Reporting from the far and wide regions, the PhillyBlurb.com has an article about a local photographer who has been busted for failing to deliver wedding photos to 25 couples; weddings where his fee ranged between $1,500.00 and $5,000.00 each. As I often say, anyone can call themselves a photographer, but not everyone is cabable of being a “Professional”.
This story hits close to home, not by miles, but in as much as the same thing happened to my sister. Her wedding photographer wound up taking only marginal quality images, gave them proofs, but never filled the order. According to my sister, there was a whole coalition of angry couples that worked for years with various city and county agencies trying to track this guy down. More than money, each couple was desperately seeking to get the negatives. (It was a number of years ago…) In the end, I know my sister got her pics back, but many other couples didn’t fare as well.
PS: The reason I didn’t do the wedding photography was because I was the one doing the marrying. Yes, that’s right; I married my sister. And all with the official blessing of San Diego County. Y’all understand that means I was the one standing in front of the Bride & Groom, and NOT the Groom, right?
In some cultures, it’s acceptable to be the groom as well so I won’t hold that against you. 🙂
The scam artist probably was intimidated to show his photos once he realized Gary Crabbe was in his presence so he decided against providing the product. If I can’t trust someone to shoot my wedding, I’ll either get someone famous to shoot it, my uncle or shoot my own wedding. I could probably slip on the ring with one hand and shoot wide angle from above with the other in the hopes of capturing something. The new style of wedding photography: Self-portrait journalism.