This came in today and ruined my buzz….

Now as you know, I like a good rant and after having a little dry spell of random calls or emails, even twitter requests, asking for services rendered for very little or no payment at all, I thought it only fare to put this email up for your delectation and delight.

Now, rarely am I shocked at the length people will go to get a deal where there was never going to be a deal, try and chip away the cost of studio hire due to one or two of many conjured up reasons. But early this morning I saw this in my inbox, without any address or contact telephone. I would expect some of you reading this to nod in agreement that little AJ is a wonderfully erudite, ‘fly by the seat of their pants’ kind of person, however, let me add just one more thing to this…

To all the AJ’s in the world, get a grip of reality, studios are a necessary part of any photographic shoot, now normally I would not stoop as low as putting your words out there – I am protecting your blushes from naming you or even opening a dialogue with you so I can embarrass you in front of your peers, alas, I fear you have none.

You are a bottom feeder, putting it plainly, you are the reason why so many people spend 10 minutes of their life, just like me getting this shit off their chests.

Agreed, I should just calm down and carry on, yet part of me wishes to press my foot on the throat of everyone who picks up the phone to demand discount for a one off shoot that will go nowhere and certainly never return to this or any studio.

So, to those of you who wish to see just how NOT to ask a studio for help read on….or , try asking your client to pay a realistic price you putz.

This has been copied and pasted from my inbox, it arrived at 01:11 this morning, you will note, no return email (other than a gmail) or telephone number, the name of the company or reference to the person’s full name:

Dear Sir,

I would be very grateful if you would let me and my team have use of your studio for three days next week.

As yet I have not determined the dates but we will need them from 8am until 6pm.

I will will need to arrange lights and food for the team as well as some way of picking up my team from a hotel in Manchester city centre.

Do you have dress rails, a steamer and a make up room large enough for 6 people to have hair & make up.

I will need a room for one person separately from the studio due to their celebrity status and when their agent arrives I will need to gain access to a land line, a broadband connection (not wifi) and a desk from which to work from.

As you can accept, prices are being effected for all photographic shoots and the photographer, the models and all the team are effecting the overall cost of shooting this campaign, therefore I hope you can see fit to offer your studio for free to help this campaign get off the ground and when we do the next part of the campaign, I will be sure to include your fees to the budget.

I can get studios to offer their services for free in London and never having worked in Manchester, I would hope that the status of my cast and being able to tell people that this was shot in your studio will increase your company profile.

I will need to know your answer by 3pm today.

Bests

AJ

Initially, I thought, well good for you, you obviously get stuff done and preserve a budget for your client, then I got a grip, reminding myself of just how many “blaggers” and hoax calls there are in the creative industry and why we are finding it increasingly difficult to make an economic success story of this sector.

This is where you start laughing…..

Have a wonderful day. x