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Dealing with a photographer who ghosted me - HELP
Hey MM fam!!! Please read to the end, I really need your advice I was hoping to get some advice from you all in the industry on how to deal with a dilemma. I shot with a certain photographer twice last year and it went well, so we made arrangements to shoot again in January and February this year. I brought my own outfits to model, but in the middle of the second shoot (in February) he had a heated conversation with his daughter, which messed up his mood. As we tried to continue with the shoot after their conversation, there was still a lot of tension in the room and it got to a point where I knew we would not get any more good shots. I offered to leave so that he could take a break and we could postpone the shoot. He agreed, but I left a lot of my outfits with him for our next shoot, including a rather expensive pair of shoes that I had received as a gift (I now know this was a stupid idea...). Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months and he did not contact me. I sent him messages quite often on facebook, instagram, and sms asking if we had any good photos from the last two shoots, and he responded once saying "I will check.", and then never after that no matter how often I asked. I gave up on getting my photos from him and just wanted my outfits back, but when I asked for them he just ignored me. I also noticed that his daughter modeled some of my outfits in her instagram photos (before she blocked me on IG). This photographer is still active on social media (he posted a couple of hours ago) so it is apparent that he is just ignoring me. What should I do? Should I go public about this/file a police report? I am incredibly frustrated as it has been well over 3 months, but at the same time I don't want to do something that jeopardizes/ruins my reputation in this industry. Please let me know what the best thing to do in this situation is. Thanks in advance, -Lelo May 30 18 10:07 pm Link Lelo wrote: small claims court (aka judge judy), gotta have photographers contact information, pay the court filing fee, serve the photographer, plead your case in court, have judge order the return or payment for value of items + court expenses. first you have to mail a formal demand letter to return your items (complete list + estimated value) and give photographer a deadline. after deadline has passed, file if things aren't returned. May 30 18 10:49 pm Link You could always burn his house down ...or maybe not  Perhaps getting the cops to his house might work, but aside from that I guess court is your only option. May 30 18 11:32 pm Link Lelo wrote: Having lost several wardrobe items, including complete outfits only to have them show up in other Photographers work there's very little You can do. I've considered the old school options but nah. May 31 18 02:58 am Link Like many others people, I am loath to sue over small amounts of money. It just isn't worth the trouble. It isn't worth the anger. However, there is a point .... (I have got to start getting stuff together for one myself.) We often see complaints about photographers not delivering prints for photoshoots. Having someone steal your clothes and give them to someone else is a bit over the top. Did you get screen grabs of the girl wearing the clothing? If not, can you through a friend's instragram account? Look at your state's fees for going to small claims court. Decide if that is worth it. Some small claims court judges will award you your court costs if you win. Some won't. So if the cost of a hearing is way more than the cost of your clothing- forget it. If you decide to go to court, go prepared. Get copies of everything. All of the emails and text messages. All of the instagram accounts. Proof of being blocked. Past TF photos. Prices for the clothing and shoes. Be prepared. Make an appointment with the judges office and ask them how it works. File and go to court. Stay calm and make your case. If you win, there are a couple of ways to get a judgement. I suggest going with the one where the sheriff or court officer goes to their house and starts taking their possessions, which the court then sells. You can go for a judgement which creates a record against them, but they can still ignore payment. Either way though, the judgement against them becomes public record. That will impact their credit. If you can place a judgement against real property like a house- that is really cool. (I have kept people from selling their homes! And I have had record searchers contact me about cases, years later, when I was a professional witness in cases. Sooner or later, a judgement bites them in the ass.) Include in your case, the value of your time for the photoshoots in which you did not receive images. In addition to your time, how much would it have cost you to pay to have those photos taken. Add every cost you can think of that is legitimate. A reality of these cases, is that people don't want to go to court and they will do things at the last minute to make them go away. (I was a witness in one case, the day before the hearing, the guy tore down a brand new garage that was partially built on my client's property, rather than face the judge.) Consider filling the suit against both the photographer and daughter. Just getting served court papers is often reason enough for people to get reasonable. Going to court can be a hassle. but it can also be a hassle to be taken advantage of. Don't be afraid of court. Just make a good decision about cost and effect. It never hurts to talk to a lawyer (except the fee- which you should add to the suit). Also