My wedding photo nightmare: Bride’s bitter dispute with wedding photographer

[Kym]

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/my-wedding-photo-nightmare-brides-bitter-dispute-with-wedding-photographer/story-fnet09y4-1227346123553



A BITTER dispute between a newlywed couple and their photographer has spiralled out of control with the parties going to war on social media, but is a hacker causing all the trouble?

Ashlea and Daniel Howard were married in front of friends and family at Bendooley Estate in the historic Southern Highlands town of Berrima in February.

After searching local directories for a photographer in the area, they settled on Lee Maxwell Judd, a builder in the Highlands who takes photos as a hobby and has been covering weddings for 20 years.

Interesting - Bride wars? Weekend warrior -- was it worth it

[ameerat42]

Sounds like an organism from the deep :vomit1: ["photographer" stand here].

[MissionMan]

I don't know what happened, but I think taking this public will do no one good.

[ameerat42]

You're right, MM. A 2ple of private thwacks in the head would probably have been more efficacious.:D:D:D

[Mark L]

Oh dear, oh my.
Except for the immediate time after the event, how often have you gone back and looked at the photos from you're wedding day?
One would think that if the photos were really important, they would researched for the best photog.:confused013

[Analog6]

Seems they got what they paid for. I wonder if they will get a photographer to build their house? :rolleyes:

[MissionMan]

I have to say after looking at the Facebook page, I'm swinging very much towards the bride in this case.

From what I have seen of the togs actions, the Tog is way out of line.

One simple example is that the bride went to another photographers page with the same name and apologised for the mix up any bad publicity he was receiving as a result. (she put a post on her own page explaining the mix up and asking people to make sure they don't vent at the wrong person. The bad tog took a screen shot of the apology to the other photographer and pasted it on his own page to make it look like she had apologised. That in itself is so wrong the tog has lost all credibility.

[ricktas]

Seems to me the bride (and groom) sought out a CHEAP Wedding photographer. That he sent the images on USB rather than meeting with the couple and going over the photos says a lot about the service standards expected and delivered, from both parties involved.

I reckon it is a case of get a cheap photographer off facebook, expect the same service as a $10K one.

Then for the photographer to claim his FB was hacked...lame!

If the bride wanted a professional job she should have researched her chosen photographer, paid a decent amount and she would have gotten one. If the photographer was in anyway professional, he would not be acting like he has.

[yummymummy]

I've been following this one on facebook, have to agree with the bride here. As a wedding photographer, he should not have been drinking at the wedding, he was there as a paid employee for the day, not as a guest, the replies on his page were nothing short of disgusting! I hope he never gets another wedding or client again, behaviour such as this, is exactly why our industry is going down the toilet.

[MissionMan]

Agreed, although don't agree that its fair to take aim at weekend warriors as a whole. I don't of plenty very highly skilled weekend warriors who would be more than capable of producing a pro quality set of wedding photos including some on this site. My regular family photographer is s weekend warrior who is one of the most talented people I know.

[ricktas]

I've been following this one on facebook, have to agree with the bride here. As a wedding photographer, he should not have been drinking at the wedding, he was there as a paid employee for the day, not as a guest, the replies on his page were nothing short of disgusting! I hope he never gets another wedding or client again, behaviour such as this, is exactly why our industry is going down the toilet.

But..do we know he was drinking, we only have the bride's claim of that. Seems they are both throwing abuse at each other, of which we do not know what is true and what isn't.

[zollo]

Wow, pretty unprofessional on the photographers part. And too late to do research within the professional photographic community now, on the brides part.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Kel]

By the looks of it their are plenty of other people at what to keep it going by comment on it their is always two side to a story , they both could of handle the whole thing better I have children that are better behavioral them these people I think they should of done their homework better they made the choose learn from it you made you bed lie in it and social medial is not the place for this, if your not happy with the service take him through the small claim courts.

[snappysi]

i wonder in part if this is a case of someone thinking that taking photos cant be that hard.... any one can do it.... then it turns out that not everyone can... to a level that was expected... and now the horse has bolted.... live and learn..... both parties could obviously have handled the situation better though....

