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Have you guys seen this? Scroll right down the page to see the photos, I really don't think they're that bad, but wow, this is intense scrutiny.
Doesn't she?! I mean, I get that she was stressed out, and occasionally she had valid points, but for the most part she got what I thought were beautiful photos for a great price at $1,950, and she goes on and on and on about them as though he were being paid $9k for a professional kit out shoot!
Whoa, she got those photos for less than $2k?! I thought they were marvelous, for what it's worth. She's just too damn picky. Disgusting.
I actually really liked some of the artistic angles and lighting he used.
Granted I only read bits and pieces of the review, so she may have some other valid arguments that I'm not aware of because I didn't read, but in general I thought he got some really lovely shots and for only like $2,000......pretty good!!
that was like a train wreck--didn't want to keep reading on and on and on, but dammit, just couldn't help it! I agree, looked like excellent work for a knockout price
I'm glad to see some honest reviews for a change. All the sugar coated ones seem to be the only ones that many sites will 'allow' to be published,and its pretty frustrating as a potential client to read only the good.
I agree with her on most of them...his lighting was lousy and pictures were blurred,and some pretty bad cropping. Not what I would expect from a professional either, especially when she has examples of just other guests' photos to compare.
ps: forgot to add--moral of the story--THOROUGH interview with your photographer, including portfolio of his/her work so that you know for sure his "art" isn't your "WTF" :)
Holy cow, talk about a bridezilla. She got some great photos for only 2k. How is it the photographer's fault for a ribbon coming loose on a boutineer. She should've just asked a family member to take the pictures. I thought those were horrible but if she liked them so much she shouldn't have hired a professional. Also, wouldn't you review a photographer's work before hiring them? She has to have known the style. I feel terrible for the photographer.
Aesthetically, I don't like her photographer's style. But if she hired him, I would hope that she did. Either way, though, her writing style and grammar were so atrocious that I couldn't get through her entire review. And she sounds like a nut.
It really was a train wreck. I have done some Photography and you can tell there is bad lighting, the editing he did that "made the pictures brighter" looked horrible, the fog pictures were better. There was actually very few GOOD pictures that she posted.
For $2000 dollars I'd find a photographer who could properly light and edit images and who was more professional TBH.
Her photographer's style looked good to me...She was annoying me with all of her whining. I couldn't even read it all. And the photos her family took that sheLOVED, sucked. They were washed out and overexposed. If she liked that style of photo so much she should have never hired a pro. For the price she got some great shots.
What kills me is that this couple set up that blog for the sole purpose of trashing that photographer! Someone has waaaay too much time on their hands!!
The colors are off due to the lighting. It looks like he attempted to shoot it with all natural lighting (no flashes or strobes). It appears on some he simply had his shutter speed to low and got some motion blur. Simply using a flash would have fixed this.
While she comes across as being very critical....his images were piss poor. I am a freelance photographer and he should know his equipment well enough to produce quality images regardless of the weather and natural lighting. That is what separates professionals from anyone that just owns a dSLR...consistently producing quality images.
Interview your photographer and ask to see 100s of images 1,000s if neccessary to make sure they are qualified. Everyone has a different style and finding a photographer that matches yours will eliminate a lot of problems and disappointment afterwards.
I have no problem with what she is doing. His pictures suck and his attitude sucked. Maybe the couple could have handled some stuff better, but it's their WEDDING and photos of their wedding that they will have forever. I would be LIVID and beside myself too.
Who the hell has the time to write such an epic?! Lady: get a life!
I think all the photos her sister took are pretty crappy compared to the photog's. I think she has valid points about the framing of a couple of the shots and about the b/w vs colour issue, but the nitpicking over everything else is so stupid. And the issue about the groom's bout had me completely tuning out, at that point I stopped giving her any credit.
ok, so I had to leave a comment for this wacko on her blog!!! She is completely insane!!!
This is what I said...
"You're kidding me right? I think your photographer got tons of AMAZING shots. A few of your guests shots are ok but I think the photographers are way better. You should be very glad you got such amazing detailed photos such as your dress, guestbook, favor table items, your hubby's boutonniere (why should it be the photographers fault it's falling apart?). I think the photo he took of you and the ring bearer is so adorable, not all pictures have to be head on to be amazing.... I think you should take a look at other photographers websites and see how many are VERY similar to yours. And for being as "upset" as you are, your e-mails to him seem AWFULLY friendly and buddy buddy. You need a reality check lady. Please note that I have most definitely never heard of this guy. I just happened to find your blog through a wedding website."
Whatever. To those brides being dismissive about her whinning, I know people have different styles but that guy majorly sucked. Sucked lemons. I don't like most of his pictures. Hopefully you won't find yourself in her position. If I paid someone 2k and I had those pictures, I'd be really really pissed. And 2k might seem cheap to some of you, you don't know if that's in the high end in her market. I didn't read her epistle, I just scanned the pictures. They weren't good.
