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Couple ordered to pay $1m for defaming their wedding photographer
- Thread starter Shiggy
- Start date
Zoe
Member
Even the OP article has a direct link to the blog.
Arrogant Bastard
Banned
Declare bankruptcy.
NeOak
Member
It should be a wake up call for fucking lying.
sankt-Antonio
Banned
1mill?
Damn. Wouldt her business run again once every online troll comment of the couple had been erased and a new wedding season begun?
Edit. I guess is she makes 200k a year this seems reasonable.
Damn. Wouldt her business run again once every online troll comment of the couple had been erased and a new wedding season begun?
Edit. I guess is she makes 200k a year this seems reasonable.
The news broadcast impacted her business more then the social media comments. Had the stationed actually reported the story right (if they did, they probably wouldn't have even ran the story, tbh), I doubt things would have even reached this point.
ebullientprism
Member
Because no one cares about accuracy. Its about getting a story that speaks to people. Ruthless business ripping off the small guys is a gripping tale.
Works too. How many stories like these have people foaming at the mouth on GAF while anyone asking to wait for more information is derided and called a defender for XYZ.
There's a big base on here in favour of internet mob justice, so that's not really surprising.
LostCaress
Member
If they pay the $1m do they get the pictures, or do they still have to pay 1,000,125$ ?
She will never get that money tho the couple will just fill bankruptcy and it's gone sure they have to probably give up their house and car but that's better than paying a million.
And most of that money would go to the mortage of the house first if they have that. So she won't see much money after all said is done.
It's sad but this will probably happen.
And most of that money would go to the mortage of the house first if they have that. So she won't see much money after all said is done.
It's sad but this will probably happen.
Arrogant Bastard
Banned
Yep, which is precisely my point, it is also what the photographer states about the entire affair as well.
At least it seems the photographer has recovered, she has re-launched her career, is now doing public speaking, is writing a book about how to become a successful business, and doing educational courses for photographers.
Info I saw elsewhere said in Texas homes were immune from being taken for judgments.
That seems like an excessive penalty, but considering that photographer' business and reputation is now ruined in the court of public opinion no matter what the truth is because people only care about stories for about five minutes to have a knee-jerk reaction to it, it may be a necessary compensation. The news studios should have to pay for it also.
Daffy Duck
Member
I bet their faces were a picture when that was handed out.
jasminlovesyoux
Banned
I'm blown away about wedding photographers making 200k a year. I have two separate friends who are wedding photographers and there's no way in hell they come anywhere near that. That's absurd. I guess they're doing it wrong?
Ah well i dunno how it will turn out then if the couple goes the bankruptcy way. I don't know alot about the american legal system but it was a wild guess.
Still sad for the photographer tho her business is ruined by liar's and she will probably never get the full million she was awarded by court.
And sadly people even go by fake reviews/rumors etc so it will be hard to put up the business again
It's a really unfortunate situation tbh.
Zoe
Member
Before this all happened, this photographer was booked for every weekend by the richer parts of Dallas.
Edit:
Holy crap!
https://andreapolito.com/homepage
Yeah, 1 million was justified.
You would have to be pretty upper range to make that much as a wedding photographer.
People do pay A LOT for wedding photos though. My one friend comes from a pretty well off family and they paid their photographer $5k for their wedding. This was for two photographers and I believe they also did their engagement photos.
Snkfanatic
Banned
Yikes...now this is a fucked up story. She fucks up some very important photos for you both and then to make it up she offers a measly discount...of all things. Speechless
GoldenEye 007
Member
Hope the photographer can get back on their feet and back to a productive business.
Some people are just the worst. If the news organizations were provided with proof of the contract and ignored it, they should be held accountable too.
Some people are just the worst. If the news organizations were provided with proof of the contract and ignored it, they should be held accountable too.
Arrogant Bastard
Banned
Actually, they did! She replied, gave them the contract, showed them why it was BS and they went ahead and left all that out of the story so they could go in guns hot. Don't worry, they updated the story days later, after the photographer said that the story had already caused the damage.
Seems she has.
There's a few costs afterwards that come up, depending on what you pick. After the pics are taken and the event is over, typically you meet with the photographer again and go over the pictures and decide what you want. do you want an album? How many copies of each picture? Which pictures do you even want, what size?
