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I would just let him know that you have decided to go a different route and that you can no longer use him as a photographer. You don't owe him an explanation other than that and if he asks, you can just tell him that since you are long distance, you needed a bit more contact via email and telephone. You can also wish him the best in his career and apologize for any inconveniences. I doubt there are any because you gave him 900 for some shoddy pix but hey it's always nice to say.
My first reaction is to see what the contract says and then terminate your relationship based on provisions in the contract. Perhaps there is a provision for canceling and having part of all of your deposit returned.
The "contract" states if the wedding is cancelled all deposits are non-refundable. I think I am owe at least half that money since the reason for my cancellation is his work...not an actual cancellation of the wedding. I'd like to actually see the rest of the pictures before sending the email so I have some examples to attach.
Sent you a much longer PM, but the basic point is - work with a photographer who makes you happy. Check your contract again, and then cancel in writing.
Thank you! I have contacted our vendor and have reached out to several new vendors. I am so disapointed...if these were our wedding pictures I would be distraught. There are a few good ones...but the majority are dark and blurry.
there are quite a good number of florida photographers on the board and in florida, check the classifieds to see their work....
WDWBride: Our photography contract included something about how the work had to match the quality advertised on the photog's blog, site or portfolio. Is there anything in your photog contract that states that? If so, you should definitely be owed some sort of refund.
Even if it doesn't, if the quality of work is significantly less than what you previously saw, I would still think you have a case. Ask about a refund (at least half) an be very honest. I would bring up that since this is a destination wedding, e-mail and phone communication is crucial, and that the quality of the photos was disappointing, and not at all close to what you had previously seen to make you want to hire them. If they don't budge, I would calmly explain that you'll be discussing this with a lawyer and writing negative reviews on wedding websites, expressing your side of the story. Then see what they say. They key is to always be calm and reasonable.
Good luck, and I'm sorry your e-pics didn't turn out well, but like you said, at least they're not your wedding photos!
Thank you both. I am trying to find someone new who fits our style..and our budget. I have asked for half our deposit back. It's amazing how different our pictures are then what we have previously seen. I am nervous that we have had no contact for 3 weeks...hopefully he contacts me soon. I can't wait to get these pics uploaded!!
Hopefully you find a better photographer!
@ Shangchen, are you a "dgrinner" by chance? :D
Here are a couple of bad ones. I can't access them all...it keeps crashing my laptop, lol.
The last one's not too bad but I wouldn't consider any of those pro quality. Wow. I hope he gives you half the deposit back! Yikes!
Good luck finding a great photographer! :)
Yeah, check with the contract and go from there. Sometimes it's just the initial deposit that can't be refunded but any and all additional payments should be fully refundable. Always check the contract and go from there and sorry that you ran into an issue with your photographer. From those three shots, I can see exactly what he/she did wrong. Working without a flash can ruin images and the out of focus shots happens but is something that should take up only 5% of your overall images. To avoid these issues, the photographer should have set their camera to f/4 or higher to avoid blurry images and shoot at higher than 125th of a second to avoid camera shakes which ultimately causes a blurry effect. Find yourself an amazing photographer and make sure that your NEW photographer shows a TON of photos on their website. The more, the merrier which is why I post hundreds and hundreds on my site because I want couples to see that I'm very consistent. Hope this helps..!! : )
The last ones not bad...but it's not good either!! I mean you can't really see us. I wouldn't mind shots like that if I had some really great ones of us. I really want to go through them and see how many are blurry...
Also, that one in the dark. WTF? There were lots of those. I am still waiting contact back from him. I don't want to trash his reputation or anything but I didn't get what had been advertised. And since it's a destination wedding, we can't do it over.
I'm no photographer, but even I can see that he has some problems determining how he should shoot as far as shadow/light and where the light should be falling.
I have to wonder why he didn't catch this? Or why there is no editing on any of the photos that didn't turn out so great? I mean, even if editing wasn't my thing I'd still be fixing brightness/contrast... hmm. Go with a better photographer! Your memories are so WORTH IT even if you don't get the money back.
I kinda wonder why he sent me some of these myself. I would have thought he would see how bad they are and not include them. I don't know how many good ones we have but there are enough bad ones he should have caught most of those.
Just a mini-update. We went through all 450 pictures and they just get worse.
Remember I emailed him on Friday asking him if he knew when they'd be ready...then again on Monday. Yesterday I emailed letting him know we'd be cancelling. He all of a sudden got my emails...he responded to Friday's email with, call my wife I think they are ready....dude you already mailed them to me!!
He is trying to salvage this, I get it. But my fiance was so upset. We only picked out about 10 pics. Bad light, blurriness, wierd poses....they just aren't professional!
He called and left me a message and I returned that, leaving a message. I am waiting to hear back and hopefully have good news (a refund!)
I'm so sorry this happened to you :( That is one of the big reasons to do engagement shoots though, so you can tell if your photographer is up to your standards for your wedding day. Thank goodness this didn't happen on your wedding day!
I'd cut your losses and find a new photographer. I know it stinks losing the money, but it sure beats having all the anxiety of trusting him on your wedding day.
I hope you find someone!
Wow, good to know you canceled. I hope you get a refund, but even if you don't, I'm glad your wedding day pics won't look like those pics above!
So sorry this happened. Those pictures really are not professional quality. Like what was said above, this is why engagement sessions are so important - to make sure this is the right photographer & you work well together.
Good luck with the new search. I'm sure you will find someone that can do a great job for your big day.
Yay for you doing what you want and not feeling bad. It's a business, he can't get too hurt over it. If you're nice as a client, you seem perfectly reasonable, I see no reason why this can't be salvaged into a refund and you go on your way. Hey! You even have some time to get another engagement shoot done by a true professional!
If he refuses to refund part of the deposit, don't be afraid to try small claims court. Even though your contract says the deposit is non-refundable, given the quality of work and how long you have before the wedding, I think a judge would be sympathetic. I'd be pretty sad to lose the entire deposit, so I wouldn't give up on it immediately.
I'm so sorry about your photos! It's a good thing you caught this before the wedding... whoa. Good luck getting your deposit back.
Yikes, Yes, RUN AWAY! What website did he have 'rave reviews' on!? Those pictures you posted were no where near pro quality. And as a photographer, I think regardless of contract you should indeed receive at least 50% of your money back. I think that is more than fair. It would stink to loose the deposit but I think by hiring a true pro you'll be so much happier in the end than by trying to salvage money.
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I'm not quite sure the best way to go about this. Based on the recommendations from another website, we selected a photographer that has RAVE reviews. He was within our price range and available!! Since we are having a destination wedding and got the chance to visit our location last month we thought we'd do Engagment picutres. Not so much because we needed them but so we could have a chance to meet out wedding photographer.
First of all he showed up 10 minutes late...no big deal really. Our e-pic session was about 45 minutes long and afterwards we discussed in detail the wedding day timeline. I paid $175 for our session that day and we have paid over $900 in deposits. After almost 3 weeks with NO contact, I sent a friendly email asking when our pics might be ready. 4 days later, still no contact so I sent another email.
This morning I found 2 cd's mailed to us by our photographer...still no email or phone contact. I am having trouble opening the CD's but the first 5 I have looked at are awful...very blurry and just akward. I don't think this is the right photographer for us. I know I won't get all my money back but I think I should get some of it back due to the lack of his skills. If I were cancelling on my own accord, I wouldn't expect a dime.
How should I handle? I kind of want to email, so I have a record of everything. What do you girls think?
When I get the pics up, I will post a few.