Velantine Photography - Feedback/Experience

IcicleLavender

New Member
We engaged Ross of Velantine Photography last year as our actual day wedding photographer for a 4-hour session and would like to share our feedback.

Other than fees, some basis terms on timeline and deliverable discussed and agreed were:-
- professional services and images post-processed/edit in High Resolution and returned in a DVD. DVD would be a labelled one, and minimum no. of photos for this duration should be 200 as advised on our first meeting. Photos would be ready in 2 weeks’ time from the date of our AD (8 Feb).

Sequence of events
Before actual day:
- Ross proactively followed up with me after I enquired on his fees and photography services. Offered to block out my AD date and arranged for meetup.
- Met up on 4 Jan for discussion and we placed $250 deposit
- On 5 Jan, we asked Ross for acknowledgement email to include agreed contracted package and payment terms
- He responded he was in Jakarta and would email us when he returned to SG
- We followed up on 17 Jan again however, still no response from him
- No response after we followed up via Whatsapp and we had to send another chaser on 19 Jan
- He then responded he will reply on 20 Jan due to remote internet access
- Still no reply
- On 21 Jan, we sent another chaser via Whatsapp and finally he responded with a short email.
- As per his request, we sent our event schedule on 2 Feb to him for his professional comments, so that we can make the photo taking a smoother process and ensure we won’t miss out any important shots
- Did not hear back from him any comments on the schedule nor a simple receipt acknowledgement, had to remind him about it on 6 Feb, and we had to check with him on the timing he will reach on 8 Feb.

Such difficulty in moving along to next steps persisted throughout the whole engagement. The above was concluded with his comment that our schedule was very straightforward hence, he saw no need to meet again before AD.

During actual day:
- He seemed to be struggling with ideas for the couple shots.
- I recalled the time where I went back to the hotel room for outfit/make-up change, I was searching for him in the banquet ballroom only to find him seated outside the ballroom by himself and spacing out. During the make up, I observed minimal shots were taken and he was also mostly staring out of the window.
- Not giving cues such as prompting our helpers to get our family/friends up at solemnisation garden for group shots. Photos of our immediate family members and best friends were left uncaptured.
- Did not take initiative to gather the important people up for group shots.
- Our friends had to use their own mobile phones to take photos with us and send us after the banquet on their own.
- Out of goodwill, we voluntarily offered him a hotel carpark coupon meant for our guests so that he did not need to fork out his travelling expenses. He accepted, and actually asked us for more hotel carpark coupons because he frequently visits that area and could then try parking at this hotel in the future using these coupons. We obliged anyway.

- We also paid off the full balance payment that day.

Ross needs to work on being available and be in sight, to be proactive to find more opportunities to capture more moments.

After actual day:
- Did not hear back on AD photos after the agreed 2 weeks’ timeframe (22 Feb). However we felt it was fine to give him more time and only followed up on the status on 1 March.
- Said he needed just a few more days.
- Did not hear back from him after that few more days.
- Followed up with him on 11 March.
- He replied they were ready but was in HK and could meet us over the weekend (14/15 March)
- We asked to upload them online for our viewing and he said he would do so when he's back in SG (presumably 14/15 March, or earlier)
- No response from him even when he did not upload and did not update us we should expect a delay
- We followed up on 17 March, again on 18 March, and he did not reply both times.
- Sent another chaser on 19 March and he mentioned “I am overseas all this while” (contradicting to him saying he could meet us on 14/15 March) and will get his associates to upload for us in a day or two and he will inform us once uploaded.
- We followed up on 22 March as we didn’t hear back. No response from him till 26 March saying he was in Seoul and will send us the link and DVD by end of the week (29 March).
- We got the link on 27 March. Photos from second march in were missing. The total number of photos was only 151 and there were repeated images among those 151 images (just in different col. effects). We reviewed the photos and emailed him with our comments, including querying whether this was the complete set.
- On 31 March he said he was in BKK. However his facebook post stated he had only taken the flight to BKK (from Singapore, that is) on 1 April.

- Till 11 Apr, we still did not hear back and he mentioned he was still overseas. He advised we would receive the CD “by next week” (19 Apr).
- Did not receive and we followed up on 21 Apr.
- He replied he was “currently in Maldives for a shoot ... CD was mailed out last week. Please wait for it as Postal services is slow these days ... If u still fail to receive it .. Pls let me know and I will prepare another copy and deliver it to you personally.”
- We never received it and with no explanation why registered mail was not used
- By 6 May we still did not receive the replacement CD via registered post. Only then he mentioned he had re-sent out on 4 May
- Receive the DVD on 9 May. DVD turned out to be not labelled. Reason given was he was overseas and his associate sent it.
- Notified him and he said he will resend next week (by 17 May) and let us have tracking details (registered post).
- Messaged me one day and requested to call me. He said he wants to deliver the CD himself instead because he could not trust Singpost. I felt it was odd, since it was to be sent by registered post there should not be an issue of lost mail. I did not question him though and merely reiterated that he could simply send by registered mail.

- Tracking details provided upon request on 18 May, finally received the week after 17 May.
- Asked for some specific edits (include missing photos and remove certain substandard photos) to the CD. Final version received in July ’15, 5 months after our actual day.

- Final DVD he sent was still short of an image when we had given such specific instructions and made reference to the specific image.
- Each time the DVD label was different too - changed freely and he did not check with us on a preference on the selected photo to use as the label.

We were also not pre-informed of any of those overseas trips he was making, when there'd been so many opportunities to let us know upfront.

Skills/quality of photos:
- Much more misses than hits.
- Blurred photos as a result of close up of part of back/ weird angles, or cut off faces, etc.
- Candid shots were just, candid; we had difficulty appreciating them or understanding what was the point/meaning behind them.
- Lack of couple shots.
- Missed opportunities of capturing memories.

To conclude and close off the loop, we sent a feedback to Ross via email and also shared what we felt could be done to make the engagement better. The feedback was given 4 months ago. To-date, there was no response/acknowledgement from him. This is despite that the basic terms on timeline and number of photos were evidently not met at all in the first place, and we gave a pure feedback without any request for compensation.

I feel I should share our experience here after due consideration as I have never given any review that's not positive to any service provider - on the other hand, a wedding day is once in a lifetime and it is important that a wedding photographer truly celebrates for the couple and has their interests at heart by capturing the best photos and providing professional skills and services. Some delays may be inevitable, but client's expectations must be managed by informing them on a timely basis on any revised timelines and reasons. At the least, to take ownership and responsibility of his business and terms that are not met, if not for the clients. We should all have a good time on our wedding day and the photographer should be the least of our concerns to fully enjoy ourselves.
 

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