DIARY OF A CAMERA HIRE BUSINESS
8th December 2010
First email of the morning – “I’d like to hire some camera
equipment, picking up on Christmas Day.”
The audacity kills me.
15th July 2011
A customer has rocked up at the front door of the home
office at 7:30pm. I’ve got my baby on my
hip, trying to cook dinner. We closed at
5pm and this guy has walked straight past the closed sign, through the closed
gate, up the stairs to the back door and wants to pick up camera gear. I am so,
so angry. But what did I do? I gave him his camera gear. Why don’t I have
a spine to tell these people they are totally out of bounds?
31st August 2011
Well, I wasted the best part of today dealing with another
company that, rather than start their own company, decided that they would copy
mine. Same colour scheme, same name – bar three letters different, cut and
pasted my entire website INCLUDING MY ADDRESS in their FAQ section! And there is nothing I can do about it.
1st September 2011
Just received an email from a hirer who claimed that the
last time he hired a lens (in March), it happened to rain and so he couldn’t
use it. This is news to me – he never mentioned this at the time, not that it
would have made any difference. Now he wants that hire as a credit so that he
could hire again this weekend for free. You have got to be kidding mate – if it
rained, take it up with God.
21st September 2011
I made the mistake of answering the phone at 5:15pm.
“Hi, yes, I’m a professional photographer and I just have a
few questions for you. When a lens says seventy dash two hundred, what does
that exactly mean? How far would I have to stand away from something with that
lens?”
I’m astounded.
Firstly, no one ever states they are a professional photographer if they are,
in fact, a professional photographer.
Secondly, I wouldn’t even have been answering the phone at
5:15 except a hirer made a huge song and dance about me staying back half an
hour so he could pick up a lighting kit.
So, I answered the phone in case it was him. To add insult to injury, the guy didn’t even
pick up. He completely no showed and
left me sitting here. Not even a phone
call to say, “sorry, don’t worry about it.”
It’s ok. It’s not like
I have a baby sitting at day care waiting for me!
June 10, 2012
Phone call – “What is the best camera and lens to shoot a
movie with?” I’m a bit stunned and
suggest that you don’t just shoot a movie with one camera or one lens etc. So, they explain that they actually mean they
want to BOOTLEG a movie at the cinema and sell it on the black market so it has
to be really good quality.
15 November 2012
Phone call – photographer is on the beach with her clients.
“I’m taking photos with the lens you hired me but they’re all white”.
“Umm. What settings
are you shooting with?”
Her – “Settings?”
Lord help me.
February 2, 2014
A guy walks in with a padded case and some accessories for a
Nikon flash. Turns out that he hired the
flash in 2011 and lost the accessories for it. He was billed to replace them
and paid that bill. He’s now moving
house and came across the accessories that he lost. So he drove all the way
from the Gold Coast to return them because he thought I would refund the money
he paid 3 years ago.
I laughed really hard.
And then realised he wasn’t joking.
4th March 2014
I have a hirer named --------. He is a well-known and
successful commercial photographer who was, in his eyes, burned by his ex-wife
and now hates women with a passion. I’m sure it pains him greatly to have to
hire gear from me, but he occasionally does. He also does no-shows for as many
bookings as he picks up.
He emailed to pick up a Canon 35mm lens and when he
collected it, said he was in a hurry and didn’t have his wallet on him. He
assured me that he would pay on return.
A week later and his administrative assistant returns the
lens and looks at me wide-eyed that there is a balance to pay. She claims to
know nothing of paying for the lens and asks if I could send him an invoice. I
tell her that’s not how our business is set up, we are a cash-based business
and don’t offer accounts. I can see that I’m not going to get anywhere with her
so I say that I will issue an invoice, but this is a one off.
Shockingly, he never pays the invoice. Despite being
reminded on several occasions both in email and over the phone, he ignores my
request to have the bill settled.
Six months go past, and I send the debt to my debt
collection team where a $300 default and administration charge is added to the
total.