a lawyer may be willing to send them a letter that would resolve the situation. Good luck. May 31 18 05:08 am Link Lelo, how far did you travel to his place that in 3 months you haven't gone back over there to get your clothes and shoes? Have you actually called him, instead of text and social media messages? Be direct. If he answers tell him that you will be there tomorrow to get your things, forget the photos. Otherwise, as Hunter said, he may only respond when he gets the court notice. May 31 18 05:38 am Link Thank you all for your support and your help! I have screenshots of the text messages and his daughter in my clothes as well as photos of myself with both of them, and I will continue to collect more evidence. I hope it does not have to go to court but I also hope if I mention court to him he will return my items. Otherwise I will pursue it further. Rik Williams wrote: Haha unfortunately that might mean burning what I'm fighting for as well Fleming Design wrote: It is a 30 minute uber drive away (unfortunately I don't have a car) and it would be a waste of money if I showed up and he still did not give them to me/or even respond. I have called him several times from two different numbers and even sent texts from those numbers letting him know it is me. And yeah, I let go of the photos but I'm really just confused about why he won't just return my clothes. May 31 18 01:16 pm Link Lelo wrote: I don't know if they do this in Tennessee, but, in California, you can call the police and ask them to escort you to the guy's house to retrieve your personal property, where they will be there to keep the peace and be a witness. May 31 18 04:20 pm Link Lelo wrote: Lelo, too bad you had such a crappy experience! Jun 10 18 11:36 am Link I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I don't really think u did anything wrong. I've gained trust with certain photographers even by the first shoot, so I'm sure during ur 2nd shoot u felt that he was trustworthy. U were very nice to offer to shoot with him a 3rd time when he let his personal life disrupt his professional life right in the middle of a shoot which sounds like something fairly petty. Photographers complain a lot if a model were to do this. I don't really know the best answer to this problem, but I think in a civilized manner explaining that all you want is YOUR property back and that u have tried to no avail and these belongings are expensive, you have 1 week to give me my property back or I will file a law suit against u. Just the threat alone may make him do the right thing. He may not want to see u cuz it would be awkward so maybe try to find a solution to how u could get ur belongings back without having to see each other? I hope you get your things back. If that doesn't work, I would consider calling the police and seeing if they can escort u there to get ur belongings? If they are worth that much time and trouble - I'm not sure how valuable it all is, but if it's worth it that's another idea. Maybe don't give him a warning about that cuz he may get rid of ur stuff before u show up and play dumb. Jun 10 18 11:59 am Link going to court isn't worth it, costs too much and is too much trouble. When I have difficulties with a client who is unwilling to solve it. I tell them that if they do not resolve the issue before time X, you will have to warn colleagues and some of his clients to not work with him anymore as he did X without trying to find a solution. This resolved all my issues so far, having a bad reputation costs more then fixing your guess issues Jun 14 18 01:57 am Link Is this photographer a working professional? You can always go leave a nasty review on Yelp and Google or file a complaint on ripoffreport.com. That might light a fire under his ass to give you your stuff back. Jun 14 18 07:56 am Link So sorry you had this experience, it's very disappointing for sure and what a cheek - for daughter to wear your stuff and post that she is wearing it! Proving it is yours might be difficult though, and clearly some thing has happened that he won't reply - perhaps it was an ego thing, that he was embarrassed - but he has no excuse. Sadly you cant really make him do anything - You could tell him you are going to pick your stuff 48 hours in advance. Maybe with a detailed list of items, stating you have receipts for all of it, adding pics of you and her wearing it (with dates ) to your email. Then go with some authority figure. Don't talk to him unless he's being conciliatory. If that isn't successful - move on Jun 15 18 03:53 pm Link This is really sad. One because you were trying to help him out of a personal issue he was having with his daughter. When you called the shoot and he agreed did you tell him that you were leaving the outfits and the shoes so they would be there the next time you shot? Did you have a date when you were going to finish the shoot. The only reason that I can think of is that he thougt you abandoned the clothes and then to get on the good side of his daughter he just gave her your things. All in all a crappy thing to do. When he realized you wanted the items back he couldn't do that because he had given them away. So you could take him to small claims court, this is a perfect case for that court. The judge will demand that he return your items. If you no longer want them because his daughter was wearing them, then the judge could rule it was a conversion and then order him to pay you for those items. Of course you will need proof of the cost of those items at their current value and when all is said and done you may be upset with the amount. Jun 16 18 12:22 pm Link |
It could potentially mean court... 
