i won’t photograph ugly people | indiana
county, pa photographer | personal
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 Posted in Personal-Everyday
Chaos~Studio News
… I recently made a decision that I know could ultimately create backlash
for what I’ve decided….and honestly, I don’t care! The really cool thing(even among all the scary things of owning a business) is that you can make
decisions without having to go through the hierarchy of people. On a whim
yesterday after seeing something that was so appalling, I decided I was
going to email some of my clients to tell them “I’m sorry but I won’t take
your photos”.
Let me explain. Last night I posted on facebook the following: “If I’m
wrong, please speak up. I came across a page on facebook that was created
(by someone under a ficticious name) thats purpose is to bully, ridicule
and say mean and hurtful things about their class mates. While visiting the
page, I found several teenage girls that have scheduled sessions with me for
their senior pictures. I am emailing them tomorrow to cancel their shoots. I
do not want them to represent my business and I am beside myself at how
MEAN and CRUEL they were on that page.” As I was drafting the email
that I was going to send out to the clients my phone was blowing up with
comments.
Now I realize it’s going to be hard to know that every person that ever
contacts me isn’t a bully, I understand that…but in this specific instance it
was right in front of my face. I saw it with my own eyes..it wasn’t hear say,
it was right there..with their smiling face right beside such an ugly
statement. I couldn’t forget about it, I mean how I could spend 2 hours
with someone during our session trying to take beautiful photos of them
knowing they could do such UGLY things. Realistically, I know by
canceling their shoots it’s not going to make them “nicer people” but I
refuse to let people like that represent my business.
This morning I sent out 4 emails to those clients while CC’ing in their
parents explaining WHY I was canceling their shoots. I also included
screen shots of the comments they made. They couldn’t deny it, I had the
picture of what they said. I informed them that I’d be sending their
deposits back and that they’d have to find another photographer. So far, I
have received two emails back from their parents that claimed (I’m
paraphrasing) they were shocked that this had happened. They apologized
that their child acted in such a way and that they would deal with the
matter. So far I haven’t received any backlash but I’m ready for it. I’m a
small business owner and I have the luxury of making that decision. If you
are ugly on the inside, I’m sorry but I won’t take your photos to
make you look pretty on the outside!
I’m not going to give a big speech that says how wrong or uncool it
is…because let’s face it, you are seniors you should know better. I’m not
trying to save the world of bullies or trying to start a movement. I simply
don’t want to photograph ugly people!
To all of you who commented or “liked” the status… It’s heart warming to
know that you support my decision.
just to clarify- not shooting “ugly” people |
indiana county, pa photographer | personal
Thursday, August 25, 2011 Posted in Personal-Everyday Chaos
Hey all! So I’m a little shocked that I’m even writing this blog post and
that it has gotten this big. Although I don’t feel its necessary to justify my
action or my stance, I thought because I am not ashamed of what I did, I’d
explain a few things that perhaps some of you may be missing. Incase you
are wondering, this is in reference to how “I Won’t Photograph Ugly
People” and the other blog post “ummmmm….Thank You!“.
I’m just going to jump into it……I realize there will probably be some
grammatical/spelling errors so refer to my disclaimer on my home page.
How did I come across the page? I think this is a very valid
question. I’ve read some of the comments about me being a facebook
stalker and how it’s kind of creepy that I was checking out my clients
facebook pages….and I’m sorry if you feel that way, when in reality THIS is
how I “stumbled” across the page. A former colleague of mine (whom I’m
friends with on facebook and whom I trust) posted the following on their
page. As a parent of a small child of my own, of course I am going to click
on it!
THIS is how I found a PUBLIC page that was saying very mean, hateful,
cruel comments and in-turn found 4 of my clients saying mean things. My
intent is not to check out my clients personal pages nor do I have
intentions of ‘screening’ them on facebook in the future, but as I said in my
initial article…THIS was right in front of my face. How could I forget about
it and then try to spend time with an individual trying to take pretty
pictures when they did such ugly things and it went against everything I am
trying to teach my daughter. That would make me a hypocrite wouldn’t it?
