Dear Mary…
Q. Last week I went to a private view of Craigie Aitchison’s new pictures. I have always been a fan of his and having had a windfall I was looking forward to purchasing one of his compositions. I asked a gallery assistant for a price list — a reasonable request, one might think, but her response was, ‘We don’t do price lists. However, if you were interested in a particular picture we might be able to help.’ I was left feeling snubbed and so pursued the matter no further. How should I have replied?
Name and address withheld
A. You could have pulled a sympathetic face and said, ‘Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. Poor you, not having a price list. Do you find it puts a lot of buyers off?’
Q. Although I say it myself, I am a reasonably accomplished photographer, and lately I have increasingly found myself being asked to photograph the weddings of friends, colleagues and acquaintances. For some reason, most of these people expect me to photograph their wedding for a small sum or even nothing. I don’t particularly enjoy taking these pictures, but how can I discourage these approaches? I find it difficult to say no.
M.S., Weston Village, Bath
A. Since even the cheapest professional wedding photographer costs £1,000, and so much is at stake if anything goes wrong with such a commission, your reluctance to co-operate is understandable. Why not respond to these requests by saying, ‘That’s so kind of you to ask me, but I’ve decided to do only weddings of people I don’t know from now on. It’s too difficult to be professional and herd people into formal line-ups when you’re slightly drunk.’ In this way you not only make the point that you are usually paid but also leave the door open for them to offer to pay you to stay sober and do a ‘professional job’.
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