Grey Giraffe Photography

ir representation of the facts, so we would like to respond to each point in your review. For reference, here is a blog post highlighting your wedding: http://greygiraffe.com/blog/2021/4/liz-amp-larry-wedding 1. "We incorrectly assumed that they would fill Alyssa in on what we wanted and the vision we had of what photos/shots we wanted." Response: I am not entirely sure what you mean here, but we did have a conversation with Alyssa about your wedding before making introducing her to you. She also spent ample time working with you on your vision beforehand, including talking on the phone with you and sending out a questionnaire to get to know you better. Not understanding your complaint here. 2. "Alyssa took forever to get back with us or even respond to our emails.." Response: You emailed Alyssa on 9/14 at 1:38pm requesting a meeting, she responded to you the very same day at 9:14pm and confirmed the appt. time. On 9/28, the day of the scheduled meeting, you sent her an email to confirm and she responded an hour late confirming her availability for either a voice or video chat that afternoon. In all the correspondence we have seen, Alyssa responded both quickly and professionally. 3. "..but eventually confirmed via email that she received our 'shot' list. She only got about half of our shot list and missed an extremely one-time only shot..." Response: Alyssa sent you a questionnaire before the wedding and asked if there were any specific shots you wanted. The only shot you specifically mentioned in here was a group shot of everyone. Alyssa was able to get that shot. I believe you may have also requested at another time a shot of your first kiss with all the guest reactions in it. Unfortunately, since you were in a covered gazebo, and the guests were in full sun, there was no way to get this shot. Cameras cannot expose for two completely different lighting scenarios in the same shot. She would have either had to expose for you, or you guests, but not both in the same shot. Also, the photos she did get of the first kiss are objectively beautiful and artistically captured in every way. 4. "A lot of the photos are blurry..." Response: I just looked through your gallery again, and do not see these blurry photos you are referring to. Your wedding was captured beautifully and artistically and we fully stand by the work. Additionally, I will say, a photo being blurry does not automatically make it a bad photo either. But, again, in your case, I am not seeing blurry photos in the gallery. 5. "she continuously used a garage as our background even though we were at a very beautiful mountain wedding venue." Response: Whether it is a garage or not, the photos were captured and composed wonderfully. Alyssa framed the photos based on a number of elements, among them being the lighting. The angle facing the mountain was not, in Alyssa’s professional opinion, the best lighting. As wedding photographers, our first priority when thinking about lighting is to expose for people, not the scenery. In this case, getting the mountains in the background (which were far away in the distance) was not possible. 6. "We did not move from the garage until we specifically asked to.." Response: Alyssa made a creative judgement call to do the photos where she did. The photos she got are very good and we stand by them. When you asked her to move and shoot somewhere different, she did as she was asked cheerfully. 7. "She also did not get one single shot of just us (the bride & groom) facing the camera." Response: This is categorically untrue. There are at least 5 formal photos where you are both facing and looking at the camera. 8. "The only direction we received was “Look lovingly at each other”, and “You’re naturals, keep doing that.” By looking at the photos sent to us, there is little to no variation of poses, just us looking at each other." Response: Again, if you look at the blog post, you will see that there is a good variety of images and poses, and you both look beautiful in all of them. When you inquired, we shared with you this about what our style is: “the way we approach our photography is all about responding creatively to the day to capture your authentic personalities. It is about crafting a visual narrative of your wedding day/weekend and love for each other in a real way by capturing all those little details and unseen in-between moments, in addition to all the traditional shots that mom’s love. It’s letting things happen and documenting it honestly and artistically.” And when we emailed you about needing to work with Alyssa, we described her style to you in the following way: "Alyssa is very similar to us in that her focus is on storytelling. She captures the family pictures, etc. but really specializes in documenting authentic details, moments, and emotion to create a visual narrative of your day. She has a remarkable eye for light and moments.” I don’t know how we could have been clearer. Your gallery is reflective of the way we always shoot. 9. "Not one traditional portrait pose. This is not what we had discussed with the owners..." Response: Read the response to the last item. We always try to get a few traditional posed shots, but our style is very much about capturing authentic and real moments and interactions between our couples. We are clear about that on our website, and were clear about that in our correspondence with you when you were looking into booking us. In looking through your gallery, you have a nice mix of both. 10. "ever had the opportunity to discuss with Alyssa our replacement photographer." Response: We already addressed this above. You emailed and spoke with Alyssa before the wedding on many occasions. She was responsive and professional in every way. 11. "We tried contacting Grey Giraffe Photography after we received our photos and realized they were not what we had agreed upon with Alan and Whitney, but they have completely ignored our emails." Response: You did send us a lengthy letter. And it is true that we did not respond to it. This is because (a) you did not ask us any questions nor did you ask us to respond and (b) the letter was very condescending and aggressive. We simply felt that the best option was to let you say your piece and for both parties to move on. I will respond to one comment you made in the letter where, at the end of the letter, you said the entire “point of this letter is simply to let you know how utterly devastated we are with the product and for you to perhaps have some training or at least have a talk with Alyssa about the quality of her work.” To respond, I will say that Alyssa has been shooting and documenting weddings at a very high level for more than 10 years. She has a BFA in photography, as well. She has been shooting with us for many years. Her work speaks for herself. She is highly qualified, well-respected, and does not deserve to be talked about in such derogatory terms. She documented your wedding honestly and artistically. We stand by her completely. 12. "We do not recommend them, at all." Response: Bottom line: art is subjective. Clearly, we were not a good fit for each other. However, we did our very best to be upfront about how we shoot. We were professional in every way, fulfilled every measure of the contract, and even delivered your photos to you early. A 1-star review is not a fair or honest reflection of either us or our work.