He explodes. He starts a tirade of abuse against me,
still refusing to pay the invoice in full. He would tell anyone that would
listen that it was my fault that the invoice wasn’t paid and that he’d tried to
pay it and I’d refused to take the payment. Murmurings would filter back to me
about how I would live to regret going up against him.
It went quiet for a while.
In 2018, he asks me about hiring another lens. Just out of the blue,
like nothing has happened. I replied that after our previous business dealings,
I wanted nothing further to do with him and he might like to hire from my
competitors instead.
He decided to “make me pay” for not bowing down in
front of him and being grateful for his business. He embarked on a two-month online tirade,
attempting to shut down my business. He would persuade his friends to leave me
one-star Google reviews; he would contact my hirers directly and discredit me,
advising them not to hire from me anymore. He would publish our correspondence
and previous emails online. He would convince his friends to make bogus hires
with me and make inquiries asking me questions in an attempt to trip me up, and
those friends would then report back to their online community about how stupid
I was.
I was absolutely furious. As a business owner, it’s my right
to choose not to do business with someone, and in this instance I was exercising
my right. He clearly is not used to being told ‘no’.
I made an appointment with a local solicitor and a “Cease
and Desist” letter was drawn up.
He then published that letter publicly online and continued
to turn the local commercial photographers against me.
What this shows me is that men have a real issue with
successful women. There was no way he was going to take this quietly and admit
that he caused me six months of debt collection last time we did business. Why would I hire to him again?
But instead of acknowledging that (and if he had I may very well have hired to him again) he did as much
as he could to put me out of business.
What he can now shove up his ass is that I kept my head up
high, continued to run the company like every other day of my life, giving
exceptional service to the photographers of Brisbane and my income didn’t drop
a single dollar despite his best efforts.
15th December 2014.
I missed a phone call and phoned the number back.
“It’s Susan here from Brisbane Camera Hire. I’m returning a
call to this number.”
“Brisbane Camper Hire?
Oh ok.”
“No, no, no, Brisbane Camera Hire.”
“Hold on.”
Receptionist places phone on desk and spends the next 5 minutes
screaming out to her workmates -
“DID ANYONE CALL BRISBANE CAMPER HIRE?
CAMPER HIRE ANYONE? I’VE GOT A LADY ON THE PHONE FROM BRISBANE CAMPER
HIRE”.
I hung up.
2 August 2015
Text received on office mobile – “What is the best camera
for picher taking?”
The next day I
decommissioned the mobile phone and switched to a landline.
28 September 2015
Just had a guy pick up a camera and a lens he had hired. He
explained that he was shooting a twenty first birthday party that night. He
handed me the camera and says, “So can you just put in the right settings for a
party?”
Ohhh dude. It doesn’t work that way.
6 October 2015
Phone call – “Of these cameras, which one has the biggest
SIM card?”
I really wanted to ask
if he was making national or international calls with it.
12th November 2015
A lady came in five minutes before close to pick up a flash.
“So I’ve got a wedding this weekend until 10pm and I’ve
never shot with a flash before. Do I just stick this on top of the camera and
it’ll just do what it needs to do?”
… Umm. Sure.
30 September 2016
First email of the day…
“So, I’ve taken on a job to shoot an editorial for a
furniture designer. I have an
1100D*. What do I need to shoot this
job?”
* An 1100D is an extremely entry level camera.
What do you need? You
need to not take on jobs that you have no idea to shoot, that’s what. As
much as I wanted to say this, I simply defaulted to my standard response, which
was sending over an eight page, highly complex, itemised price list of all of
my inventory and asking her to have a look and let me know.
Not surprisingly,
there was no reply.
7 October 2016
Phone call – “Hi, yes, I need a camera that can take really
good, clear images of a motorbike please.”
I wanted to tell him
that all of my motorbike cameras were hired out already.
Next phone call. A
woman who was currently AT A WEDDING, asking to be walked through, step by
step, how to open the battery door on a flash. There is no secret to this. You
slide the door open in the direction of the arrows printed on it, much like
replacing batteries on literally anything that takes batteries.
