Keep these submissions coming and I'll keep posting them. Here's today's:"You make an appointment over the phone for a woman who says she only wants to bring in her five-year old, who she claims happens to be an angel. You're already pretty busy and on single coverage, but since she is only bringing in one child, and you both know, without saying, that she'll probably just get her one-pose package, you're expecting this to be an easy, no-frills, "in-and-out" session.
She shows up late with not one, but FOUR kids dressed for pictures, because she decided that while she was at it, she might as well get all the kids pictures done. Never mind calling you to let you know, or even to see if extra time could be set aside. Just showing up with three extra kids in tow.
And she also wants individuals of each child, and an outfit change. Except the outfits she wants are still sitting on the clothing rack in the children's department, can she run out and purchase them really fast? And when she comes back she will need extra time to have an internal debate about which outfit she wants to use first, is that ok?
Finally, time for the session to begin! Can we start with the group shot, even though the youngest is extremely crabby?? Oh, and don't forget about an all-girls and all-boys shot, plus every combination of breakdowns possible among the kids. Hey, do you mind throwing her in a group shot and then one with each child separate? And while you're at it, she will now tell you that she changed her mind about the background that she absolutely had to have for the first half of the shots, can we re-shoot everything on another?
And when this is all said and done, she will probably just buy the package of one of the group shots that she deems "ok, but not great", and then make an appointment to bring them back and try for the individuals again."
I know exactly what our submitter is talking about. That's what always amazes me about talking to people about working at Sears Photo Studio: it's the same bad situation nationwide.
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2 comments:
When are people going to realize that the portrait session is about the CHILD, and not the clothing?!!I've never seen any advertising that shows the same subject in multiple outfits, so I'm not sure where people get the notion that this is a good idea. It seems to me that the studio staff can't win- either the customer is late for their appointment, or they show up way early to get the subject(s)ready. Meanwhile, the photographer gets to stand around and watch "happy time" fly out the window while the parent jostles the kid around.
Mothers of one year olds were the worst. Children at that age have just started to learn independence since most have just started to walk. It is a very difficult age to photograph because they have limited attention spans and don't want to stand or sit in one spot. Meanwhile, mom has 3 outfits planned and wants 4 different backgrounds. There were so many times that I wanted to say, "Listen, Lady, if I can get one good shot in one outfit and one background, the session will be a success." I realize the first birthday is a big deal and all, but I saw it too many times that the length of time the moms wanted the session to span over with the outfits, etc---it just became meltdown city.
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