Wedding photographer ran off with my money and photos

pullandbang

From the Indo.....

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/wedding-photographer-ran-off-with-my-money-and-photos-tearful-bride-tells-court-29754998.html

sheesh

wow thats a nightmare I'd love to know the cause.

was it incompetence? (Sure anyone could do this photography lark!)
technical failure (no pictures at the end of the Day)
was the guy just a nut and just took the money?

dreadful way to treat people.

One of the larger photography groups should put out a "what to look for in a Pro photographer" guide.

DaireQuinlan

sheesh wrote: »

wow thats a nightmare I'd love to know the cause.

was it incompetence? (Sure anyone could do this photography lark!)
technical failure (no pictures at the end of the Day)
was the guy just a nut and just took the money?

dreadful way to treat people.

One of the larger photography groups should put out a "what to look for in a Pro photographer" guide.

one of the larger pro photography groups DID try something like that a few years ago. unfortunately it boiled down to 'make sure the photographer is a paid up member of our group' with a little side insinuation that if they WEREN'T then they were tax dodging cowboys. rather predictably it didn't go down too well.

Balfey1972

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

one of the larger pro photography groups DID try something like that a few years ago. unfortunately it boiled down to 'make sure the photographer is a paid up member of our group' with a little side insinuation that if they WEREN'T then they were tax dodging cowboys. rather predictably it didn't go down too well.

Very true, you get what you pay for in most cases. Just because a photographer is a member of any group, has insurance or has new equipment doesn't make them a good wedding photographer.

Saying that more and more people think they can get their wedding photos done for €500 or less and then they have issues when they get their photos and they are not up to the standards they expect. They have to check out peoples previous work and be happy with their style instead of their price.

CinSoots

That lad was on WOL and had ads all over the place a year or two ago. I even saw a poster on the slip road to Ballymun off the m50!! He was doing them for ridiculously low money. Signs on things like this happen. All the boyos charging a couple of hundred for a wedding will not be in business in a year or two because you cannot sustain business at those prices regardless of him many weddings you do. Anyone that books them needs to be aware of this that the potential is high for a disaster on the wedding day

There is an ad on Facebook today for full day photography until dancing, two photographers, all pics on a CD and a 20 page storybook album. For €399!! For jaysus sake you'd hardly buy the storybook for that price.

thebaz

CinSoots wrote: »

That lad was on WOL and had ads all over the place a year or two ago. I even saw a poster on the slip road to Ballymun off the m50!! He was doing them for ridiculously low money. Signs on things like this happen. All the boyos charging a couple of hundred for a wedding will not be in business in a year or two because you cannot sustain business at those prices regardless of him many weddings you do. Anyone that books them needs to be aware of this that the potential is high for a disaster on the wedding day

There is an ad on Facebook today for full day photography until dancing, two photographers, all pics on a CD and a 20 page storybook album. For €399!! For jaysus sake you'd hardly buy the storybook for that price.

that explalns -
I'd be skeptical of any wedding photographer under a grand - for the stress , hassle, expenses, equipment - very tough way to make a stipend , to do it right you'd want to be making well over that too -
400 euros for all that stress, no wonder the chap lost it.

Wabbit Ears

was reading about this on a facebook post as soms friends of mine also booked him.

This really is an excellent case of doing things on the cheap and getting burned.

Fi H

I find it amusing that the couple apparently havent a single photo of themselves and their guests! In this day & age there must be reems of both crap & good photos from the day!

blackbird98

another unfortunate knock-on effect could cause problems for others, as there is more than one Eoghan /Eoin O' Sullivan photographer

donnapuppy

I paid £2000 to a professional photographer 2 years ago and still have no wedding album. I suspect he has financial problems now as his previous reviews were excellent. He ignores our calls and emails and am currently waiting to hear back from small claims court.

CinSoots

Well if I were you I'd ring the guards and tell them that he stole £2000 from you. At least you then have it reported because if he hasn't given you anything for your money then in effect he has stolen from you.

Has he even given you photos on a CD, apart from your album? Have you seen any pics at all yet?? If he hasn't is there a possibility that he doesn't have any photos to show you? I've seen this happen before where the photographer was using a cheaper camera which doesn't have dual card backup and his cards corrupted resulting in him losing all the photos of the day. Unfortunately there are cowboys in every industry

AnCatDubh

pullandbang wrote: »

From the Indo.....

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/wedding-photographer-ran-off-with-my-money-and-photos-tearful-bride-tells-court-29754998.html

Ah, thought for a second there that you and Missus P&B were getting hitched again

This story and many more like it will eventually push the wedding photographer industry towards some form of regulation. I hate the idea of it, but for the poor Bride & Groom, I think there needs to be some form of reassurance which will sift out the cowboys, and if you choose to go with a cowboy then it's your own look out if you get taken on a (bumpy) ride.

I think a big problem is that it doesn't appear to be an industry at all. I know there are various bodies who claim legitimency around this and other photogrpahy areas, but in reality despite perhaps good intentions, they fall short of having any clout that would lead them to be accepted as an industry representative body.

If it ever goes the way of regulation then all of a sudden there becomes a barrier to entry (of coming up to a regulated standard) should you decide to get into wedding photography, but if things are getting bad out there then perhaps it's not a bad thing.

*form an orderly queue please with your 'down with that sort of thing' signs*

DaireQuinlan

CinSoots wrote: »

Well if I were you I'd ring the guards and tell them that he stole £2000 from you. At least you then have it reported because if he hasn't given you anything for your money then in effect he has stolen from you.

Gardai won't get involved, it's a civil matter, not a criminal one. If they're feeling particularly helpful when you contact them they'll probably say what's been said here, get the small claims court involved, or, if it's over €2000, a district court and get yourself a solicitor.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/courts_system/small_claims_court.html

I don't know what the statute of limitations is WRT small claims court claims though so you might want to get stuff together. I went through this last year over a problem with a builder who did some work in the house. It's reasonably straightforward and the staff in the court were pretty helpful.

donnapuppy

CinSoots wrote: »

Well if I were you I'd ring the guards and tell them that he stole £2000 from you. At least you then have it reported because if he hasn't given you anything for your money then in effect he has stolen from you.

Has he even given you photos on a CD, apart from your album? Have you seen any pics at all yet?? If he hasn't is there a possibility that he doesn't have any photos to show you? I've seen this happen before where the photographer was using a cheaper camera which doesn't have dual card backup and his cards corrupted resulting in him losing all the photos of the day. Unfortunately there are cowboys in every industry

I got a disc of photos off him a couple of weeks after the wedding. I asked a garda friend and he said they don't get involved that I would have to go small claims route. I reported him to IPPA as he is a member but the were not a bit interested in getting involved.

That chap in the OPs story was undercutting like it was no ones business not too long ago.

I've seen his photos and I'd surmise them as pretty poor. HOWEVER, I've seen some of his photos, so surely potential brides did, too? He was cheap, and he wasn't great, but he didn't seem to try and hide the fact.

AnCatDubh

Deleted User wrote: »

so surely potential brides did, too? He was cheap, and he wasn't great, but he didn't seem to try and hide the fact.

And so the facebook effect is actively kicking in.

Everything on facebook becomes the norm. Anything a bit better must be professional or 'sure, facebook quality would be ok.... like.... wouldn't it if I didn't know what I was at?'.

Damn you facebook.