Unprofessional Behaviour

I abhor "unprofessionalism" in any field, but it particularly irks me when I encounter it in my own realm.

I was recently contacted by an Italian computer game company. The approach was evidently generated by my website, which (I hope) makes clear my own level of professionalism. The company announced that they were making a car rally simulation game, for which they needed a large number of images of the 9 "special stages" of the 2009 Vodafone Rally de Portugal which had recently taken place here in the Algarve. The attached documents went into great detail about the number and nature of the images required. It was also indicated that the assigment had to be completed by the end of August, about 6 weeks from the date of the approach. The heading on this "request for quotation" specified "Professional Photographer Required".

Naturally I took the request very seriously. I drove to one of the special stages to assess the technical and logistical difficulties. Back at the office I constructed various lists and spreadsheets to break the work down into logical units, estimate as accurately as possible the time and resources required and so on. I then wrote an extensive, detailed proposal and quoted my price for execution. In all I burned two working days on the reconnaissance and writing the proposal.

Some highlights of the job: 180 kilometres of dirt tracks over varying terrain to be documented extensively, including every surface change, every significant "object" along the route (bushes, tress, rock formations, buildings, etc) and many hundreds of 360º degree panoramas. In all, I estimated around 36,00o images and a full month of work for myself and two assistants. And all this in the 40ºC heat of that area and with fine talc-like dust waiting to kill my camera equipment. Without doubt a brutal task with a very short deadline and at very short notice.

Naturally I quoted a "substantial" figure for the work: any working professional photographer being asked at short notice to block out a month of the calendar and execute this gargantuan task should and would have done the same.

Some days after sending my proposal and having received no response, I telephoned the company in Italy. I was told that the job had been awarded to a "photographer" would had quoted €1,800 (about US$2500) - well less than one tenth of my quote. Doing my best to keep my anger at bay, I pointed out to them that no professional would ever agree to that much work for such a ludicrously low sum, that by definition it indicated that the "photographer" was an out-of-work wannabe with a Canon Digital Rebel and that if that's what they wanted then they should not have asked any serious professionals to quote. Oh no, I was told: he's said he can do the job in one week!

Furious, I ended the conversation and composed an email to them. In it I pointed out that if either they or the so-called "photographer" had actually thought about it, one week was a physical impossibility since it would take take five days (allowing for suitable light conditions) just to drive at 10km/h from one end of the course to the other once, without even stopping to take any pictures!

Well, it wasn't surprising that I received no response to that email. So here's an open statement:

To the owners, directors and employees of Milestone S.r.l. of Milan, Italy...

If you need the services of any professional in any field, it is a simple courtesy to properly research that field, to respect the time and resources of working professionals and to treat those professionals in the way you would like to be treated yourselves.



In my case (and therefore, I suspect, in many other cases) you acted unprofessionally, wasted the time of a busy professional and did not even have the decency to issue a simple apology subsequently.