Board index Photography Artistic Questions PHOTOGRAPHERS don't get no respect !!!!

Artistic Questions

PHOTOGRAPHERS don't get no respect !!!!

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akjack
 
Posts: 66

PHOTOGRAPHERS don't get no respect !!!!

Post Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:04 am


A guy told me how a company hired him to shoot a weddding for a client as the company was I guess a wedding planning company. The company already paid him half down and then the fickle bride wanted another photographer. The company then wanted the photographer to refund the down payment. There was no contract as most of the negoiations were done by e-mail. The photographer told them he makes no refunds by e-mail and now they threaten legal action.

to add insult to injury the company spokesman told the photographer that "you are only a photographer" and don't handle adminastration and mattter of refunds, so give us our money. Rodney Dangerfield said " I don't get any respect" and it seems either do photographers.

jniemann
 
Posts: 78


Post Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:54 am


You should try being a musician :roll:

marxz
 
Posts: 282


Post Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:30 am


Actually there IS a contract. a contract doesn't have to be written down to legally binding.

That said there is a great deal of truth in the saying "a verbal contract is not worth the paper it's written on".

Fortunately for your friend he has the exchange of e-mails.

If in this exchange he mentions a booking fee and they agreed on that then generally a booking fee is non refundable (with in certain industry accepted conditions... which may/may not include conditions such as being canceled more than XX months before the event, death of client etc etc.
Also, in most common law countries misrepresentation can be seen as being a valid reason for canceling the contract outright. If for what ever reason your friend misrepresented himself (qualifications/experience, used some one else's portfolio bla bla bla) then generally the other side can walk away from the contract, however if for example, the agency misrepresented your friend to the bride (and that happens more often than most people think) then the end client (bride) can basically annul or change that part of the agreement but the agency would be required to still pay the photographers booking fee as it was their issue..... this happened to me as a DJ were rule #1 of my contract was that I didn't do, would not do and would quit if made to do shows for clients under 21 years of age.
So of course the agency then booked me, as my first show with them, for a 12 year old's birthday party..... fortunately the mother (who's names was down as the client) contacted me about the show a few days before the party, of course once the penny dropped that I was not the right sort of DJ for the show (look I love children, honestly - I just can't eat a whole one in a single sitting) she contacted the agency (right after I rung them and gave them seven shades of blue down the phone about rule number 1 in my agreement) and got them to rebook a DJ who specialized in kids shows.
I still got payed though, out of the agencies own pocket, as by then they couldn't find another show for me to do for the same date.


Note that while silence can not be taken as agreement to a contract on the whole, if they failed to question or reject that condition of the contract then it is GENERALLY considered that they have implicitly accepted that condition in accepting the contract as a whole.

In the absence of a formal written contract then the usual common law (which covers contract law among other things) will look at what the industry standard is.

I worked in the wedding industry for years (music - Musician and DJ) and it's a real bastard of an industry. The first booking agency I used still owes me over $10,000 in underpayments - written it off when I got out of the industry as the guy who ran that company has been in and out of prison for fraud several times since then and is technically "bankrupt".

All I can say is get him to contact what ever organisation covers professional photographers in his area and ask them for advice or to recommend a lawyer. A good lawyer should be able to knock this on the head in minutes flat with a single fax.... though there cost might be more than the booking fee he wants to retain. Another benifit of holding professional organisation membership is that they usually cover some of the legal costs - I wouldn't have worked as a DJ without being a member of that professions body, first booking agency aside they helped me a few times when a couple of venues cut my contract short and wouldn't pay out the residual payments.
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akjack
 
Posts: 66

Markz

Post Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:26 pm


Good cogent post...........THANKS


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