FlashKat Photos

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to "my side of the story"
There are dog show photographers in the western
states We ALL charge the same for show pictures give or take a dollar Please ask Mrs*** to show you a *** list/sheet from other photographers or listed in the show giving club's premium list or catalog - THERE IS NO SUCH ANIMAL!
I have been a dog show photographer for the past years In my records indicate that I took images, of which were returned as unsatisfactory (1.3%) Which indicates that I DO accept returns for unsatisfied clients As indicated on my bills, I request that returns be discussed first as there is sometimes a simple "fix" as darker colour, removing something offensive in the background, smoothing coat on the dog, etc
I wonder is Mrs*** sent you ALL of the emails between us - her first when she states how pleased she is with the images (before she showed them to her breeder), or the one where she says she will have to go on social media to tell the dog show community how horrible I am Or the one when she requested to see the additional images taken to see if there was a better head angle on the dog in another image (which I did)?
My images are COPYRIGHTED and I, nor do all the other west coast photographers, do NOT sell our raw images Mrs***'s assumption to me was that the images are so horrible that her husband will "fix" them (thus her reasoning for the digital images) Being COPYRIGHTED images, this is totally illegal without my permission
Our original "DEAL" that I finally agreed to after being badgered by this woman, was that I would send her digital images AFTER she returned the hard copies in her possession (a value of $each for a total of $69.00) Then in another email she informs me that she will NOT return the hard copies, and expects me to delete the images from all files I have
My claiming that I am not the best photographer is correct - there are photographers on the east coast who I highly respect and admire that I consider the "best" There are over different breeds of dogs, one cannot be an "expert" on all of them and my ego is not that big that I feel I take the absolute best picture of each and every dog each and every time I will say that I was a licensed American Kennel Club professional handler for years, and showed one of the top dogs in the breed that Mrs*** owns, so yes I do know how to "shoot" her breed
Ask her to define "abusive" in our correspondence I tell it like it is, no profanity, and my business policy is the same for everyone We "discussed" pricing and my reasons for not sending raw files I "fired" her because the situation was becoming ridiculous She has the four hard copies of the dog's win photos for her "archives" I marked my file "returned" to get it off the books I will NOT send her the digital files as she did NOT return the hard copies (basically she has the merchandise and wants more from me).***

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
I would like to submit this rely
to [redacted]’s statements and clarify some inaccurate information she provided to you.
 
 
Yes, I have provided almost all of
the emails that were exchanged between [redacted] and I in this compliant– There are
two that were left out, not intentionally, and I would like to submit them as
part of this complaint follow up.
 
The first one (July 20, 2014 at
5:22 pm) is the email I sent to [redacted] asking why she refused my Priority Mail envelope
that included payment and she never replied.
The second email (July 10, 2014 at
7:25 am) for this complaint is [redacted]’s email that she sent to a fellow
photographer ([redacted]) attempting to sabotage my reputation with
him.  The foundation for sending this
email to you is to show how [redacted] maliciously went behind my back and made false
accusations to [redacted] stating, “I swore another dog photographer had sold us a raw
file”.  (a RAW
image is a digital file of the picture that contains the best quality).
 She told [redacted] that I must be a liar
because no one sells the “raw” file. I never made any such claim to [redacted] that
[redacted], or anyone else had sold us the raw file.  When I confronted [redacted] and asked why she would
bring an innocent party in to our negotiations and try to defame me, she never
replied back. This is the abusive behavior I was referring to in my initial
complaint. I can only assume that her motive was to compromise my credibility with
[redacted] to the point where he may refuse to take any show photos for us.
 
1. Regarding the photographer’s
fees: We have only hired 3 photographers since we started to show our dog
in January. Each of them had a different fee structure. I did not say there is
a list of fees published in the premium guide for show photographers. What I
did say is,  this situation clearly
demonstrates why all show photographer’s rate & policies should be in print
so there are no misunderstandings. The last photographer we hired had a
different pricing structure than [redacted] did.  So to us, no two photographers charge the
same.  I found a review online from
1/8/09 from a [redacted] M. who mentioned that [redacted]’s picture quality is okay but it’s
her experience that the photos that [redacted] takes features more of the background
rather than her dog. AND--- [redacted] mentioned how [redacted] charged one rate on a
Friday and a different rate for photos taken on a Sunday. While this review was
posted 5 years ago, it does prove two things.
A. We aren’t the only ones not
happy with [redacted]’s photos
B. This person experienced a
difference in rate at the same show but on different days when [redacted] stated all
photographers have the same rates..
 
