idiot clients

"jrzyguy" wrote:

my favorite is "i dont know what i am looking for but i will know it when i see it" (GRRRR!!!) or…"just jazz it up"
How do you deal with that?????!!!!!

Ouch. My sympathies.

The Doormouse

—
The Doormouse cannot be reached by e-mail without her permission.

"jrzyguy" wrote in
news::

How do you deal with a client who wants a specific photo….Lets say…a group of hands like a team handshake. You only have limited stock photo books at work…and are limited to google image searches.
I work for an investment bank here in nyc…and frequently have bankers who ask for very specific images….and i am at a loss. I do not think it is unreasonable to ask the banker/client to supply me with the specific image they would like to work with. but time and time again they expect me/us to hunt around and find something after they have given us a vague idea of what they want.

my favorite is "i dont know what i am looking for but i will know it when i see it" (GRRRR!!!) or…"just jazz it up"

That’s where a photographer comes in. Roll your own.

How do you deal with that?????!!!!!

If no photographer, than he $500 image search fee that stock houses charge works well.

If you don’t like anything they find, they will be happy to search again.

I’ve found great success lifting that business model.

jrzyguy wrote:

How do you deal with a client who wants a specific photo….Lets say…a group of hands like a team handshake. You only have limited stock photo books at work…and are limited to google image searches.
I work for an investment bank here in nyc…and frequently have bankers who ask for very specific images….and i am at a loss. I do not think it is unreasonable to ask the banker/client to supply me with the specific image they would like to work with. but time and time again they expect me/us to hunt around and find something after they have given us a vague idea of what they want.

my favorite is "i dont know what i am looking for but i will know it when i see it" (GRRRR!!!) or…"just jazz it up"
How do you deal with that?????!!!!!

Can you do searches on Getty and Corbis and print out a "Lightbox" of possible choices? When the client sees one he likes buy it and pass the fee plus a service charge on to him. Most clients wouldn’t blink. Especially when you tell him what it would cost to hire a photographer, models, etc.

—
Comic book sketches and artwork:
http://www.sover.net/~hannigan/edjh.html
Comics art for sale:
http://www.sover.net/~hannigan/batsale.html

hmmm…2 good suggestions. I have dealt with corbis…and actualy this last client was willing to pay whatever….so i might look into that if i have to deal with him again (his presentation was yesterday)

I actually like the idea of getting photographer tho. SInce some clients are very specific as to what they want and i find the search engines at most of the stock photo sites dont really find exactly what they are looking for.

I gotta really good cam…perhaps i can make a personal commission for specialized photos !
"edjh" wrote in message

jrzyguy wrote:

How do you deal with a client who wants a specific photo….Lets say…a group of hands like a team handshake. You only have limited stock photo books at work…and are limited to google image searches.
I work for an investment bank here in nyc…and frequently have bankers

who

ask for very specific images….and i am at a loss. I do not think it is unreasonable to ask the banker/client to supply me with the specific

image

they would like to work with. but time and time again they expect

me/us to

hunt around and find something after they have given us a vague idea of

what

they want.

my favorite is "i dont know what i am looking for but i will know it

when i

see it" (GRRRR!!!) or…"just jazz it up"
How do you deal with that?????!!!!!

Can you do searches on Getty and Corbis and print out a "Lightbox" of possible choices? When the client sees one he likes buy it and pass the fee plus a service charge on to him. Most clients wouldn’t blink. Especially when you tell him what it would cost to hire a photographer, models, etc.

—
Comic book sketches and artwork:
http://www.sover.net/~hannigan/edjh.html
Comics art for sale:
http://www.sover.net/~hannigan/batsale.html

jrzyguy wrote:

How do you deal with that?????!!!!!

Bill by the hour.

i do jp…..200 bucks an hour…..

"JP White" wrote in message

jrzyguy wrote:

How do you deal with that?????!!!!!

Bill by the hour.

Well, get yourself a good digital or film camera and take some classes. I do the in house photo work for several web site design houses here in town. Just beware that the lighting setup and be costly. After spending over $2000 for lighting and backdrops I found a little item that has been better than everything I bought it is called the Ez Cube Light Tent and it easy to setup, easy to store and works remarkably well. You can read a review of it at: http://www.pcreviewonline.com/reviews/ezcube/ezcube.html

What I like about it is you can use just about any light source you want. There is a link to the makers site at the bottom of the review. The cost for the item is very reasonable.

Jerry

"jrzyguy" wrote in message

hmmm…2 good suggestions. I have dealt with corbis…and actualy this

last

client was willing to pay whatever….so i might look into that if i have

to

deal with him again (his presentation was yesterday)

I actually like the idea of getting photographer tho. SInce some clients are very specific as to what they want and i find the search engines at

most

of the stock photo sites dont really find exactly what they are looking

for.

