Photography Tutorials // Difficult Brides

Photography Tutorials // Difficult Brides

We’ve all been there. The stress, anxiety, and heartbreak you feel when one of your clients is upset with you, or worse, is flat-out angry and lashing out. If you haven’t had a client turn from Jekyll to Hyde, then consider yourself lucky. Fortunately, we can head off clients’ problems before they start by following three easy steps. Failing that, I have six steps for a quick fix that’ll leave you and your client happy.

Decide & spot your red flags 1

Hindsight is 20-20, so learning to spot a problem client before he becomes a client can be tricky, but it’ll save both of you a lot of misery later on. You have to decide what the red flags are for you, since they’re not always the same for everyone. Some photographers might consider a problem client to be someone who hands them a list of 100 pictures she demands to be taken. Others would see that as a plus. One photographer may think that a client who insists on nothing but candid pictures is the perfect client, while another photographer would only want clients who give them at least an hour of photo session time.

So determine your red flags—clashing personalities, an uninterested groom, an overbearing mother of the bride, etc.—and decide at that point whether or not you want to work with the client. There’s no sense in taking on a client who will make both of your lives miserable for the next 18 months— it’s not worth the paycheck. But if you do decide to take the client, note the red flags and use them as guides to anticipating problems before they start so you can head them off ahead of time.