What’s the worst excuse someone gave you not to work with you?
Written by duckrabbitI went to a client meeting recently where they told me the only problem with duckrabbit’s work was that it looked too good.
No shit.
I was kind of speechless. They wanted to hire us but they wanted our work to look a bit crapper so that people wouldn’t think they had been spunking money away on jazzy production.
I’m intrigued, what’s the crappest excuse you’ve ever had from someone not to work with you?
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.
Discussion (10 Comments)
Well, we just had a meeting with a bank to sell our future book as a business gifts. They told us our book looked awesome but were annoyed because the end users price was too low …
Should have an answer in March.
The worst for me, by a country mile, was the Russian cosmonaut training centre near Moscow. I had been trying for over a year to get into the place to take pictures. No photographer had been in the place for twenty years at the time. I had been writing, calling, faxing, emailing, showing work, calling, etc etc etc. I decided to hire someone to translate my request into russian. I was asking to just be able to observe, to not get in anyone’s way, to work quietly. That didn’t work, and all went really quiet. So, back to the emails, faxes, phone calls. Another 6 months passed. At last I got someone to explain. She told me, in a very angry way, that I was never going to be allowed into Star City because of my request, that it was rude and ridiculous. I was very confused. And then she let it slip. My translator ( who I have never seen again, funnily enough) had requested that I photograph the cosmonauts naked.
Can you imagine if they said yes without you realising. You turn up and they drop their shorts.
@ Dave: What a scoop if you got them naked. So Rolling Stone!
@ duckrabbit: What a bummer. But maybe worth asking them to show what style they like, their audience’s taste. It’s pretty common when doing brand consultation gig, I’m required to produce ‘dumbed down’ works. Especially to distinguish trade from consumer work. I had a meeting with a Saville Row tailor recently to produce a multimedia video piece. Was asked to avoid branding it like a high end brand, because it scares customers off. Ditto showing glossy high end work to ordinary clients, they think you’re too expensive! Drives me nuts.
They did and showed me a really, really bad participatory video. I think my question, ‘who actually wants to watch that?’ might have caused a few problems!
Oh dear. Is this an NGO? Sounds like they’re worried their audience think they’re splashing on quality. Quality communication shouldn’t be mistaken with luxury. There is a huge difference.
Not a true rejection of the kind you’re looking for but, a couple of years back I wanted to photograph Gateshead car park. The one featured in the film ‘Get Carter’ with Michael Caine.
Some background you’re welcome to skip…
A car park you say? For those who didn’t know. The car park was built in a Brutalist style of modernist architecture. Besides being made famous in the aforementioned film, it had a space on top for a restaurant and offered amazing views of Newcastle.
Trouble was the carpark/restaurant wasn’t made with the right concrete mix and was deemed structurally unsound, in addition, the restaurant at the top didn’t conform to health and safety standards. So it never actually opened and the car park started falling apart.
Since then, there were always calls to tear it down for being ugly, while others loved it for its beauty and appearance in Get Carter.
Anyway…
I sent a request to get above the seventh floor, anything above 7 was deemed unsafe for use but anything under was fair game. I wanted to photograph in there before they were due to demolish it. Due to health and safety i wasn’t allowed, even with an escort which I was happy to pay for the day. They said repeatedly the structure was unsound and wouldn’t support the weight of me and anybody accompanying me. They literally said the floor would fall from under me or I would fall down an existing hole
I was given written permission to photograph under the seventh floor, I took that offer so I could get there and plead my case in person, once officially at the guildhall and again informally with security staff inside the car park. Nobody budged and all of them parroted the same line quoting Health and Safety.
Months later there was a guardian article explaining how in the last few days of the car park before it was demolished, they opened up the top floors to the general public for the first time since they closed it. To say I felt sick was an understatement.
Great Get Carter Car Park story. I paid the security guard £20 for access all areas. I had a spare back in my pocket and 20 mins tops, but the winder jammed on my Blad so all 24 frames overlapped. If I’d known, you could have come with me. 🙂
The Trinity Centre car park (its Sunday name) was actually open as a car park for many decades. It was just the top floor restaurant/nightclub that never opened, and that was because the local jobsworths wouldn’t give it a fire certificate. You could get 1000 cars up there but not a fire engine, apparently. The suspicion is that there was a lot more than meets the eye, local gvt contracting was deeply corrupt, T Dan Smith era etc etc.
Matt Jones made some lovely work in the last days, and I have several undeveloped rolls of 35mm on the demolition. Someone might want to see them at some point so maybe I should print them.
http://brendaburrell.co.uk/GetCarter/ <- while it was still operational
I don’t have a great rejection story, just loads of people who commission and then don’t pay. That combined with a variety of thefts of equipment has all but finished my practice.
Brenda, its gone so far out here people don’t even bother giving you rejections anymore… They just don’t bother at all…