Ethics

A

alveraz

Veteran
I have to work all day so I won't be back till later to read responses, but I wanted to vent for a moment.

So this "actor" contacts me for headshots, tells me his whole acting story, et al. Nothing new, I've heard them all :) Anyway, I shot him a couple months ago, the session went great. He did ask me more questions than usual during the session about my set-ups and light, but I didn't think anything of it. Just another curious "actor"

Yesteday, I'm browsing photographers on Model Mayhem and guess who I come across?! This jackass has been a headshot photographer for a while in L.A., he's my competition and located within a few miles from me, and has nothing to do with being an actor. He just wanted to find out what I was doing to improve his own business!

Now, I have nothing wrong with shooting a photographer if he's up front with me, I've done it a couple times. Many photographers prefer another photographer to shoot them for marketing, etc. But this guy totally lied to me, giving me all this crap about his acting career, which in fact I remember thinking, "I doubt it".

Get this, his set-ups are almost identical to mine!!!! I looked at his past work and his new shots (since our session) and they look exactly like what we did together. I don't know, I'm disappointed, not angry. I mean it just makes me less trusting now when I work with photographers. Maybe I'm over reacting but I think it's real lame. What a dirty side of the business, you know?

It sucks cause, people google this area and both our work will come up in certain searches. His work now looks like mine, and his rates are cheaper. Who would you choose? See? I'm losing income because he essentially stole my process. Again, if he was straight up with me, I wouldn't care. In fact I had a photographer call me last month, he said, hey, I'm a headshot photographer, I know I'm your competition but I need headshots, is that cool? I said yes and we're now pals. We share tips and help each other out.

But this dude is an unethical jerk. Anyway. Thoughts?


www.zampanophoto.com
 
WoW... I don't know what to say. I KNOW it happens, because it happens to me all the time with wedding videographers claiming to be a bride and wanting me to send them a DEMO. But from a demo, they can't blatantly steal my process like that.

It sucks, and I would definitely contact him. May not do any good, but if you just let it slide, it'll eat away at you... or at least it would me.


or you could always go over and burn his house down.


.
 
Even though it would be the right thing to do, burning down his house would get you in trouble. Big time.

Any folks I know DETEST a thief and a liar. I would at the least contact him and let him know that he ripped you off. Is he young and just getting started? If so, your contacting him with a few stern words on ethics might get him to think and set him on the better course in his life. If he is older and should "know better", it likely won't result in a change, but you could let him know that you know a lot of folks.

Larry, slowly wagging head
 
Totally jerkoff thing to do and you have a right to be pissed. I've always enjoyed the headshots you have posted. Not much you can really do to change things at this point, but for the future you might want to ask them upfront and include something about it in your contracts.

As for now, I would probably try contacting the guy and try to shame him into getting his rates even with yours so you're on an even keel, or if they allow for comments on these sites, give us the links and let us go to work. :evil:
 
That sucks, as a photographer who is on the East Coast and NOT your competition, :engel017:, I would gladly PAY to see a tutorial on your lighting setups as I think they rock!
 
That sucks, man. You should use your available DVXUser resources. I'm sure you still have the original shots that you took of him, right? Send them to Mark Johnson for his Photoshop services and let him go to town. :D Suddenly, your thieving competition has found himself in all sorts of strange and interesting situations. :evil:
 
Just remember what Mom used to say- "Imitation is the sincerest form of Flattery". And if that doesn't help, try the other thing she used to say- "Go for the nuts!"
 
Hey guys, thanks for all the words of support, some pretty funny revenge suggestions. I'm over this guy. I had a long day of shooting clients and I have a feeling he sat at home all day taking pictures of his feet. It takes more than composition and light, he'll never make it.

Thanks again guys, I'm humbled by the support :)

www.zampanophoto.com
 
Unfortunately, unless you had your contract specifically documented pertaining to this, you can't do anything. Now, if he's using his pictures you shot on his site, and you own the rights, you can do that. You pretty much have to prove a "breach of contract".

Now... this is what I would do. When people mess with me.
(I'm a Scorpio lol. Revenge is in my blood)

Call the BBB. Better Business Bureaus. Tell them what happened, and they can look and see if he is practicing shady business practices. (i.e. his business license, is it the right kind etc...)

or better yet... The business software alliance.
https://reporting.bsa.org

I'll bet 5 bucks he's using cracked copies of photoshop and plug-ins. That should send him away for awhile.

Welcome to Hollywood.... wait.. that was already said.
:D (pun intended to steal what someone else posted of coarse lol)

No but really, this is a small town. Word gets around quick. I only recommended the above suggestion because I know people who got even by going that route.
 
Of course there's an upside to this scenario...You're just so darn good at your job, this guy had to trick his way in to figure your method. Sort of a compliment if you look at it with different eyes:)
 
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