God help the bride and
groom if this is the level of photography knowledge we are working with.
October 19, 2016
Had a walk in today, and I honestly thought he was having
trouble locating the TAB, which is a few shops further down. He asks me if I
shoot portraits and I said not so much anymore but that I could refer him to my
friend, Sandra.
Ten minutes later and Sandra
rings demanding to know why the fuck I gave her number to a dude who wants to
shoot a porno session with his girlfriend.
21st November 2016
My first customer return of the day, returning a Nikon
14-24m lens –
“You didn’t tell me this is a Manual Focus only Lens.”
“It’s not.”
“Well it only works in manual focus.”
“You have the lens switch on Manual.”
“Oh”
After today I realised
I can no longer be trusted to keep alcohol in the work fridge.
29th November 2016
The first email of the day.
“I want a camera and lens to shoot a band, like the attached
iPhone photo. Please advise what I would need, to take a shot just like that.”
Me – “I would suggest an iPhone.”
1st December 2016
A lady came into the store to hire a lens.
“I have a problem with my lens – I accidentally knocked it
against a table and now it doesn’t zoom anymore.”
“Oh bummer! Which
lens was it?”
“The 50mm prime.”
I don’t know what to
say.
1st December 2017
A terrifying looking dude with face tattoos opens the shop
door:
“So do you hire cameras, or do you take photos?”
“I can help you with both. What do you need?”
“I need photos of my sexy ass”
I’m so glad I am here
for everyone’s entertainment.
15th September 2019.
Phone call from a large hotel chain – “So if we accidentally
break a lens or something on hire, would you refund us for that because,
obviously, we wouldn’t be able to use it.”
I declined the hire.
8th October 2019
Myself and one of my staff (male), were working together
today as it was a long weekend and plenty of hires were going out.
We had a lens booked out to a photographer named Matthew -----------. He had rented only once before in 2016 and I
didn’t know him personally.
He came into collect his hire and as my staff member was
helping another customer I served him. Matthew was about to leave when he
turned to me and said, “Are you two fucking?”
Shocked, and assuming I misheard, I said, “I’m sorry, what?”
He repeated, “You two” and gestured towards my staff member and
I before thrusting his hips in a fucking fashion.
Stunned and embarrassed I said, “Umm no, that’s my employee.”
Matthew laughed and left.
We both stared at each other, slack jawed. My other customer
in the store says “What was all that about?” and I was embarrassed to have to
explain that I wasn’t sure what just happened.
Of course on Tuesday, I was working alone and was left to
deal with Matthew’s return on my own. I had been dreading it all morning.
Matthew prowled in and immediately walked to the “Staff Only” side of reception
to place the lens in front of me on the desk.
I found this extremely intimidating. No other customer has ever walked
to the other side of reception. The only reason for doing so would be for him
to be doing the human equivalent of “cocking his leg all over me”.
He then settled himself into the bench in the reception area
and continues, “I’m not the only one who thinks you two are fucking.”
Close to tears I just sit and stare at him. He continues, “I
was chatting to Phil of ------ Studios at the wedding on Saturday and he thinks
you guys are fucking too.”
“I don’t know what to say Matthew. I don’t know why anyone
would think that, or why they would be talking about us behind our backs. I’m
in a relationship, not that it’s anyone’s business.”
Matthew seemed to find it very amusing and after he left, I
sat back and replayed the entire encounter over and over in my head.
How do normal people respond to situations like this? Do
normal people even get into situations like this? Should I have just arced the
up and yelled and screamed at him? Should I have demanded he get out of my
shop?
I thought about it for days and days before deciding, to
hell with this, I’m complaining.
I logged onto the Australian Institute of Professional
Photographers Website and downloaded the professional misconduct complaint
form. I filled out all of the details of our two encounters, plus a witness
statement from my other hirer that was present that day.
The AIPP responded, letting me know they have the issue
tabled for their next meeting. The
meeting was held and the council were appalled. Matthew was contacted and asked
to issue me with a written apology. Six month’s later no apology had been
received, so the AIPP contacted Matthew again.