I'm sorry but the photos her "family" took are AWFUL. While the lighting is strange in some of the pro's pic..the angles and look of the photos were pretty.
The ones she preferred, which wre the ones her guests took, just look like regular picture taking...nothing artistic or pretty about it.
To me, she doesn't seem to have a good eye for photography.
And what's her deal with cropping things out of the frame. If you center everything, the photos will look BORING
ummmm i thought that there were some really nice shots in there. people like this drive me nuts
I think that since many of you haven't had your weddings yet, you may feel differently and would be more critical and unhappy if they were your pictures. Since there aren't any 'do-overs' of the actual day, expectations of the professionals being hired hired to capture it all is pretty high. No matter how many questions are asked and portfolios examined, sometimes the photography is disappointing.
Many of the pictures taken by family and friends at my daughter's wedding in May were much better than the professional ones. I hope none of you are only happy with 60 pictures out of the 750 taken as we all were.
I wish I could see the whole gallery. There is a picture of the couple on his splash page (butterfly tat) and that one was way more gorgeous than the ones she posted. Just wondered what the entire collection had.
That would suck to not get a picture with your mom! But wouldn't they made and effort to pose? Having pictures with your mom sound very important to her, and I wondered why she (or her mom) didn't pull the photographers arm to make it happen.
He has an edgy style which I'm sure what the bride wanted after looking at his portfolio. But I can't say I'm a fan of the overly red-hued photos.
The one of the groom feeding her the cake was really nice I thought. It had a neat color that wasn't overbearing and the angle was better and more sensual than her relatives (nom nom caake!). Same with the toast. He had the angles spot on! No photobombs on these.
Timing of events didn't look good, assuming he only had a shot of the cake before the 3rd topper was placed and only of the blank wooden guest book. They are gorgous nonetheless but I'd be upset if there wasn't a professional one with all the signatures and the completed cake.
The one of the dresser and her back in the mirror...that's part of his style. There's one shot on his side that's mostly of a door but same idea. I thought that's pretty badass!
I thought some of the objects thought were cool, even though she was irritated with the bucket pictures. But I would probably be irritated as well if I had better pictures of buckets than any with family members.
I agree that some of the framing was off. But you can photoshop to fix it and again I wonder what the rest of the pics look like in regards to his framing.
If I were in this situation, I would blame myself for not having pictures with my parents. Sure the photographer shouldn't have to be told explicitly to take pics with your parents, but I would be mad at myself first for not seeking him out to take pictures with my mom. (Though in reality my mom wouldn't let the photographer leave the door without at least a 100 pictures of us ;))
I'd be happy with those photos, especially for that price. Then again, sometimes I think I am a lot more easygoing than most brides.
I'm not an expert, but I think his photos are way better than the family photos. Also, who rants about the fact that her moms dress was cut off in the pic? I wouldnt have noticed if she hadnt pointed it out, and even if I did...it wouldnt have been a big deal.
Personally, I don't think this was nitpicking. I'd be very upset with those photos, even at that price. The images WERE blurred and poorly lit, the cropping was bizarre and took away from the images. It really looked like he was trying to be artistic but didn't have an artist's eye. If her rings were a pretty color combo, that should have been showcased. Showing the favor sign but not the favors? Seems illogical to me. I feel for this poor bride, she sounds like she feels truly taken advantage of.
There were a lot of problems with the photographer, but there were also several really good artistic shots that she completely steamrolled. And what is with her blaming the photog for a wilted leaf or unraveled ribbon on the bout? That's the florist's fault, not his!
I thought the pictures looked really good and artistic. And all of the things she complained about were consistent throughout all of his pictures (such as the colors, the focus, etc) which make me think its his artistic style. And for the record I didn't really see how the pictures were out of focus. Her mom was in plenty of the photos even if the bottom of her dress was cut off, her face and her body were there loud and clear. I LOVED the use of colors in the photos, I think it adequately displayed the vibrant color scheme that the bride was talking about.
Anyway, some people will complain about anything. She probably got mad at him about one thing and then decided to scrutinize everything else to find something wrong. I am so glad I am not a critical person, it sounds so unhappy!
@ crayfish: a good photographer taking a detail shot will style the shot to make sure it looks right--fix a stray tendril, plump a wilted flower or ask someone to straighten a dress train. obviously this can't occur in photojournalistic "capture the moment" shots, but for an up-close of the bout, he should have fixed the details. but you're right there were lots of great shots that i think the bride, in her anger, ignored.