http://www.insiderpages.com/b[redacted]
 
2. It is true we “thought” we
were happy with her first photograph until our Breeder educated us on what
was wrong with [redacted]’s photo.  Our Breeder
is also a Judge so if anyone is an expert on how this breed should be
photographed, it would be her.
We’ve only been showing our dog
since January, so our breeder has been educating us along the way. When our
breeder saw [redacted]’s photos, she asked if [redacted] took any more photos that would give
a better composition of our dog’s body. 
On day one, she only took one photo. On the fourth day, she took more
than one but none of them were better than the others. [redacted] didn’t take enough
photos to give us options to satisfy the [redacted] she wanted to charge us.
 
3. [redacted]’s assumption of why we wanted to purchase the digital
file (so we could fix the image ourselves) is the first time I have heard this.
Now I see why this has been a struggle to resolve because
she assumed something that was fabricated. She never took the time to ask and
nor did I ever say we wanted to fix the image.
There is no tool
or digital software program that would rectify the issues with the
photos she took— such as turning our dog’s head and changing body composition.  So [redacted]’s impression of why we wanted the best
quality file was entirely inaccurate and explains why she has been
confrontational in her emails. I stated what our intentions were for asking for
the best quality digital file—to archive the win while paying for the best file
size. Just because they were not suitable for print, that does not mean I have
to purchase lower quality.
 
4.
Regarding the hard copies not being
sent back… I have
offered at least twice, to reimburse [redacted] the cost of materials, ink and postage
for destroying the hard copies. Instead of providing a fee that would be
acceptable to her for these items, she ignored the question and refused our
payment with no communication. 
On June 26, 2014 at 3:02 pm, [redacted]
stated in her email that she fired us because she does not want to conduct
business with us in the future.
Starting in an email on June 27,
2014 at 10:58 am, we initiated our request to ask [redacted] to consider destroying
our images and hard copies once we completed our transaction since she never
wanted to work with us again as she had fired us.
As long as she had those files in
her possession, we still had something that binds us to business. That is why
we asked for her written acceptance to delete the files and destroy the hard
copies. The emails I have supplied will show you that we have asked at least
four times for [redacted] to acknowledge our request, and she never complied or even
acknowledges our request. And she considered this badgering?
It was at this point; we advised
her in an email dated July 3, 2014 at 9:38 am, that we would destroy the hard
copies ourselves since she ignored our request.
Payment was sent on July 8, 2014.
When it arrived to her PO Box on July 10, 2014, she refused it and never sent
an email with her intention to decline our postal letter.  If she had an issue with us destroying the hard
copies she had the time to address this in her email reply dated July 7, 2014
at 8:01 am. Her reply simply states, “marked both images as “returned” in your
account. End of discussion.”
To us, that meant she did not
object to us shredding the hard copies and that is what we did to ensure our
existence would be erased from her computer and office.
Then on July 8, 2014 at 8:02 am,
after the check was mailed, she replied that she deleted the images per our
request because we asked once again for her acknowledgment to delete our images
from her business once our transaction was complete. Her admission to deleting
the files and not sending them to us is an example of retaliation and another
act of abuse.
For someone who wants nothing to
do with us, now and in the future, it baffles us as to why she was so upset to
this point that she “claims” she deleted the files and refused our payment.
 
