Backing Up is (Not) Hard to Do
[by Barry Schwartz]
The same old song: it’s not a matter of if there will be a problem; it’s a matter of when.
Backing up is not just for data, though.
How about this: you talk to a potential client, you agree on what you’re supposed to deliver, what you’re supposed to be paid, and how they will use the photos.
You send your client your contract. Your client signs it and sends it back.
You shoot the job. You deliver the job. You send an invoice. You wait for your money. And wait. And wait.
You call your client, who responds with variations on the following:
“I didn’t get all the images I was promised.”
“I didn’t think I owed you that much.”
“I don’t understand why you’re upset I gave the pictures to all my vendors and my friend at Time Magazine.”
Here’s the backup-thing: Did you put in your contract exactly how many images your client would get, exactly what you would be paid, and restrict the use of the photos just to your original client?
If you did not put those things exactly in your contract, you have a problem.
Even if you did, you have the same problem: a confused client. However. At least you have something concrete to help resolve the problem, right there in black-and-white. A back-up.
Now it’s up to you (and your people skills) to get your client’s happiness-quotient up to speed so they’ll pay you what you’re owed – and hire you again.
Barry Schwartz is a photographer in Los Angeles who once had a singing voice with a three-octave range. It’s all phrasing, now. Further proof it’s not about the equipment.
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