After a further month I received an email from the AIPP
Compliance team. They advised that rather than sending me an apology for his
serious lack of judgement in his behaviour towards me, Matthew instead
resigned from his membership with the AIPP.
He would rather resign from the leading professional body
in the industry in which he works full time, than send an apology.”
I was absolutely fuming. I felt so disrespected. I can’t make
someone apologise to me, but I must give off this air about me that indicates
that it’s okay to treat me like this. It happens over and over again.
I immediately logged onto his website and Instagram making
very sure that any mention of him being an Accredited AIPP Photographer were
gone.
22nd July 2020
Sitting at the office and my phone buzzes a notification
from Instagram.
It’s a message to me via Instagram.
“Hey! Is this still Susan?”
“Now that is a name from the past! It’s still me, yes!”
The message was from a photographer named Jake who used to
hire a lot but moved to London in 2017.
“What are you up to?!” He asks me excitedly.
“I’m still here!
Looking after my hire business and running a studio on-site now too.
It’s keeping me pretty busy. You moved away, didn’t you?”
“That’s amazing! You
deserve to do well! I’m still in London.
I’m not gonna lie, I was wondering if you enjoyed playing a bit? Like some
dirty words or whatever – you can choose.”
I frowned at the screen.
“Playing?” I asked. I
wasn’t following what he was asking me.
Because I’m stupid, and I expect too much from people.
“Yeah, like exchanging messages. Say no if you’re not into
it, it’s cool.”
“What do you mean? I’m not sure that I follow.” By this
point, I am pretty sure that this isn’t going to be a professional
message exchange, but I want this guy to articulate it. Spell it out for me.
“Sorry if I got you at a weird time! I always thought you
were attractive, not gonna lie. When I’d pick gear up and you were there or
whatever. Haha. I sound stupid,
sorry. Ignore me. Do you have a private
profile I should hit up?”
“I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.” SAY IT
JAKE.
“What are you doing right now? Do you have some spare time
to get nude?”
And there it was.
21 August 2020
Today’s phone call:
“Yeah, I’m from a social media marketing company and we need
to film sixty, one to two minute videos. How do we do that?”
Me – “Do what, specifically?”
“All of it. We’ve never used a camera before.”
24 August 2020
Phone call –
“So if we hire the EF200 constant lights on your price list
– is it possible to set them on fire?”
25 August 2020
Email –
“What is the best lens for shooting a model on the beach. And settings please. Send sample photos taken with the lens and how
much for one day.”
31st August 2020
First phone call of the day was a completely bogan sounding
woman who wants a camera that can “shoot in the dark” plus a lens that “extends
a long way”. She agrees that she has
never used a camera before and wouldn’t know how to use it to achieve the
results she wants, but hopes that I can help her with that. She
also needs to learn it all and get the shots by the following morning as she’s
on a “court deadline” to supply evidence.
I declined the hire.
31st August 2020
Received an inquiry for a camera, 400mm lens, plus gimbal.
Declined the hire.
2nd September 2020
The phone lines at the office are down and I’m having to
contact hirers on my personal mobile WHICH I ABSOLUTELY HATE. People totally
abuse this power and they feel like now they have a permanent direct line
straight to you and will never use the normal channels again. So now a hirer
named T----------- has my mobile number and starts texting me photos of his
big-rig. Thank God this isn’t a code
name for “dick”, it’s actually his truck. I decide to not reply to the message
as I don’t want to encourage him one bit.
He comes to collect his hire and has the audacity to say to
me, “Now that I have your mobile number, I’ve fully stalked you online hey.
There are so many photos of you online, do you know that? There’s even photos
of you holding a baby.”
I’m just looking at
him stunned because who says that to someone? Who says that to a woman, working
alone in an office?
7th September 2020
I hired the studio to a team of “creative geniuses”
(self described), behind sixty one TV commercials and representing clients such
as You Tube and Dulux. They demanded a pink backdrop in the studio, which isn’t
a standard inclusion, but I brought my own personal backdrop from home for them
to use, free of charge. I’m watching them on the security cameras as they roll out
6 meters of my pink backdrop (half the roll) instead of the 2 meters that would
have been more than ample. I can feel the fury wanting to explode from behind
my eyes.