I gotta really good cam…perhaps i can make a personal commission for specialized photos !
"edjh" wrote in message

jrzyguy wrote:

How do you deal with a client who wants a specific photo….Lets

say…a

group of hands like a team handshake. You only have limited stock

photo

books at work…and are limited to google image searches.
I work for an investment bank here in nyc…and frequently have

bankers

who

ask for very specific images….and i am at a loss. I do not think it

is

unreasonable to ask the banker/client to supply me with the specific

image

they would like to work with. but time and time again they expect

me/us to

hunt around and find something after they have given us a vague idea

of

what

they want.

my favorite is "i dont know what i am looking for but i will know it

when i

see it" (GRRRR!!!) or…"just jazz it up"
How do you deal with that?????!!!!!

Can you do searches on Getty and Corbis and print out a "Lightbox" of possible choices? When the client sees one he likes buy it and pass the fee plus a service charge on to him. Most clients wouldn’t blink. Especially when you tell him what it would cost to hire a photographer, models, etc.

—
Comic book sketches and artwork:
http://www.sover.net/~hannigan/edjh.html
Comics art for sale:
http://www.sover.net/~hannigan/batsale.html

On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 17:32:03 GMT, "nospam" wrote:

Well, get yourself a good digital or film camera and take some classes. I do the in house photo work for several web site design houses here in town. Just beware that the lighting setup and be costly. After spending over $2000 for lighting and backdrops I found a little item that has been better than everything I bought it is called the Ez Cube Light Tent and it easy to setup, easy to store and works remarkably well. You can read a review of it at: http://www.pcreviewonline.com/reviews/ezcube/ezcube.html
What I like about it is you can use just about any light source you want. There is a link to the makers site at the bottom of the review. The cost for the item is very reasonable.

Jerry

Tough for a dome to be used for a shot like the one described, they work best for small highly reflective pieces such as jewelry. I checked out the link and chuckled at the line: "With digital cameras all the rage these days and the increasing popularity of auction sites and e-commerce web sites a new area of photography has opened up and that is product shots,…". I have been shooting products on and off for about 20 years.
I am curious to what position the original poster held within an investment bank, whose clients ask for photography expertise therein. It does not sound like he is dealing with any real kind of art director, although they can sometimes be equally as difficult. As a photographer myself, working with a client (often through an art director or ad consultant) I would shoot the job myself. Stock photography is not a substitute for a good commercial photographer, anymore than a large clipart library can replace a good graphics artist.
There are also different levels of photography. One can hardly compare web design photography with corporate photography such as that which is used for a large accounts such as annual reports and etc.. I have done both and cannot tell from the original post what would be better suited.

Smeltsmoke

On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 17:32:03 GMT, "nospam" wrote:

Well, get yourself a good digital or film camera and take some classes. I do the in house photo work for several web site design houses here in town. Just beware that the lighting setup and be costly. After spending over $2000 for lighting and backdrops I found a little item that has been better than everything I bought it is called the Ez Cube Light Tent and it easy to setup, easy to store and works remarkably well. You can read a review of it at: http://www.pcreviewonline.com/reviews/ezcube/ezcube.html
What I like about it is you can use just about any light source you want. There is a link to the makers site at the bottom of the review. The cost for the item is very reasonable.

Jerry

Tough for a dome to be used for a shot like the one described, they work best for small highly reflective pieces such as jewelry. I checked out the link and chuckled at the line: "With digital cameras all the rage these days and the increasing popularity of auction sites and e-commerce web sites a new area of photography has opened up and that is product shots,…". I have been shooting products on and off for about 20 years.
I am curious to what position the original poster held within an investment bank, whose clients ask for photography expertise therein. It does not sound like he is dealing with any real kind of art director, although they can sometimes be equally as difficult. As a photographer myself, working with a client (often through an art director or ad consultant) I would shoot the job myself. Stock photography is not a substitute for a good commercial photographer, anymore than a large clipart library can replace a good graphics artist.
There are also different levels of photography. One can hardly compare web design photography with corporate photography such as that which is used for a large accounts such as annual reports and etc.. I have done both and cannot tell from the original post what would be better suited.

Smeltsmoke

jrzyguy wrote:

i do jp…..200 bucks an hour…..

Splendid rate!! You should therefore find idiot clients to be your best revenue source!! Every time they give you dumb directions just hear the ka-ching sound in your head!!

Need an assistant?? I deal with idiots every day but don’t earn anywhere near what you do!! Evidently my idiots aren’t as wealthy as your idiots 🙂

JP

JP White …

jrzyguy wrote:

i do jp…..200 bucks an hour…..

