bad wedding photography stories?

This may sound strange, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of a resource online

for "real" wedding photography horror stories... actual stories (anonymous or

not) where the bride & groom hired some beginner or shady photographer, ended

up with bad photos or some bad experience, and looking back they regret not

hiring a capable professional. <p>

Anyone know of a website like that?

<p>

I don't want this to sound like I in any way take pleasure from that type of

thing happening. Quite the contrary. But I recently had a few people ask me

why wedding photography costs so much and why they should hire an expensive

photographer when they could have one of their friends/relatives shoot it. I

don't think they ever really "got it" even after I tried to explain. I also

read the occasional thread here on this forum about some bad experience from a

bride or a photographer, but I don't know of a way to search and have all

those come up.<p>

I know there's no way to avoid poor photography, but it would be helpful, I

think, to be able to point brides to a reliable source of actual "true

stories" and real examples that make them think twice about investing in an

experienced photographer.

I don't have a URL but the story of MY wedding photography is not too shabby if you're looking for a greek tragedy.

 

I was married about 8 years ago and for the most part the planning was quite easy. The photographer was hard, my community had 3 full time photographers at the time and then a bunch of part timers. I had seen the work of 2 of the part timers and I really felt like that was the wrong road to go down, they were really bad, so we talked to the three full time studios. The first started at $5000 which was way out of our price range, the next was about $2000, doable but sheesh, that's a huge portion of our budget, the last had packages ranging from $600 up to $1200. We liked the products offered in a mid range package and the sample albums and brochures he brought to our house all looked great, so we paid him half of his package $400 to hold the date.

 

We got a free engagement portrait included so a few months later we went to his studio and when we got there the place was jam packed with junk from ceiling to floor, old exercise equipment, boxes of christmas decorations, I think I even saw a transmission in one corner. There was one path leading to a door and we went through that door to his "camera room." He took the portrait, he didn't have any real skills when it came to posing or directing, but the proofs he showed us a month later were fine, the finished enlargements we bought were really overexposed, but not that bad we wanted to lose our retainer.

 

So we have no more contact with him until the wedding day. He showed up on time and directed through some posed formals taking pictures with a really really old manual camera, I think it was a Minolta, maybe an X-700, not sure, but definitely old. Which is fine, old cameras take great pictures. We got through the whole day and a few months later he drops a stack of 300 4x6 proofs on my porch. They were absolutely terrible shots. His flash didn't illuminate anything, it a

A couple of weeks ago, I have my car in the shop and the manager notices my studio name on my SUV. We get to talking and he tells me that his fiance found a terrific photographer who will shoot his wedding for less than a thousand dollars and give them a CD with all the images on it. Not only do they get him, his wife also works as his assistant and takes photos as well so they actually get two photographers! So he pulls up a photo on his computer screen and shows me an engagement photo of him and his fiance...and then pulls up the disc with about 30-50 other images from the engagement session in the park. This guy has studied some poses and had some cute/fun poses but they were all taken in bright sunlight without any fill light so you've got raccoon eyes and squints. She's a pretty girl with nice skin, he's got plenty of acne....there was zero touch ups with PS and it was obvious that the images were straight jpg files straight out of the camera. So how do you tell this guy that the work is ameturish and horrible? How do you explain that instead of getting a good deal they are getting ripped-off?

 

Honestly, it's difficult to educate clients beforehand and explain the value of real pro wedding photography. Frequently it's difficult to explain the value of good wedding photography to other photographers......

 

Sorry about your experience Ryan,...wish I could have shot your wedding for you :-)

I'm in temporary retirement from wedding photography, but reading stories like these makes me want to get back into it just to give good people good photography for a good price.

