if it isn't.

[SunBride]

oh no Leigh, you don't make me feel bad at all.

and your point about things not being perfect in photojournalistic style photos is a good one, something that people should keep in mind when choosing a photographer of that style. this was not Jodi's style at all for the pictures of people because she was all about giving lots of instruction, but we liked that. It probably did contribute to making the photos session less fun though

Originally Posted by Morgan

Wow that is her loss. Now she won't have your pictures for her portfolio. I hope you can straighten it out. You don't have to be buddies, but hopefully you can come to an understanding.

well she still has them on her website, she just deleted the pics and all her comments from the facebook group. All this within 5 minutes of reading the review (I know, because she emailed me about something 5 minutes before I got the email saying she had read the review)