Alrighty, thank you for clicking in and reading one of the first pages of my "Must Knows".

You seem like a negative brat Joyce, you are very blunt and arrogant Joyce...

Are you a nice, positive person? YES

Can I trust you with my photos? YES

Will my photo-shoot with you be horrible and unhappy? NO

​

Why on earth did I make these "expectations"?

It is because I want my photo sessions to run smoothly and nicely. I do not want to be deceived or fooled around with anymore, so I want to make things crystal clear, leaving everyone worry free during the photo shoot. 

​

just accept my conditions and live your life like this:

​

I went looking for a job once, at a news reporting company as a writer. I managed to get a chance to get a one to one interview and it lasted about an hour. Then I got a call few days later telling me to attend a group interview very soon. A lot was discussed about at that group meeting, but at the very end most of us raised a question. Do you get paid a minimum wage? They said no. But they said, after 3-4 months of undergoing this internship, I will get a good reference to write on my CV and if they "think" that I am not good enough, I will be kicked out of the company after this "internship". I said ok, as I wanted the workforce experience. I can't believe I said ok to that. Straight afterwards I started work. I sat at the desk and worked for 4 hours and out of curiosity I asked if fuel fee or parking fee would at the very least reimbursed to me, they said no. Then I asked if I could work from home (it is completely possible) since I would spend a heck load of money just to get to their main office, it is a 50 minute drive for me to get to the city. They said no, and clearly stated that I had to arrive on the dot at 9am and work until 5pm every day of the weekday. It was just not going to work out for me, I have a life, I need to pay bills, I need to pay for food, I need to earn my own money so I don't become a financial burden for my family, so I left instantly.

​

cheap photo sessions get no respect?

​

Anything related to photography? Yes, I was initially asked on the 13th December 2017 to take photos of a couple in Mangere. It was my $50 an hour Christmas special and this special only applied to in-home photo sessions. I was pretty big on expanding my client base and giving people insane deals. Anyways, she spoke of themselves as a "shy couple" and wanted to do some photos before their wedding on Friday. We discussed on messenger about dates etc and decided that we would go with Wednesday. I was stupid enough to not ask for a non-refundable deposit to secure her date. Then on the 19th she told me if she could change it to the 21st. So to be more stupid, I agreed to it. But what really got me flamed up was when I arrived at 9am sharp, that house address was no where to be found. I typed the address into Google Maps GPS and it took me to that address. But there was house there. That address does not exist. I didn't give up yet and spent half an hour outside in the cold knocking on the doors of many houses and asked if they had booked a photo session with me or not. I seemed like a crazy lady in there eyes. I sent them Facebook messages and called them on messenger, but not a fly responded to me. And until now, 2nd February 2018 she still has not "seen" my message and replied to me at all. So if you read my other "must know" pages you will come across more standards that I have set which closely relate to this case.  

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

General Expectations for my photo-sessions:

​

-Pay 30% of the agreed photo-session fee as a non-refundable booking fee. It must be paid within one week after you have contracted your date with me, in order to secure your desired photo-session date.. If you would like to book a live wedding package with me and is struggling to pay the booking fee within a week, I allow seperate payments to be made over two weeks, so you do not over stress yourself. After I have received your booking fee, you may change the date of your photo session for up to three times only. 

​

-Don't be late.  I don’t tolerate people being late or me being late, unless under extreme circumstances or sudden incidents that happen on the day of your photo session. Parking gives you 10 mins leeway time, until they start fining you for overtime parking. This concept applies with me as well. I don’t mind if you are late about 5 mins due to traffic etc. From today onwards, if you do not show up to your session, or, you are late. You must pay the  outstanding session fee that is owed to me and $50 compensation fee. 

​

-Maintain fluent and prompt communication with me so when I contact you on Facebook or give you a call, please check your phone, cause if you expected me at 9am, then you should check your messages between a reasonable amount of time, such as 8am-9:30am.

​

-Don’t give me an address that doesn’t exist or is wrongly typed up and given to me

​

 

are you paranoid?

​

If I said no I would be lieing. People just don't seem to like to pay me hahahha so I am pretty cautious nowadays. 

Why are you so Paranoid?

