September 17, 2009

• F R U S T R A T I O N

  F R U S T R A T I O N Or Shaking The Dust Off My Feet In addition to my own portrait and wedding client photography I do photographic editing for other photographers and a couple of graphic artists/design companies. Well.. WELL.. As of yesterday one photographer is permanently off my client list. The job of the day was to edit an image that is for a magazine cover that is local to her area. I have edited images for this magazine for her in the past. Now let me preface this with saying that this woman really does not have the tehchnical aspects of photography down. Do we all make mistakes? Yes. Are we perfect? No. Do we all need to grow and change and evolve in our professions? Absofreakinlootly. I won’t lie and say that I personally do not have room for improvement.. heck yes I do… BUT.. If you are putting yourself out there as a professional, asking professional prices, using professional equipment, etc. you have the responsibility to work in a professional manner, behave as a professional towards clients and peers, and produce work of a professional caliber. She continually fails in all three of these areas. And no, its not _just my opinion. I have actually had multiple occasions to speak to and deal with other professionals that have run afoul of this gal’s ….temperment and work demeanor. I have put myself out there to be helpful to her in that I given her advice on how to better her imaging (per her specific request). I have helped her with computer issues extensively. I have helped her repeatedly with advice with photographic equipment, lighting, graphic design, and on and on and on. I have had to set hard lines on appropriate times for her to expect to communicate with me. She continually will call me at 8,9, 10,11 o’clock in the evening wanting to discuss jobs. On my days off, during dinner, during family time. ::blink:: Hello?! She just doesn’t listen to advice. She hears, but doesn’t do a blasted thing to implement the advice that is given. So why in the heck ask in the first place…?! I DO NOT GET IT. And to quote Anna, I can’t think like that. So yesterday I edited an image for her for the cover of the magazine. In talking to her she told me that the client said the image was too dark, that there was no separation between the people and the background, and they needed the top extended to allow for the copy and logo for the magazine cover. This was via Facebook chat. One other thing I Have Asked REPEATEDLY is to EMAIL ME SPECIFIC instructions. Give me all that I need for the jobs (additional images for compositing, layouts for magazines or design, etc.), client requests, time frame that client needs the image(s). You know… STUFF THAT MAKES SENSE to complete a job. Duuuhhhh. Yeah. This is not done 5 out of 7 times. Now…let me tell you about the image: 1. It was shot it in JPG instead of RAW. That means that extensive editing (which this image desperately needed) it is going to block the colors and shadows up (meaning they will lose information and when the image is printed it will not have good detail), and the highlights will blow (all detail will be gone in the brightest areas).. She said she forgot to set the camera correctly…not cool when you are being paid to photograph people for a client, for an image that is going on a magazine that will have 50,000 copies or more printed.. Not always a big deal because we ALL make errors. Except— 2. The image is VERY underexposed. By about a stop and a half to two full stops (meaning it needed twice the amount of light it received to expose the image correctly). The image was hot at 200 ISO @125sec/4.5. The camera used is a high end camera that can be set up to 3000 ISO without showing grain. She screwed up the shoot. The background is almost black…the mom has black hair and there is no separation between her and what is behind her. Her eyes are black holes…as well as the kids.Dead eyes are an image’s bane.The mother’s head looks like its floating in space. Just a poorly executed image all around. She is a professional?! Learn to use a freaking reflector, bounce card, flash or SET THE DAMNED CAMERA the way it should be set.This is a continual problem with this person….its not a once-in-a-while-oops. The flipping camera all but sets the shot up for you. All she had to do was trust the camera’s meter. Oh but she doesn’t know HOW to use the camera’s meter because she won’t read the instructions. Or take a class. Or do anything that makes sense. Gah. 3. It must have been raining slightly because the subjects have rain splatters all over their clothing. One of the children has a dirty face..his shirt is full of lint and crap and bleh. These are things that should have been checked for BEFORE the shoot. It wouldn’t be a big deal except, SHE NEVER CHECKS THINGS BEFOREHAND!!!! But then she wants me to fix them AND doesn’t want to pay for my time. OK so those are the big things. It was just a bad image. I did what I was asked to do. Its still not a great image, but it looks substantially better. As good as its going to get with what I was given. So I uploaded the edited file and she came back with questions/tweaks. I answered them. She asked. She didn’t like the answers because basically she wanted the image to look like she gave me, but…. better. Ummm… there was no detail in the shadows. And the image is mostly dark tones because of how it was shot, where it was shot and that the image is underexposed. OK the image looks like crap, you want it to stay looking like crap yet, do what the client wants? You can’t HAVE IT BOTH WAYS. I didn’t say that to her. lol I just answered her questions. Then she called me. It was almost 8 o’clock. This isn’t WORKING HOURS WOMAN. Working hours are 10-6. What. The. Hell. She called to say she liked the way the “tones, color and clarity” of the original image was more than what I had given her edited. Ok that isn’t a problem BUT the image HAD no tones, color, clarity. It was so underexposed that the mom had the floaty head thing going on, the skin tones were muddy and nasty, the background was black, etc. etc. She started going on about how “Let’s go back to the original image and just do this..and give them that, and etc. etc. Basically saying she wants me to redo the whole image. That she didn’t ask me to do what I did. I didn’t kowtow to her… I said you DID ask me to separate the people from the bg. You told me