Freelance Photography

[scud]

i also learnt my lesson which is why now, i do not do for companies who will only pay after 2 mths or more...2 weeks is the max i will give.

it is best to let them know in advance that payment should be made to you on the event day (corporate events), be it in cash or cheque.

 

[jsbn]

Actually jsbn gave me a very good idea. Give the client the shots in very low res to view. Satisfied? Pay and get the high res versions. No money no talk. Mmmm....good trick jsbn. Will do this from now.

Its not me that thought up of this idea actually. There was a thread quite sometime back abt chao kuan clients who refuse to pay and some of da chaps gave similar suggestions like what I'm doing now.

I heard of 1 photographer who did even better.

Shoot for free. Everything all free. But buy 1 photo charge $20. :bsmilie: Din get to know that wonderful chap, but to my knowledge, this guy's one of the full-time working professionals and the photos he took was for a military function. That's just about it.

 

[jsbn]

Well, the pattern ppl comes out at times never cease to astonish all in the name of 'saving money'. :bsmilie:

Its possible that that chap is trying to use over or under pictures as bargaining chips I guess. :think:

Oh well, 2006 is a new year for me. No more Mr Nice Guy and definitely its a "u want my work, u pay. Give me peanuts and I'll crush it and return u whatever powder's left."

 

[jsbn]

Theres a clause from which I cited that the photographer is not liable for any amendments or reclaims should the client find the final product not of satisfactory presentation after the transaction have taken place. Just that, he has yet to sign the agreement.

Sigh... feel that u shld have finalised the agreement and get him to sign & chop it.

Now he is trying to bring out the fact that I was not entirely aware or fore-noticed, that he have spent alot of $ trying to get me to photograph his products, food by the way.

I believe this pattern had been encountered not only by u but other working professionals who met cheapskates as well as 'free' wedding photographers.

The ok ones would try to use 'alternative payments' (like food and stuff like dat) to bluff their way thru. Well kudos to their efforts, at least they made an effort to bluff.

The really crap ones are those who wouldn't even talk to u about money, the mouth keep hanging a 'no money' and at the end of it all after 48hrs of effort (including post-processing time) to criticise ur photos. And to top it all off, the fella is an untouchable and u can't possibly risk offending him. Its like having ur balls squeezed and u're talking in a high pitch tone with him laughing sadistically and u can't do anything abt it.

Any general idea, or suggestion how should I deal with him? Frankly, I have no intention AT ALL to puff up the entire incident, like many of you suggested, I should probably take this as a lesson. The only problem is, the money issue was discussed days beforehand, and I told him specifically that payment must be made before I pass the photo, which of course, the day I pass him the photos, he ask if he could send a cheque instead, and I on one hand, is really tired of travelling back and fro, so I was sort of obliged to agree.

Its a pity though. U shld have stuck to ur stand - Cash only. No cheque.

By the way, the 400 odds photos I passed to him are all at 300dpi, 600x490, since hes paying me at that kind of sum. The only woe I share now is that, I personally custom-edited each of the 400 odds photos, which took me the entire 2 nights worth of sleep!

Argh! :angry:

600x490, 300dpi. I'm not sure if its just appropriately sized for 4R prints? Any experts?

Well, those that underwent special post-processing ones can be part of ur portfolio too. Look at the bright side. At least the glass half-full.

 

[Slivester]

600x490, 300dpi. I'm not sure if its just appropriately sized for 4R prints? Any experts?

Well, those that underwent special post-processing ones can be part of ur portfolio too. Look at the bright side. At least the glass half-full.

He wants it for web development, so it doesn't matter actually, thats the sub-standard size actually, for web development.

 

[zhang3feng]

He wants it for web development, so it doesn't matter actually, thats the sub-standard size actually, for web development.

tat size for web is good enough.. now u kenna bang already..:think: shd put a big copyright watermark across each photos... :bsmilie:

 

[Slivester]

tat size for web is good enough.. now u kenna bang already..:think: shd put a big copyright watermark across each photos... :bsmilie:

Haha! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[jOhO]

i think both parties have a part to play in forming a good working/business reln, whether it be towards quality of photographs, duties/timings of service involved and of course promptness in payment.

of course there are alot of chow kuan customers out there, as well as irresponsible photographers. the key is to create rapport with your clients so it makes it "harder" for them to drag. i guess some pple are thick skin too, in front of u smile, behind ur back tell the accountant not to process. this happens not just in photography tho....

the other thing to take note in choosing customers is that better late payment than NO payment, in other words, choose customers that won't close down after the shoot, or have a high probablity to totally not pay. of course we won't know this when we take the jobs, but i guess prudence and experience cannot be replaced in this respect.

with all businesses, there should be provision for bad debts. it's a normal part of business and for those of you that do this one off jobs here and there, the provision is small (usually a percentage of revenue, revenue low, provision also low) so it seems like a big thing. all the more u should be selective with clients if you are in this position.

damn! my accounting degree does come in useful after all!! ahhaha ;p