Which brings me to a completely other topic. The word UGLY. Some of
you are saying that I myself am being a bully by calling them UGLY. I’m
not sure if you were able to read the article in it’s entirety, but what I was
referring to were their actions. People aren’t born mean, it’s something
they are taught to do or that they do by CHOICE. They were making a
choice to be mean and I was making a choice NOT to be part of it or to be
part of my business. For those of you who say I should keep my personal
beliefs out of my business because it makes me unprofessional. Then I will
be unprofessional until the day my business fizzles. I sleep good at night.
I did this for publicity. Well heck, IF that is the case, then I guess I hit
the jackpot! Not that this means much to you that already have your mind
set, but this was not a publicity stunt. If you could take even a few minutes
to look thru some of my personal posts on my blog, you will see that I was
writing about my business decisions and my personal beliefs, my personal
life, etc. just like I always have. I’m thinking that in this instance, just a few
more people could relate! My original intent was not to go on an antibullying rally, but hey if that is the message that gets out there…is it THAT
wrong. At least it got you talking about the subject, it opened up dialog for
some people to talk with their children about it….is it really such a bad
thing.
Do I regret my decision. NO. Not in the least bit. We as photographers,
are taught to build our brands so that we can attract the types of clients we
WANT to shoot. Well, if individuals decide NOT to hire me based on my
decision, well, they probably aren’t the type of client I wanted to attract
anyway.
As with the parents that responded. I saw some articles that said that
they apologized to me. That is untrue. Why would they apologize to me?
They said thank you for bringing it to their attention and that they would
deal with it at home. I think sometimes, people want to jump onto “they
learn it from the parents” bandwagon, and I’m sure in some cases this is
true, but in all honestly sometimes the parents may be unaware and if a
million bystanders never SAY anything, how are the parents supposed to
address the issue. You can call me a “tattle” but if it were MY child making
those mean comments, I certainly would want someone to bring it to my
attention so that I can address it. I’m not a counselor so my job was not to
“talk to them during the shoot to find out WHY”, that is their parents role
and I simply placed it in their hands all while not wanting my business to
be part of it.
Why am I not releasing the names of the girls? Seriously…is this
even a question? Call me a liar, call this a media stunt, call it whatever you
want but I’m sorry you will not get the names. We live in such small towns
here in Southwestern PA, don’t you think by releasing those names I would
in-turn be releasing the media and internet onto them completely defeating
the purpose. I mean, if I’m getting mean and hateful things said about me
for STANDING UP for something I believe in, can you even imagine what
would happen to these 4 girls? As much as I don’t LIKE what they did, I do
have compassion and empathy and I would never do that to ANYONE.
I’m told I was being prejudice by my decision. The question was
stated as if I was against anyone of different cultures, races, ethnicities,
sexual orientation, etc, etc. I’m sorry but this is WAY out of context. If you
are either of those and you are MEAN, I don’t want you to be associated
with my business. I’m shocked that this turned into a prejudice issue. I
think it just boils down to respect. I respect that there are individuals that
have an opposing view, I expected that-it’s what makes the world go round.
I also respected those individuals who stated WHY they didn’t agree with
me and used their real names and commented in a mature way without
calling names. Then on the other hand, there were those that didn’t agree
with my decision but went about it under a fake name using profanity-well,
I’m not sure anything has to be said about that!
Another criticism of mine has been that I deprived the four girls of
having photos in their yearbook. I know now that this is different in
different parts of the country/world, but I am not the contracted school
photographer and I am in no way denying these girls their right to have a
picture in the yearbook. I am not the yearbook gatekeeper. I am simply
hired as a independent photographer to shoot lifestyle pictures of seniors
to hand out for family and friends. I also would like to point out the fact
that I’m not the only photographer in the area. In fact, there are some
around here that are 100x better than me, so it’s not as if they don’t have
access to having someone else take their picture.
PS: I saw several articles that said I’m a Philadelphia
Photographer…..correction: I’m a Southwestern PA Photographer.
Go Steelers!!