Whoa, that was exhausting. After looking at those photos it appears to me that this photographer has a particular style...was this not apparent in looking at the rest of his work?? Some of those photos are really nice shots, in my opinion.
I would have been pissed too at the quality and lack of communication, but i wouldn't have made a whole blog about it, i couldn't even read the whole thing. I paid $1300 for my wedding pics and they were a million times better than what she got for $2k. I agree that he wasn't able to get the true colors of her wedding colors, so i think she has a right to be pissed
Fascinating case study, overall I mostly worry that her reaction was disproportionate to the problems she had. The internet is so full of vigilante justice that it can get worrying, leaving a vendor with an unfair review at times. I just wonder if she really took the right action setting up this blog.
i can't really blame her for sounding like she was nagging. i'm certain that the interaction the day of the wedding and following colored her review causing her to fixate on items that she feels were controllable. i admit, if i had a photographer that was that flakey when trying to get my photo album i'd get ticked too. do i feel like she nit-pikked a bit with the photos? yeah, but that's just because i'm not that into photos. do i think she nit-pikked over his responses? no. he should have responded promptly and with much of the information (like the shipping information) right away instead of leaving them hanging. telling your costumer that the book will be in in 10 business days, not providing the shipping tracking information, and then getting annoyed with the costumers when they emailed asking the status after more than the alloted time elapsed because you are out of town is unprofessional
Wow, ok all I can say is that:
I don't really like the unprofessional way she says "hey man" and "what up?!" in her emails. Really? And her need to have phone records indicating time called....not necessary. We believe you
I actually find her way more offensive then him by all means. The way she antagonizes him by commenting on his twitter page and his blog and telling him through email that she can't believe he's lying around in his boxers instead of working on his pictures. Give me a break! She was a bitch the whole time.
And the pictures that she liked better then his made her look stupid. Granted I don't understand some of the pictures she included but some of them she was whining about were actually great! (like the toast picture) I just don't understand some people...
P.S. Her husband responded to @chicklet1587:
P.S.S. Her husband also said that he and his wife were nothing but respectful and professional to the photog. No way!
I actually really like a lot of his shots!! I can't believe she wrote that WHOLE thing about it...does she not have anything better to do.
I'm sure there are real photographer horror stories out there that would put this bride's personal pityparty to shame. I mean, could the photography have been better? Yes. Were there pictures that I would have said WTF about if I were the bride? For sure. The bottom line is she got a lot of photographs of her wedding day with almost all of the important moments captured for a very inexpensive price and it sounds like she got more time and more images out of the guy than he usually gives. I agree with WellyKiwi that her complaints and setting up this blog with the express purpose of ruining this guy's career are disproportionate to her actual problems here.
I just read through the entire blog, and the issue here is not that her photos were bad...rather, the couple is upset about how the photographer dealt with them on a personal level. His communication was not what they thought was appropriate, and the obligations for deadlines were not met.
A lot of emotions are involved with wedding photos, and I can totally see how the bride and groom in this case became frustrated by the circumstances. Realistically, both the photographer and the clients seem to have responded to these situations a bit "emotionally," if you will. Still, as a photographer you are running a "customer service" related business, and it is unrealistic for the photographer to think that he will never encounter a couple that isn't 100% satisfied with their images. Sadly, the wedding industry is a 'one time only' service for most, so sometimes vendors don't seem to feel the need to follow up on the back end of things, since they don't get repeat customers to their business.
Anyway...for those of you who aren't married yet...I'd be interested to see how you feel about this after your wedding is over and you start seeing your images. I think you might find yourself very emotionally charged (good OR bad) towards them.
I couldn't help myself so I commented on the blog (which is now closed for comments), "I agree with you that the professionalism of this photographer in his correspondence leaves something to be desired. The conversations, as you have documented, are clearly an escalation of inappropriate comments, condescending tones, and finger-pointing FROM BOTH SIDES. I interviewed a TON of wedding photographers in our search for the appropriate vendor and most do not do blemish editing. Unfortunately, you have no proof of such a promise outside of recounted conversations and it doesn’t seem to be included in your contract or I’m sure we would have seen an excerpt.
As far as deadlines and contract dates go he missed them but did try to provide an amicable means to satisfy your discontent. The pictures are no where near as bad as you and your wife have nit-picked them. In fact I put a lot of the blame for the lack of desired photos in your court. If you wanted specific images captured you should have provided a detailed list to your photographer like every wedding website suggests. Could the photos shown on this blog have been better… definitely but do I think you are showing me the worst of the worst…definitely.
I don’t think the blame for the dissolution of this relationship can be placed singularly on the shoulders of Clayton Austin Photography. This situation could have and should have been handle better from all sides. Hashing out your issues with him on a blog created for the sole intent of “reviewing” your experience only makes you out to be childish and vendictive."
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