Getting Nothing from TF*

Earlier today a thread was started asking about how to ensure people get images from trade shoots.  In the thread, a photographer said, essentially, that if he isn’t happy with how just one of the shoot team (model, MUA, hair stylist, etc) performed, by looking at the resulting shots, he won’t give images to anyone.  Simply, they’re not up to par in his eyes because one person did a sub-par job, so no one gets anything as a result.

It’s like that one asshole in 5th grade who’d throw a spitball and get recess canceled for the whole class, right?

Anyway, I think he’s wrong.  If, on a trade shoot where the compensation is photos, one person on a team doesn’t do a good job, it becomes the job of the photographer to step up and say, “that hair doesn’t look right under the lights” or “let’s fix the lip color, it’s not photographing well” or “let’s try some other poses, these aren’t flattering”.  That is, the photographer should have noticed something was off before shooting started, or during the shooting itself, and worked with the team to correct it.

And if, for whatever reason, the shots don’t come out, I feel that the photographer should properly compensate the parties who ultimately suffer because one person didn’t do their job.  After all, the team is there working for payment, and for whatever reason, suddenly they’re not getting paid as promised.  I’m not saying the photographer should immediately turn around and cut everyone who kicked ass a check, and I’m also not saying he should release photos he’s unhappy with just to please the masses.  However, offering to reshoot at standard rates would be a nice gesture.  There may be some people who say, “oh don’t worry about it, not every shoot goes well”, but I can honestly say that nearly everyone who gets offered that would likely have a more positive outlook when it comes to that photographer than if they were told, “oh, right, pictures… they were bad because the hairstylist sucked, so I deleted them all and you get nothing.”

What are your thoughts on it?

Mine?  Well, I tell you, I’d be pretty pissed if I were a model who rocked the shoot, and a couple weeks later got a message where the photographer was telling me that he didn’t like the makeup artist’s job, so he decided to scrap the shoot results, and tough cookies that I was there for 8 hours and worked my ass off.