Has anyone else dealt with entitled people when it comes to free photos?

[rexbobcat]

Like, I just took some photos for a personal project I'm doing and for a local organization. I typically offer these types of photos free to those who want them. I thought it was generous considering I am neither employed, nor paid by anyone. Apparently not. I already sent several photos, but someone is trying to guilt trip me for not taking very specific photos even though they never directly asked me to. I don't understand it. I'm just going to stop offering photos to people if they aren't paying me. It always ends up making me feel like ****, which makes no logical sense but...here we are.

 

[Fujidave]

I`d say Don`t let anyone ever guilt trip you in your photography at all, I take photos of vocalists and give them for free, as I love my hobby.

 

[ac12]

Happens all the time.
"Where is the picture of MY kid?"
"My kid does not look good in the picture."
"My kids uniform is all dirty" Well that is what happens when they slide into 2nd base, they get dirty.
"Why is there only one picture of my kid, and five pictures of kid X?"
"Why can I barely see my kid?" Ignoring the fact that the kid was in the back row of musicians and could barely be seen at all.
etc, etc.

If you don't have a shoot script from the organization, then you shoot what YOU want to shoot.
Tell them that if they want specific pictures, they can contract and pay you to shoot those pictures.
If the comments are from the people in the organization, then tell them, "the pictures are free, if you don't like it, then I will stop giving you pictures."

 

[Designer]

I thought it was generous considering I am neither employed, nor paid by anyone.

I get that when I have (many times) done small (and some large) remodeling projects for family members. They are never quite happy with the results.

 

[CherylL]

I took photos of the small town Veterans parade. My intention was to get the grand daughter marching, but decided to shoot most of the entries. I shared on the city FB page and many people were happy( 100+) to see the photos. Only 1 said where is my entry which was an oversized lawnmower and not happy. I vaguely remember his entry and I think that was when I turned to get photos of the motorcycle's back jackets. One message me and asked if I had any other photos of the firetruck which I didn't. He was kind and said no worries, thanks. A grandmother was super happy of the photo of her granddaughter even though she was in the blurry background. I'll take the joy from the 100+ and not worry about 1 person.

 

[snowbear]

Some people are never happy - they will complain about everything.

 

[InFlight]

Just have a supply of photo sized emoji's on hand to hand out to the whiners.
In particular, the poo emoji.
That way, you can blame the camera.

In all seriousness, if they complain, offer your services for one on one photo shoot, and mention those services are not complimentary.

Again, kidding.

You are not cooking for them. We don't take offence or complain about free food. People take photos personally. One child looks better is like a meal always tastes better when someone else cooks it. We look at our children's photos in scrutiny as we would our own cooking.

 

[Overread]

Few thoughts

1) The person might not actually understand that you did this totally for free and without company direction/incentive. So they might have mistaken the situation entirely; even if you were not paid they might think that you're aiming for a contract or something.

2) Some people are very poor at communicating online, especially when they've no inflection of voice to moderate otherwise blunt comments. You see this all the time with people who drop into shorthand ways of talking and it can sound very bossy or rude.

3) Might be they are just cheapskates who complain about a free meal in the hope they get more. Sometimes having 0 value (ergo no charge) makes people treat you worse because they see "weakness" in you for giving that way for free. So they figure hey lets try for more it can't hurt.

 

[rexbobcat]

I thought it was generous considering I am neither employed, nor paid by anyone.

I get that when I have (many times) done small (and some large) remodeling projects for family members. They are never quite happy with the results.

The most irritating part is that I had already given this person several photos specifically of them, including a video recording. I was taking photos so the hosting nonprofit has better photos for their website/marketing as well as hopefully some nice photos for people involved...but if I’m just going to get passive-aggressive messages after the fact then it’s not worth donating my time and energy.

 

[SquarePeg]

If the person who is guilting you is your primary contact at the organization that you took the photos for, I would let them know that if they have specific needs in the future they should let you know but as you’re donating your time and talent, you won’t make any guarantees. If that doesn’t work for them they may want to hire someone next time.

If it’s anyone else, I would just ignore them.

 

[rexbobcat]

In all seriousness, if they complain, offer your services for one on one photo shoot, and mention those services are not complimentary.

I actually did offer to take photos of them in the future as long as they give me a heads up since I’ll probably be working with this org in the future. I don’t really know what else they could want from me so I’m just going to try and let it slide off my back even though it’s difficult lol.

 

[Derrel]

I hope you can overcome this person's bad attitude, and not worry about the passive-aggressive BS being sent your way.

 

[ac12]

#1 - It depends WHO this person is. A primary contact in the org, a key person in the org, or a "nobody" that is a complainer.

#2a - Get or agree on a shoot script from the org.

• If it is on the shoot script, you will try to shoot it.
  
• If it is not on the script, it may/will not get shot.
  
• And if it is a very specific photo they want, that very specific photo should be as clearly stated as possible.
  • Murphy's corollary says: If instructions can be misinterpreted, it will be misinterpreted.
  • So the instructions NEED to BE CLEAR TO YOU.

This is the key to prevent "why didn't you get a picture of X?"
Because it wasn't on the shoot script. If they wanted a picture of X, then it should have been on the script.​

The shoot script is like your contract.

#2b - If they do not give you a shoot script, then they get whatever you shoot, and don't get what you don't shoot.
Without a shoot script, you do not know what they want pictures of.

Both 2a and 2b needs to be made clear to the org.

Finally, if it does not improve, you may have to have a conflicting engagement, so you can't shoot the next event for them.
With no pictures, maybe they will start to appreciate you more.
Then again, jack a$$ people will always be jack a$$es. Then they will just complain about you not being there to take pictures for them. Because they are "entitled" to get the pictures.

 

[Vtec44]

I don't deal with these people because I stopped doing anything photography related for free, unless it's charitable. If anyone requests anything specific beyond what I donated, I always send them to my website or a price list for them as a reference for additional services. I have plenty of people who barely know me and wanted deep discount. If they're my friends, they should support my work and pay the asking price. It's nothing personal, it's just business.

 

[Jeff G]

I have run into this in the past, I was shooting an event as a favor, and had people complaining that I didn't get enough pictures of something because they deviated from the schedule they had given me and had two events going at once. Really hard to be in two places at one time. DOH!

If you are doing it just to be helpful with no set guideline, shoot what you want and enjoy it.