Any Professional Photographers On Here?

I have a question or two for any BGP professional photographers.

First, a quick summary:

My newborn baby came into the world 3 months ago. We were approached by a local photographer who needed a 2-week or less old baby for professional pictures and as a subject for her photography class. It was the day of the Kentucky at Florida basketball game (March 3).

We paid a $15 fee and sat in her studio for more than 3 hours on a Saturday.

As of May 12, we have yet to see a single picture of our baby. We contacted her after one month and was told it would be soon. Last week, I made two attempts to contact her to ask what the deal is. I wasn't able to reach her and haven't received a call back.

At this point, we almost feel scammed.

My question to you: is this a normal amount of time for this type of thing or does this seem off to any of you? I really wanted to get some other opinions before I call her out on social media and hammer her.

Thanks!

If it was for a class, perhaps she hasnt gotten the pictures back from the professor? But then again arent most Colleges done with classes at this point?

If it was for a class, perhaps she hasnt gotten the pictures back from the professor? But then again arent most Colleges done with classes at this point?

It wasn't a college class. It was a professional photographer who was holding a "workshop" for other aspiring photographers. Those people paid her money for the class. We paid $15 to let her use our baby.

We paid $15 to let her use our baby.

Seems like that would be your first red flag. :lol2:

I'm not a professional photographer but I've never waited that long to get pictures back. Sounds like something is off to me, two months is too long. I know some professional photographers though, one that does Ashland high school as well as UK games, I occasionally run into him on Mondays at work, if I do this week I'll ask what the turn around usually is on that.

Seems like that would be your first red flag. :lol2:

Not really.

I did photography as a side hustle for about 10 years. There are a couple problems with this scenario. First, you should absolutely have the finished pics back by now. Even if she were really busy, it shouldn’t take more than a month. I rarely took more than two weeks to return images even working a full time job. Weddings would take longer, but even that would only take 4-6 weeks. At the very least, she should be able to provide the rough, low res, proofs electronically via email Second, if she were using these for a project, she either shouldn’t have charged you, or had you sign a waiver/release for her to be able to use the images. This seems really off.

Congrats on the baby!

When MrsC was doing photography she would typically have editted, done multiple sizes, and had digital images ready for you to select in a week. Two weeks at the most.

Good thing is you're only out $15 if she doesn't come through.