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teachingmyown Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 20 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Aug 15 2007 at 7:51pm | IP Logged
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I am just so disappointed I need to vent!
This past weekend, we had a wonderful surprise birthday party for my mother's 70th birthday. It went really well. I am still physically and emotionally drained. It was a lot of work and very little sleeping was done all weekend. But it was worth it.
The disappointing thing is that we hired a photographer to capture the day. Our big gift to our mother will be a photo album of pictures from the party. I have been waiting all week for the photographer to post the proofs on the website. They went up today and I am just so disappointed in them!
While there are quite a few good candid shots, and some of the group shots came out nicely, so many did not. There are only three pictures of the 15 grandchildren to choose from, not one of which has all the kids looking, or at least looking cute.
Her spacing of people and centering of shots seems strange. And there isn't one picture of my family(dh, kids and me) that I would want to pay for! We had better photographs taken by family members at the wedding we went to a few weeks ago.
I know this is small on the grand scale. And I am tired, so I am probably over-reacting. But I just want to cry!
Thanks for listening!
__________________ In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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amyable Forum All-Star
Joined: March 07 2005
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Posted: Aug 15 2007 at 8:10pm | IP Logged
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I'm sorry Molly!
If she is any kind of photographer worth her salt, she can crop/edit pictures to suit you better. I remember being disappointed at our wedding proofs, but the photographer was able to make even bad pictures look better with their bag of "tricks".
(((((hugs)))) and I hope you can get enough good shots out of the bunch to be satisfied.
__________________ Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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KristinaP Forum Pro
Joined: March 25 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Aug 15 2007 at 8:45pm | IP Logged
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Oh, I know your disappointment! The same thing happened with our wedding and it was a friend of ours who did the picture taking so I didn't feel like I could really say anything but he was able to "fine tune" a bunch of them and that helped quite a bit.
We also had family pictures done a couple of years ago and you'd think for someone doing that full time, they'd get at least one or two shots done well-NOTHING acceptable came of that and we ended up not buying anything. I was so irritated that we wasted two hours at a sitting for nothing.
Anyway, I hope your photographer can work some magic for you-that's quite a memorable experience for your mom and family!
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aussieannie Forum All-Star
Joined: May 21 2006 Location: Australia
Online Status: Offline Posts: 7251
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Posted: Aug 16 2007 at 3:49am | IP Logged
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There is NOTHING worse! I had a cousin who married years ago and I had promised to do a portrait of the couple as a gift.
I asked for the best photo they had. They sent one on and I just couldn't work with it at all, shadows around the eye area ect. When my aunty finally visited bringing the album, I thought this my opportunity to pick a suitable photo and there were not one! This was an EXPENSIVE wedding and the photo's were shocking.
In the end I found one that was a very casual shot with the couple sitting on a stage with musical equipement behind them, an end of the night-type shot - a decent photo of them that did them justice but with such a background, you couldn't hang this photo on a wall.
In doing the portrait I left out the background, but it is unusual that a portrait would turn out to be the best image of the couple on the day and it shouldn't have to be like that.
When you pay good money you should receive quality photos.
__________________ Under Her Starry Mantle
Spiritual Motherhood for Priests
Blessed with 3 boys & 3 girls!
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Aggie gal Forum Pro
Joined: Aug 02 2007 Location: Illinois
Online Status: Offline Posts: 192
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Posted: Aug 16 2007 at 6:15am | IP Logged
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Oh, gosh Molly. I am sorry. I know you worked so hard for that. Is there any chance someone else in the family got some shots of the day?
I completely understand though, that when you hire someone to do a job, you want it done the right way.
__________________ Amy
Married to Rob, Momma to Patrick (17), Braden (14), Nathan (11), Benjamin (10), Aurea (8), Peter (6), Rosie (3) and Baby Blaise
Eight is GR8
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JennGM Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Aug 16 2007 at 7:55am | IP Logged
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I'm sorry, Molly. I know that disappointment, as I had it from my wedding. We were "obligated" to use a family member, and the shots were less than desirable. AND, he didn't get family group shots, nor any with my two grandmothers, who both died soon after my wedding. It still makes me SOO upset.
__________________ Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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teachingmyown Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 20 2005 Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline Posts: 5128
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Posted: Aug 16 2007 at 10:22am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the kind remarks. I was sick to my stomach all night about this. I even had dreams about picking the right pictures for the album once I fell asleep!
I know one thing, this pregnant lady is getting a haircut and going on a diet! Nothing worse than a bad family portrait when you are pregnant to really send your self-image plummeting.
I have asked my sisters-in-law to wade through the pictures and make a decision.
Probably the worst part for me is I hate any sort of confrontation or unpleasant interaction. But I paid a lot of money to this woman and don't feel I got the quality I paid for. The thought of telling her that makes me physically ill.
__________________ In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Aggie gal Forum Pro
Joined: Aug 02 2007 Location: Illinois
Online Status: Offline Posts: 192
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Posted: Aug 16 2007 at 12:35pm | IP Logged
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Miss Molly, I've seen you in person, and I have to say, you are a beautiful pregnant mommy!
I can understand your not wanting to confront the photographer on her work, but maybe she can work with you on some sort of deal since you are obviously so unsatisfied.
__________________ Amy
Married to Rob, Momma to Patrick (17), Braden (14), Nathan (11), Benjamin (10), Aurea (8), Peter (6), Rosie (3) and Baby Blaise
Eight is GR8
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MelissaClaire Forum Pro
Joined: May 16 2007
Online Status: Offline Posts: 475
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Posted: Aug 16 2007 at 1:06pm | IP Logged
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I'm so sorry about that Molly! Did you see any samples of her work before hiring her? Is what you received consistent with her samples?
As a photographer I totally stand behind my work--and I would think most photographers would as well. I'm sure she doesn't want you to be disappointed (nor would she want the potential bad word of mouth you could provide) so hopefully she'll work with you and maybe there's some stuff that can be done to improve the images through editing. If you want to PM me the link to the album I can look at them and tell you if editing can "fix" any of them.
Also--I'd email her if you don't want a confrontation. Just tell her you received the link and honestly you are disappointed in the quality of the images.
__________________ Melissa
Mom to a dd ('02), ds ('03), ds ('05), dd ('07) and baby due 9/01/09
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