I was married 11 years ago. The first thing we did was hire "The" wedding photographer as it was my first priority. He was well known in the community and his portfolio was amazing. Our wedding package would cost us $3700.00. The day of the wedding he and his wife showed up at my house. He immediatly scolded me for getting ready in such a small location. He continued to complain about the lack of air conditioning and at one point asked my sister "Are you really wearing your hair like that?" His choice saying of the day was...and I heard this over and over..."Hurry Hurry...time is money"! As I was preparing to walk down the Aisle with my father...a touching moment when my father placed the veil over my face before walking down the aisle was interupted by the photographer stating "No No! Veil over the face looks bad in photos!". He then proceeded to move me from my fahters left side to his right...stating that is was my better side. I stayed where I was and shot him my first of many dirty looks. Throughtout the day he yelled and scolded his wife for not being fast enough, to slow with his water, stating it was a waste of his time to bring her. I wanted to cry every time a moment came that I knew required a photo as by this time I was sick and tired of him and his attitude.

 

My husband and I went on our honeymoon. The day after our return we were delivered a beautiful flower arrangement and the most beautiful and stunning proof album you can create. Along with a note that stated what a beautiful day he had as our photographer. Our completed album was delivered 8 weeks from our wedding day...and to this day...11 years later, I still cry when I take it out.

Tears of joy or pain?

i had a temp job at an album binding company.

i expected to see some good photos since all their clients were "professional photographers"...

the photos were horrible. just because u have money and the equipment doesn't mean you take good photos. most of the photos had unneccessary objects.... like... a cigarette, some random person's hand sticking out infront of the bride or the groom... really bad angles... crazy! backgrounds, really corny poses... just horrible.

i visited their websites to see how bad their portfolios were... but they were actually good. if you goto a studio with more than one photographer, i suggest that u see everyone's portfolios. especially of the person who's going to be doing your wedding.

I don't think there's any comprehensive resource for this kind of thing, but with a little effort you can find a few. The truth is though that most of the horror stories I read about don't usually have anythihng to do with an amateur or low-budget photographer providing low quality work, usually it's about a pro photographer scamming somebody, skipping town after the wedding, not showing up at all or sending someone else when they had agreed to photograph the wedding themselves. I did read one in which the bride was dissapointed with the pics but it involved an expensive high-end photographer which was gracious enough to offer a substantial discount.

 

I think if someone hires a low budget or non-pro photographer and ends up unhappy with the results, they usually don't post it on the web. They probably figure they got what what they paid for.

 

Another thing is I really think most people aren't all that picky about the quality of a photograph. As long as the photograph isn't overexposed, underexposed, or blurry and as long as you can see the people's faces, then to them it's a good photograph. (and with todays auto-everything consumer cameras, it's kinda hard to mess this up). My mom is definately one of those people and my girlfriend used to be (until I educated her). When my aunt asked me to photograph her anniversary my Mom actually told me to "take it seriously and not take those 'weird' pictures I usually take". To these folks, it's all about the memories.

Well - how about having the uncle of the bride (who was the one that walked her down the aisle and gave her away) dropping dead of a heart attack just as the priest was saying do you take this..., wedding was put on hold until the EMT's arrived, and took the Uncle out, then it was back to the ceremony and on with the party.

This is gonna be a bummer post, but today on Oprah there was a story about a drunk

driver who went the wrong way down an interstate and crashed headfirst (at 70mph) into a

limo filled with a family that had just left a wedding. All members of the family were

seriously injured, the driver was killed and a 7 year old girl was decapitated. Her mother

(who was in the limo, too) sat on the side of the road, holding her daughter's head,

watching the fire department pull her family one by one out of the limo. How HORRIFYING

is THAT?! I was seriously crying the whole time this story was on, as they showed beautiful

picture after beautiful picture of the little girl and her family at the wedding just hours

before her death. I'm serious, these photos were gorgeous. The family could not have

asked for a better photographer to record the last night of that little girl's life. It really,

really affected me and made me realize (again) just how important our jobs are to the

families we work with.

 

(told you it was gonna be a bummer)

Unfortunately, the public's expectations have been lowered along with the skill level of the wedding shooters. If people can't tell feces from Kiwi dark brown, then they get what they deserve. As the Latin's used to say: caveat emptor.

Sarah i heard your story before, a band called "brand new" actually has a song about, its called ms limousine or something like that/

By the way..mine are tears of joy. Guy was a total jerk..but he definitly knew what he was doing. And I think my whole point was..the day comes and goes...its your pictures that tell the story.

