I recently needed some photos for my clothing brand. I hired this dude who I wouldnt say he’s a friend but definitely an acquaintance who’s close with a lot of my close friends. Whenever I brought up the idea for the shoot to him he seemed really excited about it and out of trust and all the good things i’ve heard about him, I booked the shoot with the entire payment up front. Fast forward month and a half now and I still haven’t received those photos. We only shot for 40 mins to an hour and he probably took close to 50-80 photos. I’ve already hit him up asking for the photos and he tells me he’s still working on them. I don’t want to keep asking him like some crazy ex to deliver the photos that I already paid for but at this point idk what to do.
I’m not a photographer so i don’t know, but am I being too impatient or is a month and a half too long for him to edit some photos? I’m considering whether I should keep bothering him or if I should just consider this a lost cause and hire a different photographer
Did you look at any of this guy’s work before hiring him? Did you look at full jobs and not the greatest hits? Does he have a studio? Did he bring lighting and take the time to set it up for a look that supports your project brief? Did he style the items on set to make him look their best? Did he provide a contract?
If you paid less than a couple hundred bucks, well you get what you pay for and are at the mercy of his timeline. If you paid a standard rate for commercial photography in your area, then no, a month is not acceptable at all.
I just delivered a commercial job later than normal - it took me 7 days, because the job itself required a full day out of town so there was lots of busy work to catch up on upon return, and then I had some familiar obligations due to a death in my family. Kept the client advised of the timeline and delivered a ton of work.
Payment upfront in full is not unheard of, but neither is taking a deposit and getting a final invoice when the final images are ready for delivery.
If this person has a real business entity you could leave reviews, but based on what you said about the shoot length, this person sounds like a rank amateur.