How to Deal With Criticism From a Client (Wedding and Event Photography)
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- How to Deal With Criticism From a Client (Wedding and Event Photography)
In this video I discuss how to deal with criticism from a client as a wedding or event photographer. Wedding and event photography can be a very demanding job. And whether you're shooting a private event like a wedding or a large scale corporate event, there is a lot on the line, with some room for error... especially when you're starting out. So in this video, I discuss some of my own experiences as an event photographer and wedding photographer starting out, how I've learned to deal with criticism, and some actionable tips you can use to help you cope when the criticism comes... because it will come.
Manage your clients expectations!
The first thing to do is manage your clients expectations. You need to make sure they understand what you provide as a wedding or event photographer, the style of your shooting, the look of your post processing, and much much more. A client of course should exercise due diligence when hiring you, but ultimately it is going to fall on you if and when they are unhappy.
Next, we can talk about having and developing confidence as an event or wedding photographer. I've talked a lot about how important it is to be a good technical photographer. Being a technical photographer means you are able to more effectively execute your create vision. It means you are less hindered and able to be more present when shooting and much much more. When you have a strong grasp on the technical side of photography, no matter what the conditions are, or what variables are thrown at you, you feel confident that you are able to problem solve as good as anyone else. Knowing this can be liberating! So long as you are able to accept the variables and conditions... essentially embrace stoicism. It will make you a better wedding or event photographer and grant you more peace of mind.
You are your worst critic!
Next let's talk about the way external criticism has a way of amplifying your own criticism. Remember, we are our worst enemies! No one punishes ourselves more than ourselves. Be more kind to yourself.
Much more is discussed in this video, but its a bit much for me to type ;)
Thank you for watching. I wish you luck on your wedding or event photography journey!
Always feel free to reach out if you need my help. If you want to support the work I do on RUclips, I would love to have your support on Patreon.
Links to my work:
mikmilman.com
Patreon | / mikmilman
Instagram | @retrograding / retrograding
Facebook | / mikmilman
#eventphotography #eventphotographer #eventphotographytipsandtricks #howtodealwithcriticismfromaclient #howtodealwithcriticism
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Next video will drop on Tuesday at 10:15am. Make sure you click the bell icon so that you don't miss it. I have so much content coming; I'm super excited!
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This took me back to my early days when I did shoot some weddings. I tried to provide the most complete services I could, even spending an evening just photographing the young soon-to-be bride at my home studio. All studio lighting, beautiful use of color gels, etc. This was all on film, long before digital. Photographed the wedding as completely as I could, and set up lights inside the church after so I could get formal group shots. Later at the reception I even set up a backdrop with lights and photographed all the couples individually. When the young couple came to order the prints (lots of them) she suddenly attacked me because I had neglected to take one group shot inside the church with absolutely everyone. I was new at this. I was a bit annoyed because I had put so much effort into the job. The biggest lesson I learned was not that I'd forgotten to get one 'giant group shot', but that the people you photograph are NOT YOUR FRIENDS. They are clients, and it's business. They will not hesitate to criticize over the smallest thing. You just have to protect yourself using contracts and managing the expectations, as you so excellently state in your video. I work now only with commercial clients and personal feelings are much less relevant, fortunately.
Look at you all dressed sharp and lookin handsome
Who knew I had another look other than homeless-chic.
I'm excited for this one; I think it will help a lot of people just starting out. I hope you can join me at the premiere. I will happily answer any questions you have for me. What's the worst feedback / experience you've had with a client?
Good talk. I liked hearing your photography horror stories.
Yes! It’s not IF…it’s WHEN it happens. Unfortunately it hits HARD. I LOVE you philosophy! We must be resourceful!
Thank you for sharing. This was a great video.
Thank you! This was a last minute addition to what I have lined up. Really glad to see people are enjoying it.
Really excited for this one.
8:40 that used to happen to me all the time. In my head I'm like "then why the fuck did you invited them for!?"
To this day, I don't understand why people feel the need to invite EVERYONE to their wedding, birthday party etc.
Thankfully, I no longer deal with this crap because I specially market myself to only cover weddings of up to 100 guests. Which is not a lot when you see 100 people only fill up four or five tables.
And where can I see said photographs of said the Frenemy and her elaborate costumes???