on Facebook that the client said there was no separation. You asked me to extend the top. Now she doesn’t like the extension. And now she has something else for me to use. So I was frustrated and said “So basically I need to redo the whole image?” She starts going on to say that I did other than she requested (which I didn’t) and I disagreed with her on it. Not arguing but not agreeing with her. This is a _constant_ issue with her. C O N S T A N T. And that is why I was frustrated. Every single edit I do for her we go through this. She asks for something, I do it, then she decides that isn’t _really_ what she wanted. I am expected to redo it in a short amount of time, and for very little money, and with a lot of bitching. She goes on to tell me that I am yelling at her (???) and being unprofessional (!!!!) among a bunch of other mess. I then said No I am not yelling, (and Michael was here and HEARD me and I was NOT yelling). I am frustrated. You aren’t understanding why what you want won’t work, and I did what you wanted and now you want me to redo it…AND that isn’t what you told me the client wanted. I just do not want to redo the image three times.” She really has no understanding of what can be done with images and when I try to explain it to her she doesn’t FREAKING listen. She wants what she wants, and she won’t DO what NEEDS to be done to GET what she wants. She then proceeds to say I am yelling at her. I said NO I am not..but ok.. I apologize if I seem to be yelling because I am frustrated. I just am trying to get you to understand what you can get out of the image. Meanwhile she is talking over me..and tells me to “Shut up!”. What. The. Freaking. HECK. ???????? I said EXCUSE ME!? OK..Done…Good bye. And I hung up the phone. Fifteen minutes later I sent her a letter and told her that she crossed the line one time too many times. That while she may have accused me of being unprofessional but that she blatently was disrespectful professionally and as a friend. I told her that she could use the edited image, or not, that I wouldn’t bill her, that our association was over and that it was time for her to find another editor. I then proceeded to delete her from my Facebook friends list and deleted the FTP account I used to transfer files to and from her. DONE DONE DONE. After almost three years of her BS I have severed all connections with her. I am so frustrated… what the heck is with people?! Why is this acceptible behavior to? Why are there people who believe they have leave to treat others with disrespect and to talk to them with less than simple courtesy? I have NEVER told her to shut up–and man I have had many occasions where it was well deserved. I have never been rude to her. If I was even close to wanting to do it, I wouldn’t…its unprofessional and immature. If she thought I was being offensive or something similar, I would apologize to keep the peace. This time was beyond the pale though. My husband in 24 years + of us being together has NEVER told me to shut up. I have never said that to him. (I might have _thought_ it LOL as I am sure he has but who doesn’t at times? *G*) But my point is that I will not be on the receiving end of that treatment, not _even_ when someone is paying me to do work for them. The few hundred dollars I would make over the next couple of months SO. NOT. WORTH. IT. Did I also mention that I give her exceptionally good prices that are WAY too low? Because I am trying to be a blessing to a small business? Yeah… so much for being appreciated. ::snorts in disgust:: I am pregnant. I have a business that will be exceptionally busy for the next three months. I have a family and friends that are deserving of good things from me. I can’t give good things when I am being fed crap and stressed because of dealing with an overly demanding, unreasonable, disrespectful, disorganized, medication needing personality. This summer I promised Mike that if she started up again with me this Fall that I would not edit for her anymore. I had already decided that before he asked me to please not let her drive me crazy like she did last year. Last year the holidays were m i s e r a b l e because of her lack of organization and how demanding she is (unreasonably so…all due to her poor business practices). I was not sleeping, having anxiety attacks, etc due to her. THAT IS NOT my personality at ALL and this year I am not risking my sanity OR my health or the health of the baby for a measly couple hundred dollars. NOT worth it. Man I held it together on the phone but when I got off the phone I lost my religion. I really could go all rogue bzatch on her. She sent me a reply to my email and I am not even going to open or acknowledge it. I had a friend go into my email account, read it and delete it. She said its a good thing I didn’t read it because it would have pissed me off. LOL I don’t need to have the last word, but in this case I am having it. I am not going to replay or respond to any emails. I will not accept any phone calls. I have deleted all her files off my computer. I am going to wait a month and then I am throwing out the 2 1/2 years of files I have backed up from editing for her. I am so glad I am not like that. I am far from perfect but I sure don’t leave devastation in my wake like this person does. I have talked to other people who have association with this gal who have had these same problems and worse. I have heard her talk about people and discuss situations where these same issues recur over and over with her clients and with other photographers and her husband and her son and her friends and etc. etc.   2010 will be a good year. A new baby. Out with a huge stressor in my life. A wonderful family. Amazing friends. A career that I enjoy. A wonderful home. A great church. I do not want or need people who enjoy drama and create drama where ever they lay their feet. I am “shaking the dust” off my robes and sandals and am leaving that “town” behind me. I am ok with that. She isn’t, obviously, because she had some snarky nasty reply to email. W H A T E V E R. I have to consider the source. Its not a good source. Its an unhappy source. Its a source that is never content. Its a source that is always looking at other people and wanting what they have and one who ever finds contentment in anything. I am not wired that way and never have been. Thank. God.

  • 1:22 pm
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