They then decide to turn all of the lights off including the
lights on the panel that say “Front Office, Do Not Touch” and plunge me into
darkness.
I go back to the studio and ask them to please not turn off
my lights. They take this opportunity to say, “Something is wrong with these
soft boxes, half my photos are black.” He shows me his screen and God knows
what his shutter speed was. “Yep, you’re shooting above flash sync speed.” I
replied. He looks at me like I’m speaking
Spanish.
Later on, the “model” comes out and says, “My mate has a
brand-new camera and he doesn’t know how to use it – are you any good with Sony
cameras?” I said no. He says “The photos of me jumping in the air are all
blurry and my skin is super red.”
I’m stunned. The
studio rents out for $65 an hour and DOES NOT come with my ten years of
experience.
So, I just claim to be
the receptionist and that I can’t assist them with their technical problems.
Sometimes it’s just easier this way.
8th September 2020
Email – “I’m shooting some real estate and I want a
recommendation for a lens that will make my photos look special.”
10 September 2020
Phone call – “Yeah, I want to hire a telescope”
11 September 2020
A hirer who has been in the industry a long time, rented a wide
angle lens to shoot an apartment. She rings an hour later to complain that the
lens isn’t sharp. After much questioning, I discover she is shooting at f/2.8.
She seems stunned that you can shoot at a higher aperture. This woman has been
in the industry ten plus years.
15 September 2020
Had a courier collect a box from a hair salon in New Farm.
The courier rang to say they could not complete the pick up. I ring the hirer
and he says that the driver wouldn’t take the goods. After much back and forth
between hirer and courier, turns out the hirer had binned the box, packaging
and return address label and tried to hand an LED light panel to a courier
driver who had no idea where it was supposed to be delivered to.
I ring the hirer back and semi-explode – “Why would you
throw away all of the packaging and address label? Do you think the courier
driver has psychic abilities?”
The hirer tells me to “lose my attitude”
I am shocked that I’m
not an alcoholic.
16th September 2020
Studio hire inquiry – “What kind of lighting would we need
for a photo shoot?”
16th September 2020
Social media marketing company are in the studio today.
Their videography team came to get me to ask me to set up their whole lighting
design for them because “they’re not good with that”.
I declined. They were
made aware that they can hire a lighting designer for $100 an hour and they said
no. They don’t then get me to do it for
free.
16th September 2020 (must have been one of
those days)!
“If I rent the studio, does that come with SD cards for my
camera?”
17th September 2020
A person calls my personal number, during work hours mind
you, when I am available on the office phone. He’s calling from his job for
which he has not hired anything from me. He’s in the middle of a live streaming
job asking me how to connect his cameras to the switcher.
There’s that audacity
again.
18th September 2020
So, T---------- comes
in today to hire some items (the guy who openly confessed to stalking me
online). He says to me, “If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell
anyone else?”
I’m like whatever; I don’t really give a shit at this point.
He then tells me that he’s an infamous armed robber from the
mid-1990’s Apparently, he only stayed ahead of the cops because he was dating a
girl who worked in police headquarters and used to tip him off. Plot twist – I USED TO WORK WITH THE SAME
GIRL AT ANOTHER GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT.
Anyways, he also claims that he has shot 6 people and killed
2 of them and he finally gave himself up in Goondiwindi at the Post
office. Apparently, he was in custody
for 2 years and the cops only ever had enough evidence for one of the robberies,
so the judge told them they had to drop the rest because it was taking so long.
So, he went to jail for three years for the one armed robbery of a service
station.
I’m sitting at my desk, shaking my head, that this guy would
be so deranged to think it is ok to tell me this stuff.
I spent the rest of
the week Googling him but I couldn’t find any reports of any of it so I have no
idea if he’s full of shit or not.