Corri, That's funny, I had assumed they were tears of what "could have been". While I agree that the photos will tell the story afterwards, it's important that you compliment the B/G's big day by being nice and making the day more fun. I've had couples approach me at weddings and ask me to be their photographer. When I tell them that they haven't even seen any of my images yet they remark that they're confident that those will be fine. They want someone who is fun and not like.......and then they describe another photographer who appearrently thought the day was about him and not the B/G. It's important to give them good honest images at the same time you provide them with a pleasant, remarkable experience.

I posted a friends story about 4 months ago and got slammed by many. It was a $1000 photog who used a Dig Rebel, kit lens, and pop up flash. It turned into equipment vs. skill thread and lost the point of professional responsibility to have minimum/adequate gear.

 

In the end the Bride and Groom called me (I was a guest and didn't bring my camera, bust a P&S), the bride crying asking if I could fix the photos (bad lighting, terrible red eye, and many other unfixables). They paid $1k and will owe another $1k for the dNegatives and Album if they want them, which they don't, unless they can have them fixed by someone. He shot in Jpg only so little fixing from what I saw. We work in the Airline industry and I'd guess 90% of the guests were from out of town, so a re-shoot is unlikely.

 

m

<p>Hi Guys/Gals,<br /><br /> Wanted to share my experience of George Mavitiz of CandleWax studios in Montreal. We hired him for our wedding held in August 2007. He insisted that some payment be made on signing of contract, and the rest after the event. We were fine with contract money, but were reluctant to pay the entire amount of CAN$5000 before we got the final product, the wedding album.<br /><br />But he insisted that he only did selected few events in a year, and that this is how he works. Being inexperienced, we fell for it, and paid all the money after the shoot. And now, it has been close to three years, and no album.<br /><br />Initially, he ignored my wife's phone calls, and emails. Then, I had to leave stern messages on his voicemail demanding either our album, or money. To which he reply has been, I will file for personal bankruptcy, and put our name as one of the creditors to protect from. When we started approaching other photographers to do our album, he threatened us that if we continue to talk to other photographers about him, we will never get our album, and on top of that, he will sue us.<br /><br />As of writing this review, still waiting for our album!!!<br /><br />So guys/gals, lesson learned, never make payment all payment until you have the final product.<br /><br />Hope that helps.</p>

<p>To go back to the original question as where to find horror stories to show your potential clients, they just have to go on wedding sites (when I got married, the big one was theknot.com, now I think it's weddings.com) and they see from other ex-brides what their money is buying.</p>

<p>I was looking for the same thing and had a hard time finding any resources. I made a BLog post with some common editing mistakes people who are new to photography make versus a professional photographers images. Feel free to use. <br>

And if you check it out lert me know what you think , or if I forgot something : )<br>

<a href="http://ashleydellingerphotography.blogspot.com/"><a href="http://ashleydellingerphotography.blogspot.com/2012/01/horrible-wedding-photography-why-youll.html#links">http://ashleydellingerphotography.blogspot.com/2012/01/horrible-wedding-photography-why-youll.html#links</a></a></p>

<p><strong>IMO, sharing horror stories with clients is a waste of time </strong>... and just degrades the industry as a whole. Besides, no one hiring a wedding photographer is going to think they will be a victim themselves unless it is a specific body of overwhelming evidence regarding a specific photographer.</p>

<p>The poor economy and proliferation of no-brainer digital cameras has bred an ever increasing crop of <em>"almost can do"</em> wedding photographers that fit many people's more meager budgets ... or even a false sense of thriftiness even if they do have the means for better work. It's like the multi-millionaire Kardashian sister clipping coupons to save 10¢ (true story). It's in vogue to be cheap even if you don't have to.</p>

<p>For many client's the criteria is the ability to take a decent photo based on their previous experiences with photography ... <strong>as opposed to what could be</strong>. Not to mention that most clients do not have a clue what it takes to complete a wedding photography assignment start to finish.</p>

<p>The only council I have ever shared with a potential client, (<em>usually only if I am booked on their date and they ask me for any advice</em>), is to look for the worst wedding the photographer has in their portfolio, and if you could live with that, then you are good to go. I learned that as an Art Director hiring hundreds of photographers to shoot ads and such.</p>

<p> </p>