Commercial customers

[sknowles]

<p>I'm curious. I only registered as a business this last summer and a friend who's an interior designer/decorator for small businesses. One of her clients wanted a northwest theme with art and photographs, and she suggested my work (why escapes me besides being a friend). Their business isn't one I would visit, but it's a good opportunity if I can sell them prints for their first store and possible 4-5 other stores. So, the question is, do you have problems selling prints to any business you don't particular like?</p>

[bobcossar]

<p>That depends...would I sell Decor Prints to, say, an abortion clinic? I'd have to think about it.</p>

[bob_sunley]

<p>Lots of business have customers they don't like, but if they buy goods and/or services, pay their bills on time, aren't abusive to you or your staff, what's the problem?</p>

<p> </p>

[Hector Javkin]

<p>With a background very much outside of photography, I have sometimes, not often, been hired as an expert witness on voice identification in criminal cases, usually by the defense. If I know someone is guilty I won't take the case, but I will not turn down a case simply because a client looks scary.</p>

<p>Before starting out, I also warn clients that, if my analysis shows that they are guilty, I will testify truthfully. They would then have the option of not calling me, but if the prosecution learned of my analysis and called me, I would tell the truth. It once happened that I found that a client's voice did not match that of a person making a drug deal, and I testified to that. The client was a acquitted. Afterwards, his lawyer as much as told me that the client was a drug dealer, he just had had nothing to do with that particular deal. There was nothing to be done, that's the way justice works, they have to prove that criminals committed the crime they were charged with committing. I was sick about having helped a really bad guy. But, to be honest, I didn't return my fee.</p>

<p>And would I help the prosecution against someone who made a telephone threat to an abortion clinic? If my analysis determined it was his voice on the threatening call, I would forgo my fee and pay my own travel.</p>

[mariosforsos]

<p>Personal preferences should not come into play whenever a professional is offering his/her services. This is true of accountants, auditors, lawyers and many other professions. It should be true of photographers as well. The day when a photographer refuses to shoot a model he personally finds ugly is the day something about professionalism in general will have died.</p>

<p>At the same time, ethics should come into play - at least ideally. Should you refuse to shoot the portrait of a known murderer because you hate what s/he did? Maybe, if you have the luxury or if you place your ethical values over and above those of, say, your employer or your client(s). Personally I wouldn't. Same as I would produce the same excellent results if I was asked to shoot the portrait of an extremist politician, a terrorist or anything for that matter. It's not about money - it's about the art, it's about the photography. For me anyway...</p>

<p>Having said that however, I should not hide the fact that I have noticed that sometimes when the models I'm working with are not to my liking (and I'm talking about appearance and overall demeanour here), my work can be more clinical, more detached than with someone I develop a personal rapport more easily...but I think that might be the same with everyone...</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>I think there's a difference between selling one's wares (as in, prints of your work for use by an interior decorator as part of a project for a particular, identified client) and having one's portrait studio doors open to the public.</p>

[denniswms]

<p>I never asked who my exhibition prints were sold to although sometimes the buyers requested a meet and greet- and I obliged. <br>

I would have zero problems with any medical facility exhibiting my work. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>The day when a photographer refuses to shoot a model he personally finds ugly is the day something about professionalism in general will have died.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I find refusing an "ugly" model to be the epitome of professionalism. Turning down an easy paycheck shows integrity. I've received thank yous from people who said I was the first photographer to tell them no- that their investment was misguided and not justifiable in the marketplace rather than just take their money. </p>

[sknowles]

<p>Thanks for the responses. My friend's client is a smoke shop. They want a northwest theme with artwork and photographs. I'm not that much against smoking and against this shop and will sell if they're interested. It's just that I never smoked and rarely drink as my brother was a 1-2 and quart a day alcoholic who died at 48. I was more curious if you decline propective clients (selling prints) for personal reasons, because I'd no problem providing them to a Planned Parenthood or women's health clinic where abortions were peformed (different topic discussed elsehwere).</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>One of the big things about being a professional -and behaving professionally- is that you take resposibility for yourself and your actions. Does it require you to make your services available to anyone, anywhere of whatever persuasion ? Not at all. You should do whatever your convictions tell you, just so long as you understand that doing that might make you poorer.</p>

<p>For me, I will turn down work if I just don't like the person I'll be dealing with, or if their terms are so one sided that it makes me feel like a servant. Or if they set out to exert too much control over how I work- I was last an employee in 1987 and I can't see me doing that again. I think for me the line of business that the client operates is less important than all of those things unless its something that could get me into trouble. But then I don't imagine that any manufacturer of landmines or handguns is going to ask me to work with them, so maybe there is a kind of extreme case scenario that I'd avoid. But in general its the people and the policies that dictate.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>David: You need to be careful, there. I recall a lengthy thead on this very site discussing the legal peril that a photographer found herself (it was a her, as I recall) in for declining to be hired to shoot a gay wedding. One's personal preferences in such cases can be a real minefield, sometimes.<br /><br />I recall, personally, a very awkward moment about halfway through a face-to-face conversation with a (gay) couple about the prospect of my photographing their prize dog. It took me a long time to realize that they were mistaking my hesitance - which was about the breed (with which I had <em>no </em>experience) and the proposed setting (logistically difficult for me, calendar-wise) - with my being uncomfortable shooting for them because they were a gay couple (about which I don't care one bit).<br /><br />If we hadn't all realized that there was a serious misunderstanding brewing, I could have been one of those guys you hear about on the internet, with a blogged-about and wrecked reputation within my tiny niche marketplace. Tread lightly with the I-don't-particularly-like-you turn-downs, as they can land with a <em>really</em> wrong thud. </p>