5.
Her business decision was unethical and discriminating, so we continued to
negotiate to get what we wanted to pay for, the best quality file; and she
considers that as “badgering”?
In [redacted]’s reply on June 26, 2014 at 11:49 am, [redacted] stated she
would only sell us the low resolution at her standard rate, which was not acceptable.  It doesn’t matter what the client will use
the file for, if they want to purchase a certain quality, they should be given
that opportunity. 
[redacted] wouldn’t sell a low quality file to someone that was
happy with her work, so why is it acceptable to sell us something less than
what we want or what we would have received if she took a better photo?
Then in an email date 6/27/14 at 11:51 am, [redacted] finally
agrees to send us the full resolution electronic
file of the two photos that would be acceptable for print—300dpi.--- For the
record, [redacted] did not take a photo that we nor our breeder would put in print.
I’m afraid that [redacted] misunderstood
negotiating for badgering. We did not sense her business decision was ethical
so we continued to contact her until we reached a mutual agreement. We
conducted ourselves in a professional manner and only advocated what was fair
for both parties.
5. Regarding her comment that I
was going to present a bad review of her work on social media—I never made
any such claim. What I did say could be reviewed in the following email… To
this date, I still have not posted or given my feedback to any other exhibitor
about this business conflict.
In my email dated June 26, 2014
at 2:37 pm, I stated in the last paragraph that I have struggled with sharing
this interaction with other exhibitors because I had been asked for my opinion
on her work.  I informed [redacted] that I would
never bad-mouth anyone’s work without giving them the opportunity to rectify
it.
6. Ask her to define
"abusive" in our correspondence-- [redacted]
created an environment that is not only hostile, but also confrontational. I
have witnessed her arguing with another photographer in the ring (it wasn’t
[redacted]) and we felt completely uncomfortable by what was transpiring in
front of me.  
You
do not have to use profanity to be abusive. [redacted]’s retaliation, as demonstrated
in her deleting the files and not sending them to us as we had paid for, is the
abusive and unprofessional behavior we have been subjected to.
Then
there is the email she sent to another show photographer that I hired ([redacted]) calling me a liar and fabricating information about something she
thinks I said. That is also abusive and unprofessional behavior.
CONCLUSION--
I
can assure you that we shredded the hard copies and we have none of [redacted]’s
merchandise. We went as far as offering [redacted] more money to compensate her for
materials lost so how are we asking for more from her?
We
have tried to be forthcoming and to work out a compromise and even sent payment.
We offered more money to someone who fired us and [redacted] rather give us nothing.
The
conclusion we hope to reach is purchasing the high-resolution (at least 5 mb or
higher file size) files for both (2 files) winning photos at $60. We will offer
an additional $15 dollar to cover the expense of paper, ink and postage of the
photos we destroyed for a total of $75.
If
we just purchased the two hard copies, that fee would have been $69. We are
offering $75 for digital copies and this isn’t acceptable to [redacted]?
At
this point we should have just walked away and given [redacted] nothing, but we aren’t
that type people. This is a fare deal especially since we entrusted [redacted] to take
a photo of our win that would be composed and suitable for print, which she
could not deliver. So it is a lose/lose situation for us. We do not have a
photo we would be proud to put in print, and nor do we have a photo of our
dog’s win.
 
Thank
you.
[redacted] and [redacted]

Review: We have 12 pgs of email re: [redacted]" Rodwell - FlashKat Photos detailing this complaint. She is the owner of photo service in Escondido, Ca she takes photos @Dog Shows to document the win. The show photographers do not provide their pricing or their policies in printed at the show or in the show brochure unless you ask them. [redacted] took pictures for us on two occasions, 5/23, San Gabriel Valley Kennel Club in Pomona, CA and 5/26, San Fernando Kennel Club also in Pomona, CA. We did not hire [redacted], she was hired by another exhibitor,the photographer I wanted wasnt free to come to the ring. We told [redacted] we were not happy with the photos, she got defensive & abusive, especially when we told her we only wanted to purchase the electronic file. She stated that isnt how this works & we were obligated to pay her shooting fee of $34.50 whether we were happy with her work or not. When she was hired at our ring by another exhibitor, [redacted] did not engage in any conversation with us so we had no idea her pricing was different than the other photographer that we had dealt with. [redacted] fired us as clients and stated that we should fire her as our photographer. We cant fire her b/c she already took the photo. In her invoice, it states that pictures are custom products, please call to discuss if returning and reasons. In our email replies, we professionally explained why we are not happy and only wanted to purchase the electronic file as an archive, never to be used in print as it wouldnt be a good photo to publish. Email her on 7/3, we informed [redacted] that we will destroy the hard copy photos because she fired us and she wanted no future business with us. Her reply four days later 7/7- 8:01 AM states, marked both images as, returned in your account. End of discussion. She did not disagree with us destroying the hard copy. On 7/10, she refused our payment and it was returned . She had no grounds to renege on this deal. Pls read supplemental emails for more information.Desired Settlement: [redacted] emailed us claiming she isn't the best photographer and she does not take the best photos. If you arent happy with her work, she expects you to pay her fees no matter what, & that isnt right or fair to the consumer. We want her to honor our deal which is to sell us the two electronic high res file(quality has to be at least 4 mb or higher each) of our dogs win for $60. No low resolution files will be accepted. Our deal was agreed upon when we sent the check on 7/10.

Business

Response:

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to "my side of the story".