_

Experience One: Two years ago, I was recruited at an Expo by a boss man from an alcohol company that was also at the expo. He asked me if I would like to work for him at a car expo. I was super happy and quickly said yes! He asked me to download some files, print them out at home, fill in my details and give the form back to him the next time I see him. After two weeks he sent me a text asking if I would like to "work" for him at the upcoming car expo. I did not ask how much I would get paid in the text, or ask him in person when I arrived on Friday, before I started to help him set the store up. Merchandising, unloading, heavy lifting, installing here we go. On Saturday morning I arrived back at the expo and worked for the full 8 hours and happily left and thanked the boss man for the work opportunity, I stood there and waited for him to ask for my bank details but he didn't say anything, he just hollered byeeeee.

 

Whaooooo, slap on the face I am so Naive. I went home and during family dinner at the table I texted him and asked if I was going to get paid or not. And he said along the lines of: "No, this was just a warm up gig to give you more of an idea of what we do, you are getting experience, it is part of your training Joyce, come to more expos and gigs with us!" 

I said"OOOhhhh okkkayyy. When will I start to get paid?". He replied: "Maybe after a couple of shows, we'll see, if you seem to progress quite well, I'll consider paying you $10 something per hour since you are just starting out".

[INSERTS GOBSMACKED FACE HERE]

​

Ummm.... Joyce... this isn't really enough to get you paranoid right...? YEAH

​

hey hey, want to second shoot for me?

​

Experience Two: I second shot a wedding in December 2017 and I'd probably never second shoot a wedding ever again. Things feel like they are completely out of my control. This second shooting job was posted on a local photographers Facebook page and I had responded to it by sending a message request to the main photographer. It was a gig that was organised in quite a hurry, I showed her my photography work/portfolio and she said that I can second shoot for her. I agreed to the amount per hour that she offered to pay me. Once I say yes, and promise someone I will do something for them, I will turn up and do it without them needing to watch over me. I drove for an hour to get to West Auckland and showed up a bit earlier than I was expected to be, at the groom's house to take photos of the groom and the boys. It was such a lovely day and I really enjoyed capturing the essence of their wedding preparation. Then at the actual live wedding I was a "side shooter" that captured guest candids, wedding decorations, table settings, food abiding by the most basic rules that all professional photographers should know when second shooting. Don't get in the way of the main shooter and don't to get the exact same people shots as them. 

​

She was really nice to me and stood up for me when the restaurant manager was yelling the bullocks out of me. We talked about working together in the future and I did my best to avoid barging into her photos. Don't assume things though. It is a very bad habit. I assumed that she would pay me at the end of the 5-6 hours, but I was wrong once again.

I assumed she would ask for my bank account details,  and she did. She told me to message her or text me my bank details once I got home and rested up. It was very heart warming to hear that. Of course, ever since that day, it has been more than 2 months now (as of 9th April 2018, it has now been 4 months), but she has not "seen" any of my Facebook messages or replied to any of my texts or replied to any of my emails. No sort of communication whatsoever, no payment and my 36GB SD card is gone forever.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

Usually for weddings I like to take my laptop with me, because I don't have large sized SD cards so I like to transfer the photos I took onto my laptop during the day to prevent any important moments being lost, corrupted, or accidentally deleted. I didn't bring my laptop with me because I assumed that she would have brought her laptop. I assumed that was what main photographers do. 

*insert second shooter own SD cards into your laptop, transfer photos [DO NOT delete SD card photos after the transfer] and give SD cards back your second shooter* 

Few days before the wedding I went to the Noel Leeming Massive Sellout at the ASB Showgrounds to gear up for the newly weds big day. I went and bought a 36GB SD card which cost me $48 I think. I was happy with my investment. The main photographer isn't based in Auckland so at the end of the day, she said she'll be leaving Auckland in three days time. I said take my SD card, but don't delete the photos on it. Can you post the card back to me, or maybe give me your Auckland address so I can drive over there to get my card, after you are finished with it? She said yes, and once again, I happily left. 

​

And then, there was no and then. 

No sort of communication whatsoever, no payment and no 36GB SD anymore. 

​

The above stories are just to tell you what has contributed to shaping me to who I am now. And why I make the regulations and rules of my "standard expectations" that I do right now.