For Photographers

The Wronged Customer

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“The customer is always right” is a well-known saying. But contrary to popular belief, it’s neither a law nor regulation of any kind.

That phrase seems to have gotten its start at least 112 years ago as part of a customer service policy of Marshall Field & Company, a Chicago department store.

A 1905 US newspaper published an article about Marshall Field & Company in which it seemingly quoted what Marshall Field taught his employees, namely that the customer is always right.

Harry Selfridge, a department store executive who worked for Marshall Field, moved to London in 1906 and soon opened his Selfridges & Company department store. He, too, used the phrase “the customer is always right.”
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Running a photography business

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Confucius was wrong when he said:

Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.

Running a photography business consists of short moments of photography broken up by long periods of business. But those moments of photography make it worthwhile.

While photographers do need to make money, the need to create pictures may be more important. It’s not always about money.

Making money is a job. Making good pictures is an accomplishment.

 

Credit Card Photo Scam

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Internet scams that target photographers have been around for years. Over the past couple of years, there’s another scam involving credit cards.

A scammer, posing as a customer, will ask to hire a photographer for an upcoming event but only if the photographer accepts credit cards. If the photographer agrees to the work, the scammer will mention that they also need to pay another event supplier who doesn’t take credit cards.

The scammer will offer to send extra money to the photographer so the photographer can pay that other supplier. To tempt the photographer, the scammer will promise the photographer a couple hundred dollars extra for their trouble.

The scammer will use a stolen credit card to pay the photographer’s fee, the other supplier’s fee and the extra money for the photographer’s trouble. The unsuspecting photographer will be told to pay the other supplier immediately – it’s urgent!! – but only in cash through Western Union.
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Business Headshots at Conferences

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Are you planning a business conference, workshop or other corporate event? Would you like to add more value?

Arrange to have a business portrait studio at your next event. People could get a new business headshot while they’re at your event.

This is not to be confused with those photo booths you might see at parties and other social events. A business portrait studio has no silly props, no crazy backgrounds. It’s a no-nonsense, business photo studio with photographer, assistant(s) and, perhaps, makeup artist.
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To Your Credit

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If you accept mobile, point-of-sale credit card payments by using something like Square, there are a couple things you need to know.

Goodbye headphone jack

Apple has removed the 3.5mm headphone jack from its new devices. Lenovo has also started doing this and it appears Samsung may do the same. The problem is that credit card readers currently use the headphone jack.

Sidenote / rant:   The reasons why Apple removed the headphone jack aren’t exactly what Apple tried to spin by saying it was an act of “courage.”

The move to the proprietary Lightning connector and the concurrent move to USB-C ports (which can accept proprietary restrictions) greatly increase Apple’s control of third-party devices that can connect with Apple products.

This move is expected to generate a lot of money for Apple since third-party manufacturers will have to pay for licensing, pay for Apple’s proprietary MFi chip and other components, and pay a royalty on each and every device they manufacture. By contrast, USB and 3.5mm audio connectors are royalty-free, OS-independent, device-independent and they fall outside of Apple’s control.
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Taking the long way

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Been sitting at your computer for a while? Need some exercise?

A long time ago, a Yellow Pages advertisement used the slogan “Let your fingers do the walking.” Now you can let your fingers do your exercising by scrolling for a mile. (That web page is a mile long: 6,082,560 pixels at 96 ppi (monitor resolution) = 5,280 feet = 1 mile).

Twenty years ago, web-page scrolling was considered bad design maybe because most folks used slow dial-up Internet and page content had to be kept minimal. As broadband Internet became the norm, longer pages, and scrolling, became popular. Five or six years ago, scrolling went out of fashion maybe because it took too much effort or because people were in too much of a hurry to go below the fold. Today, scrolling is trendy again probably because scrolling is easier and more preferred on mobile devices.

Both the photo pages and blog pages on my web site have several long pages with lots of text. Scrolling is often required on my site. This is intentional and the reasons are:
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Nikon Canada Repairs

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Nikon Canada implemented a repair tracking system, two or three years ago, that lets you track your equipment while it’s being serviced. This system tells you when your gear has entered the repair process, when it’s being repaired, and when the work has been completed. It will also tell you the cost. Sometimes you might be required to pre-approve a repair.

This system doesn’t provide up-to-the-minute or up-to-the-hour tracking. It seems to be up-to-the-day but it can vary a lot.

The problem is that the web link to check your repair status has always been wrong. Nikon Canada knows this but it’s never been corrected.
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