Hi Prada, yes, you are spot on. The reason why I initially didn't press the photog so hard for the photos in the first 2 months was because I was hoping to give him time to work on them with his best effort. And through it all, I was the one following up with him diligently on the progress, only to be entertained with his slow responses and excuses. Now that I have seen the soft copy of my AD, the bulk of pictures taken are cringe worthy and I am at my wits end. Between the day and night pictures, there are practically no good shots for me to develop into a 20-page album and 2 table top photos (these are part of the package). I last spoke with the photog this noon and insisted to meet up to have a look at the raw pictures and if the session does not end well, I will share the company name so that fellow BTBs can be aware. He is the chief photog (cum boss) and a regular at BOWS roadshow.
Hi JTP, thank you for your kind offer. I may need to engage your help or do you know any professionals who can edit/enhance my pictures? I have just passed my soft copies to a colleague's hubby (also a professional AD photog) for 2nd opinion hence I am unable to post or send you any samples now. However, I am able to share some of the bad experience/poor quality picture issues:
1. During banquet, only took picture of vegetarian menu instead of normal chinese menu. When enquired if he took a picture of the chinese menu, reply was "Oh I took vegetarian menu? I didn't realize because I just randomly took a menu for phototaking. I did not read the menu content." Is this acceptable? He is telling me that he blindly take pictures?
2. My stage time (cake cutting + champagne pouring), table shots and misc shots had many photo bombed moments of people/objects who/which should not be in the picture. E.g banquet manager appearing everywhere on stage with my spouse and I, and passer-bys here and there in many table shots. When enquired, reply was "You must understand this is AD, and unlike a pre-wedding shoot, I cannot control the crowd." Isn't he supposed to, as a professional, focus on the relevant subjects and if need be, caution the passer-bys politely to move away?
3. Minimal or no editing done to banquet pictures. No rich colors in pictures as many are orange-y and dull. When enquired, reply was "I have edited and given you the best. Why would I not give you and keep it for myself? It is your ballroom lighting issue hence you find the color like that." My banquet was held in Marina Mandarin Vanda ballroom and granted, it has a low ceiling and not as grand as many other ballrooms. However, similar to other hotel ballrooms, it used warm lighting and I have seen other photogs who shoot in MM Vanda ballroom produce quality work. And these photogs are in a similar league as him. How can he blame the ballroom?
4. Photog only gave me 4 pictures of my AD "outdoor" photoshoot with bridesmaids and groomsmen - all 4 pictures in the same group pose, but taken consecutively. We definitely took more than 1 pose so I questioned him and his answer was "Oh the rest all 'spoilt' so I can only give you the group photo." I clearly recalled he took my bridal gown train at this location and I was really looking forward to see it, so I voiced my disappointment and he rebutted me with exasperation "Since the rest of the pics are spoilt, if you really want, I will take your train from the video and screenshot it. Else, look at the picture of you walking up stage and you can see your train." Seriously? The walking up stage picture is blurred because I was not standing still, and the train was dangling 'vertically' downwards instead of lying horizontally on the ground. How can this be a good shot?
The above are just a few issues and it will be really lengthy if I go on. Point 4 was communicated to him on 29 Dec evening and on 30 Dec noon, he called to say "Hey good news, remember the spoilt outdoor pictures I was saying? I can give you 11 of them coz I salvaged them!" I asked if he used recovery software and reply was "No, I asked my photography friends for help. The pictures were not missing, they are there all along, just that they cannot be opened." If what he said was true, clearly he never attempted to salvage my 'spoilt' pictures when all his friends needed was less than 1 day to resolve. Isn't he intending to cheat me into believing I never took such pictures. I wonder how many more pictures he is hiding from me.
What do you folks think about his responses to my questions? Are they logical, fair and acceptable? $4k may not be alot of money to him but it is definitely an above average rate and I expected more, especially since he is a regular at BOWS and his published portfolio is pretty good. Why the shoddy work given to me? I have invested in this big event of my lifetime (which couple didn't?) and these are the memories he had given me... I really need some closure to this.