[ricktas]

Having said previously that there are two sides to this story, I am now tending towards siding with the Bride. On facebook there is another photographer in the UK with the same name as the NSW one. Some people searching the name had posted comments on the UK photographers page assuming it was the NSW one. Then Ashley (the bride) found out and posted an apology on the UK photographers page. In a low move (IMO) the NSW photographer took that apology as a screengrab and re-posted it on his page to make it look like the Bride was apologising to him.

The UK photographer who people assumed was the NSW one
https://www.facebook.com/leemaxwellphotography?fref=ts

Where the NSW photographer took the apology that Ashley posted on the UK photographers page and re posted it on his page to make it look like she was apologising to him
https://www.facebook.com/LeeMaxwellJuddPhotography/posts/890552277658192:0

[ameerat42]

From his position, he should be able to get good close-ups of a snake's belly:nod:

[Kel]

I feel for the other photography that has been caught up in this as it her business is been effected as well with people not able to keep out of other people mess

- - - Updated - - -

I feel for the other photography that has been caught up in this as it her business is been effected as well with people not able to keep out of other people mess

[Serious Sam]

An interesting thread....

I have seen so many people/clients that do not understand professional photography. Few of my peer always told me they got told off and being compare to 1K-3K photographer/studio. One couple I meet on behave of a photographer told me "you know that shop *removed : read the site rules, in particular rules 3-7: admin* can do 200% of your stuff and still $500 cheaper". I was very temped to say good for you, why are you still talking to me? You just wasted me half an hour (of course I didn't say it).

I always tell my friend/peers, let the cheap ass go with the cheap ass. This case looks like the cheap ass meet the bad ass:lol::lol::lol:

[ricktas]

An interesting thread....

I have seen so many people/clients that do not understand professional photography. Few of my peer always told me they got told off and being compare to 1K-3K photographer/studio. One couple I meet on behave of a photographer told me "you know that shop *removed : read the site rules, in particular rules 3-7: admin* can do 200% of your stuff and still $500 cheaper". I was very temped to say good for you, why are you still talking to me? You just wasted me half an hour (of course I didn't say it).

I always tell my friend/peers, let the cheap ass go with the cheap ass. This case looks like the cheap ass meet the bad ass:lol::lol::lol:

So you do photography professionally.. upgraded to advanced level :lol:

[Serious Sam]

So you do photography professionally.. upgraded to advanced level :lol:

I am not one personally, just play with gear. My work do put me in the circle of many high end photographer.

[geoffsta]

I see this as a two coined thing.. They did some research and found a bloke who had been covering weddings for 20 years. If he had been doing it that long... Why not?

Now some on here are bashing the weekend warrior.... Well I have seen some pretty crappy professional wedding TOG's, some charging mega bucks. And taking two to six months to deliver...
But I have also seen some good ones... (Flip of the coin) And there is some pretty good weekend warriors on here that do a bloody good job as well....

Social media can be a good thing, but in this case a shocker.

My answer to weddings is a flat "No". I know my limits.... I do know some people. (Well a lot really) that buy an entry level DSLR and think they are the next Dylan and Maryanne Toh... all rolled into one...

It's a crazy world we live in...:)

[antony]

Just read the news article.


But..do we know he was drinking, we only have the bride's claim of that. Seems they are both throwing abuse at each other, of which we do not know what is true and what isn't.
As for the drinking accusation part, it could be just the photographer was offered a glass of drink. My guess is that the drink could likely be non-alcohol or tiny amount, based on my experience (on non-photograph related business) people are good at twisting innocent act into something extremely nasty after maliciously exaggerating. Quite likely, it was something innocent or wasn't a big deal at all.

My guess of the event: there was a mis-delivery (which photographer apologised) and sounds like photos were not to bride's expectation. Bride demanded refund. Photographer refused. Bride was obviously unhappy and seemed revenge. Photographer also unhappy and ranted on Facebook (which backfired).

[ameerat42]

Who knows/cares, or gives a hoot/brass razoo/rodent's rear-end/... [attach suggestions here]:D