Ilene Squires Photography Contracted services were exceptionally unprofessional and disappointing New York City, New York

I looked at the photo's on your page and they are OK.

Honestly, you are OK at what you do. I didn't find any of them bad, but the first one  with one of the daughters looks off lens should have been trashed.

That one shot of of the yellow flower had really poor use of depth of field if that's what you were going for?

I don't know who's right here  but I do know this....Illen, I went to www.yelp.com to see if anyone had said anything about you.  Yelp's a great site and it's nationwide.  YELP

Here's what I found... There ARE indeed five reviews, (all five stars),  from people that have worked with you.

...but here's what I also found out.

 1) This report was filed originally submitted on the 27th of last month.
 2)  ALL YOUR FIVE STAR REVIEWS START ON THE 27TH OF LAST MONTH.  The other 4 reviews were done on the `1st and 2nd of this month.

Based on this and  the fact  that you obviously had your friends write these  yelp reviews I tend to believe the OP. I don't believe you...

Ilene, you have no class...YOU'RE FIRED!

After seeing some images the client  "fell in love with," I was commissioned to fly to Houston to shoot family portraits and later to Puerto Rico for an Anniversary Ahoot. The client put a deposit down for both of these shoots, as travel was involved for both and this is customary in the photo industry. 

The Houston shoot was scheduled for Saturday June 18, 2011 from 8 - 10am. On Friday June 17th, 2011 there was inclement weather in New York so my flight to Houston was unexpectedly cancelled at the last minute. After hours of traveling to and fro from another job and then later to the airport, I arrived home and immediately tried to call the airline to determine what could be done. Since I was on hold for an hour and a half with the airline and it was getting late, I phoned the client via Skype and left a voice message. I also sent several emails explaining the situation, giving real time information I was receiving from the airline and providing several new options: 1.) Shooting on Saturday 6/18 from 5 - 7pm as opposed to 8 - 10am so that I could get to Houston in time OR 2.) Shooting during another weekend that the client chose. Client was outraged by all of this because my voice message was "not received" and emails were deemed "insufficient." Ultimately, client chose to shoot Sunday morning 6/19 from 8 - 10am and I flew to Houston on the first flight out Saturday 6/18.
 
After mediating through this unexpected turn of events, I flew to Houston for just 36 hours and delivered the shoot that was agreed to in the contract. Specifically, a 2 hour shoot with a CD of 25 hi resolution images + a webshow for the client to share at their will. The contract subsequently states that the studio has exclusive rights in all creative decision making, including what is published to the studio's social media sites. In fact, the studio takes such time and care of images, that nothing substandard is ever published to the web, since it would then reflect poor business choices on the studio's behalf. Candidly, it is not an industry standard to ever consult a client on what they think should be used to promote ones own business.

I am a natural light photographer and hardly ever use post production tools, such as Photoshop to alter one's look. I anticipate that cilents are seeking my services because they believe I am the expert. So when the client did not ask, but demanded, that I remove a number of images from my blog and replace them with the many the client had chosen instead, I consulted my lawyer. At that time the client also demanded that I renegotiate our Puerto Rico Anniversary Shoot to reflect two changes 1.) That my studio would allow the client to review all images before they were published to the studio's sites AND 2.) That I include a clause about being readily available for a 24 hour period based on what the client would deem appropriate shooting weather. I had previously assured the client in a previous email that I would be available to shoot during optimal weather, on the day of the schedule Anniversary shoot,  since I was traveling to Puerto Rico exclusively for said client. Again, if I was the hired expert these doubts would be non issues and my decision making would be trusted. 

The advice I received from my lawyer and several industry mentors was to not move forward with this partnership since the client and studio could not find a mutually agreeable solution. And as a concession, two images were indeed taken down from the blog as the client had originally requested. Though my business is young, I refuse to compromise my artistic integrity which I felt was what was being asked of me. Unfortunately, I too lost several hundred dollars since I had already come out of pocket for a majority of travel expenses to Puerto Rico. 

You can see the images for yourself here http://ilenesquiresphotography.blogspot.com/2011/06/mercer-arboretum-botanic-gardens.html; they are simply beautiful and that has been unanimous feedback from friends and fans in my network. There is nothing substandard, from both a creative and photographic perspective, about any of the images delivered to the client, including the images published to the web. As you know, this art form is extremely subjective. 

Lastly, a few words in my defense on the client's claim that I was insensitive to the client's teenage daughter's needs. I was an educator for nearly a decade. I have a Masters in Education and I was the Dean of Students at a start up charter school in the toughest NYC district before I made the career change to photography. Understanding people, and their needs, is what I've been trained to do. I highly doubt my credibility in lacking empathy or providing sub par customer service to clients. 99% of my clients would agree and you can see that here, http://www.yelp.com/biz/ilene-squires-photography-manhattan.