All of those things (including the cover, if you buy an album) are charged afterward and are optional (though there usually is an agreement beforehand that you pay at least X amount; that way there's less risk to the photographer if you decide after the event to say "nah, we don't want any of the pictures")
crisdecuba
Member
Ultimately it's the couple's fault and they're the only ones you can bring a lawsuit against with any chance of winning. They're the ones who directly defamed the photographer. The news reported on it (inaccurately) and people on social media reacted to it, but the fault still lies with the couple. And the $1M penalty is reasonable given the resulting loss of incoming for the photographer in subsequent years.
I asked my wife about this, she works at a law firm. It'll be tough to get paid. They can attempt wage garnishment, but that only works for certain states.
Other option is a lien against real estate (their house). Depending on the state, they may or may not be able to claim bankruptcy before selling the home and any excess proceed go to the photographer.
Other option is a lien against real estate (their house). Depending on the state, they may or may not be able to claim bankruptcy before selling the home and any excess proceed go to the photographer.
crisdecuba
Member
They should be, but that's a muuuuch harder case to win, and the news can offer a version of events that included the fact that they later "corrected the story" (as BS as that is).
That sounds like straight up willful misreporting to me. At least should there be internal consequences
Jack The Nipper
Banned
No photos in the op
DudeWithNoName
Member
I would almost guarantee it. At the very least, NBC cuts her a check for an undisclosed amount. Or be taken to the cleaners in court. I think "Fake News" makes your average jurist pretty angry these days and NBC stands no chance in court.
Awful to read. The news station definitely deserves a bulk of the blame for wielding their power beyond the scope of truth and diligent reporting. Shameful really.
Can't imagine how I could manage watching my career, reputation, and business implode and disappear due to such insidiousness and false claims. Heart wrenching.
Can't imagine how I could manage watching my career, reputation, and business implode and disappear due to such insidiousness and false claims. Heart wrenching.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Man, wedding clients and clientele relationship is so muddy and rocky.
So here's how it generally works.
You give 10%-50% deposit up front.
You give 50% deposit on the day of the wedding.
You give whatever is remaining (Usually 0%-20%) at the end of delivery.
There are many horror stories of folks not paying their wedding photographer and videographer because they're broke or wanted more from the wedding. Then comes the bargaining scenario where that $150 remaining will come down to $50, and they'll still give you a stink eye.
Folks end up also adding a lot of "add-ons" after the wedding, like albums, multiple copies, etc, which gets added on later to the contract.
All this is usually mentioned in the contract, esp. if the photographer is smart and has a good contract.
Holding "hostage" is a funny term because in a way that's what it is. What happens is the photographer will say "Your photos are ready. Please pay the remaining balance of $150". Either the photographer will send previews or low-res watermarked photos.
All in all, the transaction period is so long (takes roughly 3-6 months to deliver product) that the experience gets sour, and some folks even hesitate paying $150 because they're now married and have zero interest in paying more.
Keeping wedding clients happy is an art of its own. A typical photographer will shoot 30-50 weddings a year, and post processing takes roughly one to two weeks, going through 2000+ photos, spending roughly 3-5 minute a photo to edit. So imagine you're booked for 50 weeks of editing and 50 days of coverage and 50 days of signing these clients and 50 days of delivering and making copies or printing albums or posters, or uploading them online on secured drives, or saving on USB or DVD, or further editing photos that someone wants to showcase or change, etc etc. And good forbid your hard drive crashes, or you lose some data, or you have to do all these tasks yourself since you cannot afford a dedicated editor.
And all it takes is one pissed off customer to talk shit about you, and everyone shows up in droves saying they had a similar experience.
Here's a wedding videographer that got a WordPress page dedicated to their failures (they used to be one of the top preferred videographers, but now they're nothing as they've been sued many times):
https://bewareofescapestudios.wordpress.com
These guys are my inspiration to never fuck up weddings. That website is a sin. Look at the comments, it's still being replied to with folks complaining.
So here's how it generally works.
You give 10%-50% deposit up front.
You give 50% deposit on the day of the wedding.
You give whatever is remaining (Usually 0%-20%) at the end of delivery.
There are many horror stories of folks not paying their wedding photographer and videographer because they're broke or wanted more from the wedding. Then comes the bargaining scenario where that $150 remaining will come down to $50, and they'll still give you a stink eye.
Folks end up also adding a lot of "add-ons" after the wedding, like albums, multiple copies, etc, which gets added on later to the contract.
All this is usually mentioned in the contract, esp. if the photographer is smart and has a good contract.
