cough up the extra dough?

[EricM]

I have a friend and fellow photographer that I've hired last season

for a wedding, as a second shooter first assistant, and he showed up

with all his digital gear, namely a D70, a strobo-frame, a flash

diffuser, cf cards and a laptop. It was perfect then and exactly what

I asked for on that job. However, as instructed when this weekends job

was offered to him, that it was a carbon copy of the last one we did,

he showed up without his laptop, without his strobo-frame, and without

a flash diffuser. The reason in the first place that the gig was

offered to him was that we have identical gear and it's easy to mix

our shots into one flowing stream without it looking all choppy like

two different cameras set ups do.

 

If it wasn't an out of town of wedding that involved boats for

transportation, I would have sent him home for it. He is billing me

twice what I would normally pay a second shooter, as he should for the

amount of gear that he was supposed to bring and quality of shots he

was supposed to produce. Plus the responsibility of burning and

verifying our material to dvd's before wiping the cf cards. It's peace

of mind and hopefully twice the product. But basically all his shots

suck and look like what you would expect from direct camera mounted

flash. Harsh lighting and big black shadows everywhere. I can't use

them. Worse, I'm using more shots from my second assistant, her first

ever wedding, that I let wander around with my back up body.

Furthermore, only one laptop was running, mine, and caused down time

for one shooter. Without straining a relationship, would you bite your

lip and pay the invoice? Would you bring it up and perhaps sate that

"the meal was cold and the service slow"? On one hand I'm really angry

but on another I could just forget about it and never hire him again.

Do I take a chance on our friendship and bring it up, or play it safe

and say nothing and cough up the extra dough?

[gary_woodard]

If you allowed him to shoot withouth what you believed was the required

equipment I suppose you are obligated to pay him the agreed amount, I'd let

him know you were unhappy and take it from there.

[ken dennis]

My advice would be for you to stop thinking like a friend, and start thinking like a business and your answers would become clear!

 

Good luck!

 

Ken.

[rich_dutchman1]

Pay him and pay the assistant. Try the next wedding with yourself and two cameras. Leave the computer and employee hassles to others.

[daniel_taylor]

You didn't send him home, you had him stay and work, so unless his invoice is more than the amount agreed upon beforehand, you need to pay him. Period.

 

After that you should calmly explain to him why you're unhappy, and let him know that if he wants more work from you he must provide the service level you received on the first job when he had all of his equipment. Let him know you were happy with his work on that job, and would be happy to continue using him if he can offer that level of service consistently. But make it clear that if he shows up unprepared again, it will end the business relationship.

 

If he agrees to provide the requested level of service at the offered pay, keep using him so long as he doesn't mess up again. If not, agree to part ways in a professional manner.

 

Don't be angry at him. Don't refuse to pay since *you* had him stay and work. Don't make it emotional when it's business. He's new, you're not, you made the call to have him stay when you suspected he was unprepared. If the situation were reversed and you were the newbie who screwed up, you wouldn't want to be attacked or paid $0 even though you put in the hours.

[medina photography cherry]

I second what Rich said!

[jimstrutz]

Training employees is a cost of doing business. I think you are probably obligated to pay.

 

You also have to ask yourself if you are partly at fault for not providing explicit instructions concerning what tools to bring for the job. If you were hiring a trained professional & he ddn't bring equipment to do the job right, it would be his fault, but if you are hiring a trainee, you have to provide clear instructions. Perhaps you were not hiring the professional you expected that he was. If so, you should ask yourself if perhaps you are paying too much for inexperience.

[d._diehl]

Pay him as promised and move on. I think we've all learned lessons we'll never forget from

situations like this. If you agreed to a price, he did do the work (as he saw fit), then you do

owe him. It's not pleasant, but it's easier to just write the check, say thanks, and move one.

Not worth the hassle of arguing about, since you can't go back in time. Lesson learned. From

this you will no doubt become a better businessman, and know what to watch out for- your

business will actually benefit from small setbacks like this, as you won't let them happen

again-

[jaimie blue]

Hi Eric, I would absolutely pay him and tell him off at the same time.

[djphoto]

What Daniel Taylor said.

[EricM]

I'll follow my gut and pay him and keep quiet. Thanks for the confirmation everyone. I'm just really upset. The first wedding I hired him for, I actually set his camera to the same settings as mine so the fill flash and shutter and DOF was all identical. We both had identical kits and editing was a breeze. This weekend, after realizing his shots wouldn't match anyway, I just let him go at it with basic instructions to meter manually and give a little fill, outside, around -2 on the SB-800's. <br><br>

 

Ken, too right. And I guess don't hire friends either. <br><br>

 

Rich, I always pay. Even with first time assistants at first time gigs. I know the industry gets away with taking advantage of not paying and forcing a volunteer situation on some, but I don't. The only weddings I do alone are the rehearsals. It's not about computers or hassels. It's about ignoring instructions and shooting with direct on camera flash and not having it fit with my diffused above camera flash. <br><br>

 

Daniel, I couldn't send him home. I mentioned that above. I agree, he gets paid. He gets his equipment list tattooed on his arm next time. <br><br>

 

Jim, you've said it best, or, fits best. He has a great web site that demonstrates competence and an ability to shoot weddings. His results this weekend are nothing like it. It was made clear that he was hired for a carbon copy performance of the last we did together; with a laptop, a stofen diffuser, and a flash bracket. Now, our shots don't match. His are very amateurish, useless and unwanted by me. "If you were hiring a trained professional & he ddn't bring equipment to do the job right, it would be his fault, but if you are hiring a trainee, you have to provide clear instructions." This is the conundrum, I did hire and give explict instructions on gear and performance to a competent pro. He's supposed to have, and could have been, a mirror to myself. <br><br>

 

D. Diehl, "If you agreed to a price, he did do the work (as he saw fit), then you do owe him." I don't doubt that. But he didn't follow instructions, showed up inadequate, and provided nothing but wasted hours of post time in Photoshop for me going over images that wil just end up in the recycle bin. But I will pay him and move on. <br><br>

 

This is one of his throw away shots. All his dinner shots are like this, in the garbage. <br><br>

<center><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/3724473-lg.jpg"></center><br><br>And this is all I wanted from him, to match mine.

<center><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/3724475-lg.jpg "></center><br><br>

Thanks all.

[EricM]

Jaimie, I'm going to pay him then tell him off. And I'm going to make him put this wedding together with his shots.

[conraderb]

Yeah - that's unfortunate. I wouldn't pay my second shooter to shoot the example shot. What's with this guy? I wouldn't even shoot the above shot for free!

[jose f.]

Sounds to me like he doesn't really want the work. You need to have a conversation with him along those lines.

[zave_shapiro]

I've had to fire friends. No fun.

 

I'd send him a cheque in the mail. I'd keep a friend. And if he ever asks if you have more work then you'll be calm enough and have put it far enough behind you to explain what went wrong. If you're getting jobs needing two assistants then you take this very seriously - you need names and numbers of other serious people.

[EricM]

thanks Josef and Zave. And yes, I take it very seriously - I seldom take two, only the bigger budget and larger attendance, or with a gimped back. I just wish my number one or two pick was availble...And i've been avoiding the invitable by not contacting him. I'm a hot head and blunt and have a tough time biting my lip sometimes. thanks again, everyone.