bobbollinger

Your customer's request sounds reasonable to me as well. And like any other service professional, you are mostly in the "customer service" business. But as Ruslan suggested, take out the technically bad ones first!

I am not a pro photographer, but I am a lawyer with 30 years of experience representing parties engaged in disputes. Based on the description of the emails that you have sent so far, I doubt that they have helped your cause any with this photographer. Human nature being what it is, she may have responded by putting your work on the bottom of her to-do stack. Maybe you should just lie low for a couple weeks and not contact her or post anything about her, and not risk antagonizing her any further. Even if you have a signed contract with firm deadlines in it, that is hard to enforce--it requires you to go to court with a properly pleaded case and win, and then an appeal period must run, before you can take any practical action with a court judgment or order to get your photos. So I think your remedies at this point are quite limited, and are mostly of the nature of cajoling the photographer to finish the job and deliver the prints. Perhaps if you do post something, the best thing would be "Sorry to hear that you have been sick. I hope you are feeling better soon."

Thanks, Sandy, for finding that for me. When I searched using the term "equipment" I got an overwhelming quantity of posts to sort through so I decided to just ask.

I relied on the equipment list to keep track of my gear, especially the serial numbers, in case of theft. But since the "upgrade" to the site, I cannot figure out how to access it to update it. I am not especially savvy about such things, but can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

Are you in the US? If so, any insurance company that sells auto liability insurance could probably sell you appropriate coverage. Call an insurance broker who works with multiple insurance carriers.

<p>Both the FAA and the DOT are part of the executive branch of government, (FAA is part of DOT) so there is no separation of powers issue. The legislative branch, Congress, passed a statute that instructed the FAA to promulgate rules for the use of RC aircraft/drones and like many government agencies do all over the country, the FAA has apparently missed the deadline. I suspect that whatever the DOT proper does will just be an interim or stopgap solution until the FAA gets around to acting and implementing the new rules. Or the DOT could release rules under the auspices of the FAA and we would not know who wrote the rules. (Although the rulemaking process normally includes public hearings and comment periods for proposed rules. Maybe that is what the announcement Monday will cover.) I suspect the proposed rules will try to accomplish two things--establish clear limits and guidelines on where and when and how these things can be flown, so as not to interfere with manned aircraft and objects and living things on the ground. And secondarily, a registration system so that the people who break the rules can be tracked down and dealt with. The FAA is pretty strict regulating pilots and manned flight and typically does not tolerate rulebreakers very well.</p>

<p>I am a lawyer in private practice, and I agree with Rick, among others. They probably have not contacted a lawyer, and if they did, and told him the full story, he probably told them they had no basis for a claim. I would not do anything until you hear from their lawyer. When you get a letter from their lawyer, your defense is that you did everything required of you by your written contract, and the failure of the schedule to work was not your doing. In a contract, if you do everything you are obligated to do, then you have fulfilled your end of the bargain, and the other side has to pay you. I would urge you not to lose any sleep over it at this point. I would discourage you from attempting to negotiate with these folks, or to humor them, as I think you are simply being taken advantage of. If they had a legitimate complaint with you, that would engender different advice. </p>

<p>I used the US Postal Service to ship a bunch of stuff to my son in Japan this past year. It took about 2 weeks to arrive, but the price was reasonable and it was all insured. So long as you pack it well in a sturdy box I think the postal service would be a reasonable choice. </p>

<p>I am glad that you are OK, William. Take care of yourself! </p> <p>Your warning is right on point. I had a TIA at age 35. It can happen at almost any age and the reasons for stroke events are many. <br> I had a big scare but no residual deficits---my neurologist looked at the scan and said that mine occurred in a "quiet part of the brain." My wife allowed that that would be most of my brain, of course. But I am much more attentive to any kind of symptom now!</p>

<p>Dorus, that first skyline photo is just beautiful. </p>

<p>The type of "wedding assistant" you are describing is going to be deemed your employee regardless of whether you call him an employee or an independent contractor, in the case of a lawsuit or a workers' compensation claim. This is because the duties of that person are not the duties of an independent contractor--that status is for someone with an independent calling, who typically provides his or her own tools, who does the job when he wants to and at his own pace, without any direct supervision from you. What you need to someone to help you at the weddings, which means you are controlling the hours, when he must work, you are providing the tools, etc. So, if he gets hurt, you may be liable for workers' comp even if you did not buy the insurance, which may not be too expensive for a photographer. Check to see if you even have to buy work comp insurance in NY, as you may not need it with only one or two employees. I don't know the answer there. But hiring an employee and trying to get away with calling him an independent contractor may cause you some unintended legal consequences. </p>

<p>If the two of you own a home together, you may have just put it in jeopardy (subject to being seized to pay a judgment that exceeds your insurance coverage) should someone sue you over a tort that you caused when you were working. You really should get a good local business lawyer to clean this up for you. Your potential adverse risks in a partnership with your spouse are much broader than simply tax issues. Incorporating is much less risky if you are in business with your spouse. </p>

<p>Jane, I am a lawyer, and I would respectfully suggest that you plan to buy the images (all copies, in all media) from the photographer if necessary and/or pay him to keep them private. Expect to have to pay more than you would like, because you may not have much leverage in this negotiation. Your lawyer could perhaps start this process by sending a letter asserting your right to privacy of these photos, that any violation of your privacy will be met with legal action, and that you would be willing to pay a reasonable fee to buy the images and/or to assure that your wishes are carried out and your privacy is protected. This type of agreement, if breached, has damages that are not possible to calculate, so you would be entitled to injunctive relief (a court order that prevents the photographer from doing whatever with the photos) and with liquidated damages (a set amount of money that is large enough to be a disincentive on his end, without regard to your actual, incalculable, damages). But in order to get those remedies, you will probably need to enter into a new contract with the photographer that sets out all of this stuff and these remedies. You need a lawyer who knows what he or she is doing to negotiate and draft this contract for you. A lawyer who drafts business contracts may be a good choice. It is going to cost you some money to solve these problems at this point. So far as "commercial setting" is concerned, that generally means a transaction in which money is exchanged for services or goods. A non-commercial transaction would be a boyfriend taking photos of his girlfriend. Get a good and thoughtful lawyer to help you, and do it soon before something happens to those photos. </p>

<p>I concur with Larry on Acuvue. I have been wearing the Acuvue one-day contacts for close to a year now and they are great. Wear them for one day and toss them, then put in a new pair the next day. They are not very expensive but they are much more comfortable than the traditional reusable soft contacts, and a whole lot less trouble. I get 20/20 for my over age 50 eyes for everything except the up-close focus issue (presbyopia) and I use reading glasses from Target or the supermarket for reading and close work. <br> Only problem with the contacts and the camera that I have encountered is that I need the readers sometimes to operate the small print menus. But, if you memorize the menus on the camera, you may not need the readers. <br> I also play tennis and need contacts for that, and so long as the wind is not blowing in my face, the Acuvue one-time wear types work fine there too. <br> Lasik scares me. Even the very small risk (as calculated over a large population of patients) of a bad complication becomes a big risk if you happen to be the person that gets the complication. </p>