Reply To: Fauxtogs who should end up on the main page…

[JimC]

This one is really special. Does that brick wall seem funny to you? 😀

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/4442/badphotography.jpg

Note the ad text.

 

I had the joy of working with this tog once. I mentioned some of this story in the “frightened boudoir” , but  I used to work as a video producer, and while I tried to avoid weddings like the plague, I did from time to time get roped in by someone who would beg, plead, and offer to pay full price upfront. (I’ve got nothing against weddings, I was just a commercial producer, so they were outside my scope of expertise.)

At one particular wedding, the couple had hired this guy as their photographer. He was just plain creepy! He had this catch phrase, “who’s feeling naughty?”, and he used it ALL THE TIME. The first set of photos were bride/groom, followed by the bride/groomsmen and groom/bridesmaids, so I assumed it was just his shtick for those, and when he got to parents and family, he would have a new line.

Wrong.

After that they went to bride/FOB photos. The first thing he said after giving them some posing direction and asking dad to look over his daughter’s shoulder was “Who’s feeling naughty?”. No joke. I literally sat down in a pew, shut off the camera, and watched with my mouth hanging open as he would pose them a little, ask who’s feeling naughty, and take an exposure. Over and over. It was so awkward. You could see the strained expression of disgust under the thin veil of an awkward smile.

And that was how the whole shoot went, over and over. Groom/mother, grandparents, even the big group photo. “Okay mom, get the little tyke to look up. Who’s feeling naughty?” and flash. Afterwards, nobody was even able to build up the nerve to talk about it. It was awkward with a capital A.

Looking at his website today, I see that he has turned his backyard into an outdoor studio, with a waterfall. He does boudoir shots, as well as fantasy photography, with fairy and mermaid costumes. Some of the photos on his site border on scary. Some crossed that border a thousand miles ago.

The amazing thing to me is that he is still in business. The story above took place nearly a decade ago! I’m not sure if he’s locked onto some niche market, or if he’s got a day job that justifies this, but somehow, he’s managed to hang on.