Splendid rate!! You should therefore find idiot clients to be your best revenue source!! Every time they give you dumb directions just hear the ka-ching sound in your head!!

Need an assistant?? I deal with idiots every day but don’t earn anywhere near what you do!! Evidently my idiots aren’t as wealthy as your idiots 🙂
JP

hell yeah,

I’ll re-locate some of that kinda coin.

on a different note, the last graphics shop i worked at we had the same kind of idiots. Phrases like "just like this but different", or "thats it exactly, almost, could you maybe change like, everything", or "thats just what we were looking for, but now management whats to change everything to this."

I’m sure everyone of us had hear something like one of these. My bosses conclusion, set up different billing rates for investigative research for art types, give 3 options as close as we could get from the next to nothing they would tell us, and if they wished another set of 3 ideas a whole new billing set up.

some didn’t care they were spending huge sums of money, some got there ideas worked out really fast. My boss made bank!

bottom line was we were billing for every second of time wasted on vauge ideas, plus we passed on any incurences of cost i.e. copywrite, photos, etc.

best regards,

alas….we CHARGE 200 bucks an hour…but this poor grunt dont get that rate. i dont do too badly tho. I keep on doing some freelance work…and i do wonder what i should charge. I have this one person (sounds kinda hoity toity) who wants some sorta invite done up for her villa in the carib….obviously she can afford to pay….so i think i SHOULD charge a decent rate…i just have no idea what….i’d say it would be a one time fee base (and SHE is NOT an idiot and at least supplied me some photos of the villa).
"sub_dev_null" wrote in message

JP White wrote in message

news:<iMPwc.27916$>…

jrzyguy wrote:

i do jp…..200 bucks an hour…..

Splendid rate!! You should therefore find idiot clients to be your best revenue source!! Every time they give you dumb directions just hear the ka-ching sound in your head!!

Need an assistant?? I deal with idiots every day but don’t earn anywhere near what you do!! Evidently my idiots aren’t as wealthy as your idiots

🙂

JP

hell yeah,

I’ll re-locate some of that kinda coin.

on a different note, the last graphics shop i worked at we had the same kind of idiots. Phrases like "just like this but different", or "thats it exactly, almost, could you maybe change like, everything", or "thats just what we were looking for, but now management whats to change everything to this."

I’m sure everyone of us had hear something like one of these. My bosses conclusion, set up different billing rates for investigative research for art types, give 3 options as close as we could get from the next to nothing they would tell us, and if they wished another set of 3 ideas a whole new billing set up.

some didn’t care they were spending huge sums of money, some got there ideas worked out really fast. My boss made bank!

bottom line was we were billing for every second of time wasted on vauge ideas, plus we passed on any incurences of cost i.e. copywrite, photos, etc.

best regards,

to answer ZONED….i deal directly with bankers/clients…managing directors, SVPS, ceo’s etcs…as well as lowly analists. they just approach me and say "we want something creative"….while providing me with absolutely NO visual (or any) idea of what they want. Next time someone says to me "make it look pretty" i want to put a big photo of my hot dominican lover on the cover nude…and tell them "now i think that looks nice".

"ZONED!" wrote in message

On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 17:32:03 GMT, "nospam" wrote:

Well, get yourself a good digital or film camera and take some classes. I

do

the in house photo work for several web site design houses here in town. Just beware that the lighting setup and be costly. After spending over

$2000

for lighting and backdrops I found a little item that has been better

than

everything I bought it is called the Ez Cube Light Tent and it easy to setup, easy to store and works remarkably well. You can read a review of

it

at: http://www.pcreviewonline.com/reviews/ezcube/ezcube.html
What I like about it is you can use just about any light source you want. There is a link to the makers site at the bottom of the review. The cost

for

the item is very reasonable.

Jerry

Tough for a dome to be used for a shot like the one described, they work best for small highly reflective pieces such as jewelry. I checked out the link and chuckled at the line: "With digital cameras all the rage these days and the increasing popularity of auction sites and e-commerce web sites a new area of photography has opened up and that is product shots,…". I have been shooting products on and off for about 20 years.
I am curious to what position the original poster held within an investment bank, whose clients ask for photography expertise therein. It does not sound like he is dealing with any real kind of art director, although they can sometimes be equally as difficult. As a photographer myself, working with a client (often through an art director or ad consultant) I would shoot the job myself. Stock photography is not a substitute for a good commercial photographer, anymore than a large clipart library can replace a good graphics artist.
There are also different levels of photography. One can hardly compare web design photography with corporate photography such as that which is used for a large accounts such as annual reports and etc.. I have done both and cannot tell from the original post what would be better suited.

Smeltsmoke