Girl in the Wild

This misleading review is retaliation for my refusal to pay blackmail.

This client was provided a complete gallery of photos from her elopement day within the scope of her contract. She was unhappy with the photos and didn't like the style and confessed that she didn't review my work prior to booking me. Her elopement was just 4 days after her inquiry and she was in a hurry. She expected a light and airy style, but I am a moody photographer. Complete opposites. My contract states that she had to review my style before booking. She didn't review the contract, nor my work and admitted that she was in a hurry to book someone since her elopement was 4 days away when she reached out and I was the first to respond, so she chose me blindly. I'm being held liable for her failure to do due diligence.

I wanted her to love her photos, I offered to redo the photos for her at no charge. I redid the edits on her complete gallery three separate times, gave her free cosmetic edits, I even let her come to my home to sit at my computer and provide feedback, she was never satisfied.

When I arrived the day of her elopement, she had been up drinking until 4am when her shoot was scheduled to begin at 6am. When I arrived onsite, she was in bed, asleep, and still intoxicated from the night before. We got started over two hours behind schedule the day of. She didn't hire a hair or makeup artist, confessed that she had never put on makeup in her life, and she was rushing because we were hours behind. While she was getting ready, she drank tequila shots. She had huge bags from the night before, didn't know how to properly conceal them, and was applying her makeup while under the influence. In her final photos, she was unhappy with her brows, and her under-eye circles, which she neglected in her makeup application. Despite her lack of personal responsibility for her appearance, I wanted her to be happy. At my expense I applied cosmetic corrections valued at $50 per photo to her whole gallery at no charge. Easily worth over $1000. She didn't like the edits, and demanded the RAW files (a $15,000 value) so she could edit herself. Given that she wanted a style of photography completely different than what I do, I provided the files to her, knowing I couldn't meet her expectations. I had three separate editors review her photos and all agreed she was being unreasonable. I was urged to stop giving in to her.

It took me a long time to do the final third gallery, as I was in the middle of busy season serving other clients. Since she had already received two galleries with free cosmetic edits, and given that my contractual obligation had already been more than fulfilled, she was pushed to the back of my editing queue. She asked if I would shoot her reception as a "guest" and I agreed because she patiently waited for her revised galleries. I was willing to do whatever was needed. I was dealing with a personal health crisis that had me in the hospital at the time I was to deliver her reception photos, and she told me she had forgotten about them and didn't care since she had her final gallery. I archived them, which unfortunately led to a data loss. We had no contract as this was not a professional service I provided, but a personal courtesy. She is now threatening to sue me because she doesn't like her photos and is holding me liable for a data loss connected to uncontracted event that I attended as a guest, not as a vendor. In retaliation she made good on threats to post scathing reviews so I will pay her $5000. I refuse to give in to blackmail and extortion.

The client failed to read the contract. She and her husband have been harassing, threatening and bullying, causing significant and harmful distress to me and my team.

I bent over backwards for this client. I'm sorry it didn't work out for her. She easily received over $25,000 in value (likely more) from her elopement valued at $5800, and ultimately I lost all profits.