Thank you everyone, brilliant response!!!
The bride has none of the gripes you all mentioned, lol. She said there were only 20 images worthy of an album, she mentioned that a guest had better pictures of them cutting the cake, she went onto say that she wasn't happy with the ceremony shots as the registrar is slightly in the corner (this couldn't be helped, due to where I was told to stand!) She was also angry that the DJ was in the background of the first dance shots...
Like Kathy mentioned I definitely had a lack luster approach to this wedding, unfortunately I hated being there, and I think that shows if you look at some of my other weddings. Though that said I do believe there are more than 50 useable shots and I'm utterly confused as to why my bride is being so ridiculous, not sure if they are attempting to get money back or what?! But Bridezilla!!!
Any more comments are greatly appreciated!
Anyone else ran into brides like this?
I shoot Lions and tigers, not brides. They tend to attack less. That having been said, honestly if this were my wedding I probably wouldn't be all that thrilled over by the photos that were presented either. I guess the thing that sticks out in my mind is where you state that your performance was "lack luster" because you really didn't want to be there. My response to that, and you'll forgive me for being tremendously blunt here, tough. Your supposed to be a professional. Doesn't matter how you "feel" - your getting paid to do a job and you should do that job to the absolute utmost of your ability every single damn time. To do less is decidedly unprofessional.
If you are told to stand in a certain spot and you see that something won't be framed properly as a result, you stop, tell the client about the problem, and suggest to them that you be allowed to move and reframe. If your shooting the first dance, hell no you don't want something terribly distracting like a DJ in the background. Again if you have to you tell them to pause, re-position, and then begin shooting again.
I'm sorry if that seems overly harsh, but honestly dealing with difficult brides is part of the profession you've chosen. Are their 50 usable images in there? Probably - though many of them would need to be recropped and reframed before really fitting into that category. As Derrel mentioned you have some composition issues with a lot of these photos.
So if you'd like some free advice:
1. The minute you pick up that camera on someone elses dime take your personal feelings and toss them off a cliff. Your getting paid to do a job. Do the job.
2. Before you present your images to the client, finish them. Instead of hitting them with 300 unfinished images take 20, 30, maybe as many as 50 and crop them properly. Fix your exposure issues. Air brush anything that needs airbrushed. Oh, and BTW, softening an image or two on a bride, particularly one with that many.. umm.. angular facial issues, can be a good thing. in this case it would have been a really, really good thing. But finish your images and give them a selection of the best to look at first.
3. Listen to your client - but don't take everything they say as a command from on high - if you know you can get a better shot by altering things a little - explain that too them. Don't take a bad shot just because the told you to stand on a certain X, not until you explain to them how much better the shot will be if you can just take a couple of steps to the left, or the right. At the end of the day a bad shot is not their responsibility, it's yours - because if they absolutely stone cold refused to let you move a step or two to the left it's because you failed to build a proper rapport with them in the first place. If you had they would have trusted your judgement and let you move.
Ok, that's my two cents worth. Again it might seem harsh - but I wouldn't have said it if I didn't think in the long run it would be helpful and beneficial for you to hear it.