Holding "hostage" is a funny term because in a way that's what it is. What happens is the photographer will say "Your photos are ready. Please pay the remaining balance of $150". Either the photographer will send previews or low-res watermarked photos.
All in all, the transaction period is so long (takes roughly 3-6 months to deliver product) that the experience gets sour, and some folks even hesitate paying $150 because they're now married and have zero interest in paying more.
Keeping wedding clients happy is an art of its own. A typical photographer will shoot 30-50 weddings a year, and post processing takes roughly one to two weeks, going through 2000+ photos, spending roughly 3-5 minute a photo to edit. So imagine you're booked for 50 weeks of editing and 50 days of coverage and 50 days of signing these clients and 50 days of delivering and making copies or printing albums or posters, or uploading them online on secured drives, or saving on USB or DVD, or further editing photos that someone wants to showcase or change, etc etc. And good forbid your hard drive crashes, or you lose some data, or you have to do all these tasks yourself since you cannot afford a dedicated editor.
And all it takes is one pissed off customer to talk shit about you, and everyone shows up in droves saying they had a similar experience.
Here's a wedding videographer that got a WordPress page dedicated to their failures (they used to be one of the top preferred videographers, but now they're nothing as they've been sued many times):
https://bewareofescapestudios.wordpress.com
These guys are my inspiration to never fuck up weddings. That website is a sin. Look at the comments, it's still being replied to with folks complaining.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
A good wedding photographer is charging $3-5k+ and doing 30-40 weddings a year. Also, as a business, being a wedding photographer lets you write off an inordinate amount of daily expenses (home office, gear upgrades, transportation, software subscriptions, web hosting).
It's possible that your friends are cheaper, in a cheaper area, or that like many wedding photographers they're not really quite professional wedding photographers, but more like skilled amateurs who bought some good gear and take the occasional gig.
Ninja Scooter
Member
The Petroleum Club?
Herr Schwarz
Banned
That lady photographer is aiiiite
dripdripsplash
Member
News network could have avoided all of this by simply calling the accused photographer before plastering the story everywhere.
It's simply shitty journalism. Pathetic.
It's simply shitty journalism. Pathetic.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Let me give you some numbers of my company.
Prices: Roughly $3000 for a 12 hour day (Two crew members). Each member makes $50/hr = $600 a day. Assuming there are average of 2 weddings a week, that's $1200 a week for 30 weeks of wedding season (i.e. a HIGH season of 60 weddings). That's roughly $36,000 a year salary for each photographer.
Then comes the cost of running things.
Equipment cost: $1000 a month (Roughly $150 per event)
Office space: $1000 a month (Roughly $150 per event)
Hard drive and storage cost: $250 a month (Roughly $30 per event)
Editor cost: $250-$500 per event
USB: $50 per event
Marketing: $500 a month (Roughly $60 per event)
So in your earning of $3000 per event (which btw is $180,000 a year revenue), you spend $2300 per event, with a profit of $700 for the company to grow, or paying for employees meal or parking or gas or any additional overtime or setback or additional crew member.
And don't get me started on down season when you don't make any money for 4-6 months and you still have bills to pay. And don't get me started on folks wanting discounts and compensations once the wedding is done.
There's no fucking profit in wedding photography/videography industry. It's fugazi. I make more working 9-5 with the comfort of not working 18 hrs a day, 7 days a week.
I joke about this a lot but it's true: We make McDonalds money once it's all broken down by the amount of hours put into this.
You GODDAMN RIGHT IM KEEPING YOUR FOOTAGE HOSTAGE FOR $150 THAT YOU RIGHTFULLY OWE. Its way easier to do this than chasing clients who at times even leave the fucking country, over $150!
GearDraxon
Member
Aunt-in-law recently had the same sort of situation with her photographer, except she was so late she missed the entire ceremony. Then had the gall to tell my wife (daughter of the bride) "well, she wasn't being super-communicative..."
The "I'm taking you to small claims court!" threat was thrown at me for our wedding a few years back, by a florist. We found a replacement one because they hadn't responded to emails or texts, and they said we were "breaking the contract," so they'd have to sue. They had a 50% deposit, and the only work done was sending us a couple of Pinterest links to arrangements we might like. So instead of taking the 50%, they threatened to sue for the rest. It never happened, how weird!
Note that in both of these cases, we didn't go to Yelp or sic our social media army on them, because we're not monster people. This couple in the story? Yikes.
elrechazado
Banned
I'd be surprised if she gets ten thousand