Do you Tell The Clients the Inherent Risks?


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i tink its best to adopt an open policy and explain to the clients the potential risks. Clients should not be kept in the dark about these stuff.

The contract is really a way of safeguarding the photographer's interests imho
 

really, i dun know of any photographer who explain these.
it is simply not an option. though **** happen sometime but we dun discuss it.

it sure is hell not a lot of confidence booster in your ability.
i hardly think any of my client can hear this without feeling shaken.
 

On the contrary... I think a client would want to know "if sh*t happens, what then?"

If he/she is rational, then he/she shouldn't be put off by the truth yes?
 

Hi there..

I do freelance photography classes and so far my students "clients" are very open and reasonable. Especially like the Haze problem last year. A course that supposed to finish in about 4 weeks had to span out to about two month ++. I had to cancel classes sometimes on a adhoc basis based on the hourly status of a particular location.

As my classes are mostly outdoors, i guess, if you are honest, your clients will be honest too. If an unexpected or unforseen circumstances arise...i;m sure..as humans...most people should be reasonable to accept real reasons...
 

oh well, you can. ;)

:dunno: Then maybe it is just me looking at things from a military perspective.

I like to hear all the what-can-go-wrong possibilities along with the contingency plans taken by you (as the photographer) to minimize those possibilities, and having a ready solution SHOULD something really go wrong. This is basic forward planning.

Well it may be true that the client doesn't necessarily need to know all these nitty gritty, I find that you have a greater chance of securing a contract if you explain in detail as it shows your meticulous attention to detail.

With so many locals nowadays just blindly buying into things only to kick up a ruckus when things go wrong, I find it a safer bet to lay all the cards on the table. Lest an unpleasant scene happens.
 

Hi there..

I do freelance photography classes and so far my students "clients" are very open and reasonable. Especially like the Haze problem last year. A course that supposed to finish in about 4 weeks had to span out to about two month ++. I had to cancel classes sometimes on a adhoc basis based on the hourly status of a particular location.

As my classes are mostly outdoors, i guess, if you are honest, your clients will be honest too. If an unexpected or unforseen circumstances arise...i;m sure..as humans...most people should be reasonable to accept real reasons...

weather contigencies are always stated in the contract. and provision made for weather contigencies plan.

hdd failure, cf card failure however are really not allowed to happen. though **** happens.
 

I usually state it in my contract, under 'disclaimers'. Something along the lines of "Under no circumstances will [your company/name] be held responsible or liable for any damage or loss, financial or otherwise, caused by the failure of software or hardware; or misuse of [your client's] images by third parties."

A friend of mine in the States was hired to shoot for a wedding once. Her portable HDD got stolen and weeks later she found her client's pics on a dodgy stock photography site. Luckily, they managed to get the site to remove the pics.

Unexpected crap does happen, no matter how much you prepare - so yeah, having some disclaimers to limit your liability and better inform your client does help.
 

If the photographers lost the wedding photos, what is the common compensation? There is no way to reshot wedding photos.
 

Thanks. Is this the market practice? Can I ask for compensation? What is the compensation? The photographer is supposed to print the photos for me. But due to the loss of photos, he is unable to print. Also, he did not fulfil the contract as a result.
 

Thanks. Is this the market practice? Can I ask for compensation? What is the compensation? The photographer is supposed to print the photos for me. But due to the loss of photos, he is unable to print. Also, he did not fulfil the contract as a result.

thats up to the local small claims courts to decide. the bottom line for photographers is to ensure that you have a watertight contract that protects you in the event of equipment failure, damage, loss, you kena knock by bus and cannot show up etc and caps your liability to whatever you can stomach (being liable only for only fees paid is a good start).

then make sure your clients have time to read through the contract before they sign, and explain each point to them. if they're not happy they can go elsewhere. never be so hard up for a job that you are willing to make exceptions to the clauses that protect you. many things are beyond our control and Murphy's Law does occur more often than not. but ultimately, it doesn't prevent ugly incidents especially when the client is downright unreasonable.
 

Sounds like expresscorner is a "victim" of your said murphy's law. :think:

that's beside the point. nobody likes a shoot to turn out badly, but as a photographer you need to make sure that you tell the client the risks involved and in order to ensure fairness, you should clearly state your terms and liability caps upfront in simple English in a contract. the client has the final choice to go with you or not. being iffy or silent about the risks and not having a contract is very unfair to the client should the unthinkable happen.
 

There is no need to warn - you are not their legal consultant.

If you wish to avoid liability for such occurences (which is why I guess you are tring to warn them - so if anything happen, you will say "But I warn you already") it would be advisable to exclude liability for such occurrences in your contract with them. Such exclusion clause would be better than none - in fact, you may even wish to consider putting a force majeure clause in (e.g. Acts of God, Strike, War, Riots yada yada) as well.

Force majeure clauses are VERY standard in many commercial agreements .
Hi,

Anyone will 'warn' their clients about possible uncontrollable events that will cause failure to deliver the final product (photos), like HDD crash, photos lost during the process of data transfer.....etc. Bascially, the things that will go wrong to cause the photos to be irrecoverable.

I think there is a possibility , no matter how much backup we put into our work flow. For the big time pros, think you guys have set template of contract to cover such stuffs, but us freelance "low-mid budget client-base" type, does anyone think we should NOT tell the client these things?

Comments appreciated. Thanks in advance :)
DT :)
 

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