18th September 2020
I agree to let 2 influencers use the studio for free for
2 hours in exchange for tagging the studio on Instagram. She tells me it will be herself (the
photographer) and 2 influencers, shooting their clothing range.
What it actually was: was herself, 2 influencers, 4 other
adults and 9 children. The kids were running absolutely wild, while their
parents took duck-faced selfies. The kids were running up and down the cyc like
it was a skate board ramp – and this is NOT A LOAD BEARING WALL, while I sat at
reception bawling my eyes out watching them on the cameras. The kids were
turning all the lights on and off, pressing all the buttons on the electronic
door lock, turning the air con on and off. I really wish I had just asked them
to leave as soon as I realised that this was not what I had agreed to. It wasn’t even COVID safe.
At the end of the 2 hours, I checked the cameras again and
they had left. They had done a runner.
They did not say thank you or apologise for the noise or the damage. I ended up
staying back an hour after work, clearing out 5 garbage bags of rubbish from
the studio, sobbing my heart out and wanting to just leave the keys in the back
door and walk away.
9th October 2020
A new hirer asked to have a camera and lens couriered to the
Sunshine Coast for a wedding. He was extremely specific in stating that the
gear must be delivered prior to 10am on the Friday.
With couriering being a nightmare at the best of times, and
now with delivery times no longer guaranteed during COVID, I finally found a
courier who could get the gear to him in a timely fashion.
The delivery address was the groom’s parents’ house
(which I didn’t know until later).
The items were dispatched.
On delivery day, I arrive to the office to an email from the
photographer. He then berated me for the courier arriving too early and
that he asked it to arrive at 10am, not at 8am as it did actually arrive. I’m dumbfounded, because the courier doesn’t
arrive at a time. It’s not like they’re sitting out on the road waiting
for 10am for you. I had it delivered before the deadline.
Apparently, he never told the groom’s parents that the box
was arriving so when the courier tried to give them a box with a name on it
they didn’t recognise, they refused to take it.
The hirer then had the audacity to ask “So where do we stand
on you getting me that gear today.”
I got you the gear on
time, the rest is on you.
12th October 2020
A first-time hirer returned a camera and lens this morning
claiming that they “don’t work”.
Upon inspecting the items, I noticed considerable damage
around the lens mount.
I pointed this out to the hirer who denied having any idea
where the damage came from.
From what it looks like to me, the photographer couldn’t get
the lens off (which is uncoupled via a simple button press and twist), and
instead, tried to lever it off using a screwdriver.
The items were sent to repair and the bill forwarded to the
hirer, who is still claiming they don’t know how the damage occurred.
22nd September 2020
Took a phone call from a lady who was quoted $125 by her
real estate agent for images of her apartment that she’s selling. Just so
you know, THAT’S A BARGAIN. But she arc’ed up and said that was outrageous
- $125 for 10 photos! So instead, she
wanted to rent the lens that the professional would have used to get those
photos, so she could do it herself.
Bear in mind, the hire fee on the lens she needed was $90,
and I pointed this out, but she still reasoned that this was a better deal
because she could take a hundred photos then. I’m like, ok you don’t need a
hundred photos of a 2 bedroom apartment but whatever.
So she comes in, hires the lens. Calls me about an hour
later and has kicked over her own tripod and smashed both her camera and my
lens. As much as I was out of my mind irate that she had damaged my lens which
ended up then being in repair for eight weeks, part of me knew this was exactly
the karma she had coming for her. In the end, she had to pay for the repair of
my lens which was $1200, plus the repair to her camera. Maybe now she realises
that she should have just paid that ridiculously cheap price to the
professional.
16th August 2022
"I'll be there right as you close" (which is 5pm)
"I'm just stuck in some traffic and won't be there
until 5:30 at least"
"It's a hundred bucks for me to stay"
Shoot starts at 5am on the Gold Coast. What choice does he
have?
On collecting he said “I’ll pay $100 for you staying open
and you tell your boss that money is for you personally”.
Much as I would have loved to tell him I AM THE BOSS, just
took the $100!
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