thestoryofjory.com

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Everyone has their pet peeves.  My biggest pet peeve is seeing people charge for a service that they’re clearly not capable of doing.  Take photography, for example. I have seen many-a-photographer complain that amateur or unskilled photographers are hurting the industry when they take or solicit jobs beyond their ability, like wedding photography.  The argument is that amateur photographers misrepresent their ability to potential clients and charge well less than what a professional would charge.  The client books the amateur over the professional because of the price difference, and is ultimately not as happy with the outcome.  The client then has a negative outlook on the industry, and is less likely to book a photographer again – instead opting to have “that one friend with a nice camera” shoot important events.

Of course, that is just one side of the argument, and there are plenty of other arguments in the same vein as well.  But it all boils down to one point – someone charging a client for a service that he or she cannot actually perform.

Here’s the backstory: A friend of mine is serving on the Payne County CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates) Board of Directors this year, and is planning CASA’s once-yearly fundraiser.  The fundraiser is a black-tie affair and is always very well attended.  For the past several years, they have used a local photography studio to take pictures and video for the event.  This studio does quite well in Stillwater and sells photography and videography services for weddings and other special events.  The video from the fundraiser event is edited and sold for $20 a DVD to raise more money for CASA.

Unfortunately, this local studio is closing its doors here in Stillwater and moving to a town in Colorado soon, so they won’t be able to document the CASA event in February.  My friend has seen my work, and wanted to know if I would be interested in the video work for CASA this year.  I have attended the event in the past, but had never seen the video, so I asked her to share last year’s DVD in order to get an idea of CASA’s expectations.  My expectation was that the video would be pretty good, considering that this is a service the studio charges a lot of money for.

I was dead wrong.  I would like to say that there was some redeeming factor about this video, but I simply cannot.  It suffered from every single problem imaginable – audio, bad editing, poor video quality, excessive length, aliasing, ISO noise, and so on.  I cannot imagine why someone would think it okay to charge for such a thing – and then put their business name all over it to boot.

As an up-and-coming young professional, I couldn’t help but feel angry about this.  Certainly, a professional is always developing his or her skills, and my skills are not to their peak yet, either.  But that’s why I only take jobs in which I know I can deliver a high-quality product.

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I know there are a lot of differing opinions on this, and I’d love to hear from my friends in creative industries.  Let me know what you think in the comments!