Entropymama Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Last year when my baby was born, a neighbor of mine offered to take his newborn pictures. I guess you'd say she's a semi-profession photographer - it isn't her full time job but she gets paid for it. It was really sweet of her to offer do to it for free, and they came out great, but when the pictures were ready I found out they were $40 each, just for the digital copy (so I'd have to get them printed myself). When I expressed my surprise at the price she offered them to me for $20 each, since we were neighbors. I was bummed that I wouldn't be able to order very many, but I still planned to get some. Then my husband lost his job and we moved to a new state. She inquired a few times and I assured her I would order.. but I forgot. My husband brought it up a few days ago so I emailed her apologizing and letting her know I wanted to order some after all. Today I got her response. I could order some but first I'd have to pay $100 to 'un-archive' the pictures! Maybe I've just never used a high-end photographer (which she obviously thinks she is) but we've had our kids portraits taken many times and never paid this much for them. Are the prices outrageous or is it just me? And the 'un-archiving' fee? I've never heard of such a thing. I'm just sick over the thought of not having pictures of my baby, and of course we didn't have them done anywhere else since we thought we would be ordering from her, but I just don't think we can come up with $100 plus the $20 per picture and then pay to have them printed. I just want to cry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alenee Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 It sounds to me that she took advantage of you. I would call her on it. I think the un-archive fee is ridiculous. If you can do it with a clear head, call her and discuss the issues. If she's legit, she'll do what she can to help you out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I'm not a photographer and I haven't hired one outside of Sears since my wedding almost 13 years ago. So I say this with very limited experience. She's nuts. $100 to pull a disc out of a drawer or off a shelf an call it un-archive. Pffft. Unfortunately, she holds all the cards on this one. But she is stuck receiving nothing for her work. If ever you need the services of a photographer again, go with a pro and get a contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiller Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 If she used an online service then it is possible those are the rates. The archive deal is that she likely put them all on the online service and deleted them off her computer/camera. With X many clients it is kind of silly to expect her to keep all of her clients pictures. However, when I had mine done it was $50 for the archive deal, and the pictures themselves were between $0.80-$20 a peice. The $20 ones were collages. So yeah, I think she is over charging on that. :glare: To be perfectly honest I would call it a loss. You have home pictures of your baby at that time and I am sure with some editing you could put a nice background on them and no one would know the difference. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkacademy Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 If she is using them on any personal site such as facebook for advertising without your permission she can get in trouble. I would check to see if she is. That is really crummy and I feel so bad for you. I would be livid!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entropymama Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 Thanks guys. I'm calming down a bit. I don't think she used an online service because at one point I had to wait for her hard drive to be repaired before I could see them.. but I could be wrong. I'm going to try to get her to waive the fee for me but if she won't I'm going to have to call it a loss. Lesson learned, I guess, but I just feel sick about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakia Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I'm assuming you didn't sign a contract. That tells me she isn't so professional. That stinks. I will tell you that her prices for digital files are pretty normal. I have never charged an "un-archiving" fee, and I don't know anyone who does. I have never even sold digital files, but I'm going to be changing that policy soon. I do wish she had told you of those fees up front. That's poor form. I really hope you can get those photos. She knows you can't ever get that time back. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I was a pro photographer for 25 years. A high end one at that. (My 8x10s were hand printed, hand retouched, and beautifully finished and cost a minimum of $75...and that was 12 years ago.) Photographers are notoriously bad at handling the business end of the business. Your neighbor should have discussed prices with you upfront, before taking an image. Then you could have said yes or no as your budget permitted. I find the un-archive fee to be excessive, but I'm a pre-digital days girl. I would have made more than enough to justify digging a file out of storage by the order my client would make. If you have no other photos of your baby, offer what you can afford and see if she will work with you. Point out, calmly and persistantly, that you thought she was doing the portrait as a gift to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I'm a photographer, and I HAVE heard of an unarchiving fee, though I haven't used one (I haven't wanted to make a large business for myself yet....so I keep things very small). Photographers use it to deter people from waiting forever to order. It's so a photographer can close an order and move onto other orders. It can be a pain if a client from months ago, or even years ago, suddenly wants to order something. The photographer has to pause their current orders in order to go back and re-size, possibly make changes to, possibly create a collage, upload the photos, order them, communicate with the prior client, etc. The unarchiving fee is to make it worth it to the photographer to do all of this stuff. HOWEVER....the unarchiving fee is usually disclosed BEFOREHAND. Lots of photographers even offer incentives for a client to order early....such as a % off of their photos, or a free print, or something like that. That way, the photographer can deal with this client and "close" the file...leaving the photographer able to move onto their next client. That's the problem with dealing with friends, family, neighbors, and acquaintances...a photographer usually doesn't follow their normal protocol because they are giving a discount, or doesn't want to deal with all the "business stuff" that goes along with doing favors for friends. You did nothing wrong here. You should have been forewarned about an unarchiving fee. I DO understand charging one....but you just can't throw that on a client after the fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Peregrine Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I would email her and let her know that you planned on ordering x amount of pictures but you will no longer be able to because of the unarchiving fee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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