My last photo shoot was a nightmare.
This woman told me to to a birthday photo shoot of her son and her.
They were not dressed up at all, no shoes and she won't let me move furniture to get composition and started saying, oh you can edit this out edit that out.
Then she started saying her previous Photographer edits everything that's in the way.
The crazy thing is that I took all my studio gear to her house.
I didn't get paid.
Geez. Sounds awful. What happened, exactly, in regards to getting paid?
@@MikMilman I didn't have an agreement to get paid because I wanted to use the pics for my portfolio but it won't happen
Are you certain you're still at a point in which you should be doing free work?
@@MikMilman I did it for free because I didn't have children's birthday Photos on my portfolio.
I have similar situation in which a bride failed to make her payments and after rescheduling four different dates and had three different revised payment schedules...she just stopped paying. We issued payment reminders, a final effort to remedy the situation...a month later we sent a termination email since she breached contract and never responded since the previous year. She was furious! Left a horrible review filled with falsehoods, etc. She threatened her attorney, etc. I agreed that her counselor communicating with us would be best since we couldn't seem to resolve the issue and reminded her that "defamation action" was possible for her making false statements in her review. Normally, I bend over backwards for our clients, and did for her, but at some point you have to stand your ground. After 13 years of business, I'll take the negative review and I included our response with evidence. So hopefully someone who is logical and sensible will read it and understand why we're not serving at her wedding in the fall.
This sounds just awful. I'm sorry you had to go through it.
DAMN! I missed this! Watching now 👀
:)
Hope you enjoy it. You're always welcome to share your thoughts or ask me questions in the normal comments if you miss the live chat.
@@MikMilman Thanks, Mik, will do! ☺️
Do you have a copy of what you send to the client on what to expect? that would be awesome.
Since I was born again it's given me freedom at my
Job.. for God helps me examine my heart with honesty. And if I know I am doing my best that's all that matters . Other peoples opinions about my work mean nothing to me anymore.. as long as I know God is pleased with my effort that's enough for me...
That's great that you found that.
@@MikMilman he is available to everyone mik... in a very personal way might I add... we cannot save ourselves...
At the wedding where the 2nd shooter missed some shots.., I’m interested in how you dealt with the 2nd photographer. If I decide to shoot weddings, I’d definitely want to start by being a second shooter for experience & confidence, hence why I’m asking! And I bet I’ll make mistakes!
Also, when I used to do property photos, one of my first main jobs was to take before and after pictures for a contractor. I would send the pics to him via Dropbox and after a few jobs, I’d delete them as I didn’t have that much space. One time he asked me for before pictures as he’d not saved them and I felt so unprofessional not keeping them - luckily it was just for one of his properties and not all so he was ok about it but it still horrifies me. Before that, when I did events, people wanted the photos on cds (yep this was a long time ago!) and they actually wanted to make sure I didn’t keep their photos.. What is your take on keeping pictures? Do you keep them for a certain amount of time?
Do you mean regarding the complaint? I did nothing. It was not their fault and mentioning would have done anything positive for anyone. I'd like to go more into how to deal with the anxiety of second shooting and all that, but my brain is sorta fried. I've had a large workload lately! What I recommend is checking out my video on second shooting in the meanwhile. If you have more questions after that, please let me know! Perhaps I'll address it in a video like I did today.
Regarding uploading, hosting, keeping pics and all that:
I backup my files to several hard drives. All professional jobs I shoot get uploaded to Smugmug, which does not have a hosting limit. At anytime clients can download their files. Even if I stop paying for the service, I believe they can still download their files. For all my other cloud needs, I pay to upgrade my google drive storage. Its only $10 a month for 2 TB of storage and in all these years of adding essential stuff to it, I still only use half of that.
@Mik Milman Yes, I meant regarding the complaint. ok, cool, that makes sense :). Great! I will check that video out. As I've just discovered your channel, I've still loads of vids to catch up on!
As to backing up files, I saw you mention Smugmug in the comments in one of your previous videos. That's really useful that people can still download their files even when one is no longer paying. I'm definitely checking them out when I start. And yes, I have upgraded google drive; it's so cheap!
Thanks again for your time! Have a great day! :)
I have another absurd absolute question.
Do you watch rick and morty?
No but I hear good things. Why?