Photo 3 Kent Photography scam

Photo 3, the Kent photographer is becoming synonymous with the word 'scam'.

Photo 3 Solutions Scam #1

Offering digital storybook wedding photography services, but charging extortionate rates for digital rights. Most wedding photographers are paid for their time, and the client receives the ownership of their photos. Not so with Photo 3. Not only must you pay hundreds, or thousands, of pounds for a few hours work, but then you must pay again for the privelige of using the resulting photos for something as simple as a computer desktop background.

Photo 3 Solutions Scam #2

Offering Model Agency services. Photo 3 has another name: Model 3, which claims to be a legitimate modelling agency. However, there is no evidence that Model 3 finds the models on its 'books' any work or does anything except encourage young girls to get portfolio photos taken from - you guessed it - Photo 3.

Photo 3 Solutions Scam #3

Offering 'impartial advice'. One the one hand Photo 3 will tell you that if a competitor photographer is charging LESS than them, then it must be a SCAM, because it's simply not possible to offer those kinds of services so cheaply. On the other hand, and with no sense of irony, Photo 3 says that if competitors are charging MORE then them, then it must be a SCAM, because those prices are artificially high.

In actuality, different people will charge different prices based on their skill and equipment level. The only thing that's obvious to anyone with any exprience of amateur or professional photography is that Photo 3 is extremely overpriced and poor quality.

Photo 3 Solutions Scam Advice

Watch out for Photo 3 Solutions (also known as 'The Kent Wedding Photographer'), do a little research before choosing this 'photographer' for your wedding photos, modelling photos or portraits.

There are lots of great photographers in Kent, so make sure you choose one that is going to give you a good quality service, for a good price.

When choosing a photographer, the key things you want to take into account are price and quality. You want to get good quality work, but you want to get it at the best possible price.

Well, with Photo 3 Solutions, you're likely to get poor quality work at a high price.

If you shop around a bit and look at some of the other wedding photographers in Kent other than Photo 3 Solutions, you'll quickly see that the package Photo 3 Solutions offers are quite pricey and don't include very much at all.

Furthermore, if you browse through the image galleries of other wedding photographers in Kent, it's immediately obvious that the quality of the work of Photo 3 Solutions is just not up to scratch - in fact, there are plenty of amateur photographers who could do a better job.

Whether its composition, lighting or post production, Photo 3 Solutions work is laughably bad.

So, shop around and decide for yourself! Do you want to waste your money, or would you rather hire a professional?

Photo 3 Solutions Whistleblower Scam

Is Photo 3 Solutions a scam?

The company appears to have multiple websites, which do everything from offer studio photography to model photography, to being a model agency, to storybook wedding services, to blogging expert on all kinds of subjects.

Despite its many faces, Photo 3 Solutions appears to be run by a single person, who on his blog claims to be a whistleblower of fake modelling agency sites.

However, it only takes a little digging to find he offer his own modelling agency services, under the guise of Models 3. Is it possible that Photo 3 Solutions makes such a big noise about other modelling companies because he doesn't want people to look too closely at his own? Or perhaps he's just hoping to get more attention that way...

Maidstone Wedding Photography Model Release Scam

If you are choosing a wedding photographer in Maidstone, then watch out - make sure you know what you're doing when you sign a model release form.

What is a model release form?

By law, if a photographer, or anyone else, wishes to make photos public, for sale or promotion, then any people who are recognisable in them must give their consent in writing.

This is common practise for working models, who are being paid to be in the pictures, after all. But if you are looking for a wedding photographer, you are paying them for their time, not the other way round.

Why do I need to be careful?

If you sign a model release form as part of your contract, you're giving the photographer the right to display and print your photos for whatever they want, including money.

What can I do?

As a paying customer, you are not obliged to give your consent - so check the contract carefully, and if you don't want to sign away any your rights, make sure they cross out the model release section,

Otherwise you could see your photos used anywhere, for example on a blooper site, or making money in a brochure and you not seeing a penny.

The Kent Wedding Photographer Digital Copyright Scam

Beware! The Kent Wedding Photographer wants to keep your copyright!

The Kent Wedding Photographer (aka Andy James of Photo 3 Solutions) promotes himself as a specialist in digital storybook wedding photos in Kent. But there's something in the small print he doesn't want you to see...

What is copyright?

Copyright determines who 'owns' the rights to use photographs. That's not the prints themselves, but the creative property. Whoever has the copyright is allowed to use the images however they wish, and anybody who doesn't have the copyright has no rights to access, print or make digital copies of the photos.

Why do I care if the Kent Wedding Photographer wants to keep my copyright?

Firstly, because it means you don't have any rights when it comes to accessing your photos, and secondly because The Kent Wedding Photographer can do whatever he wants with them.

Let's take the first problem - you not having access to your photos. If a photographer turned up for free, took photos off his own back in the hopes that you might like some of them and pay for them afterwards, then it would be fair for them to own the copyright (although they would still need you and all your guests to sign a model release if he wanted to use them for anything). But in the case of most wedding photographers - including the Kent Wedding Photographer - you pay for their time. If you are paying for someone's time, then you are entitles to whatever they produce within that time. If you pay for their time and then have to pay extra for copyright, you're paying twice.

The second problem is slightly more sinister. As The Kent Wedding Photographer owns your photographs (and if you check the contract you'll find you've signed a model release as well), it means he can use them however he wishes. This may simply be to use as promotional material on his website and brochures, but is he wishes he can also sell the photos, use them on stock photo libraries, or even add the unflattering ones to blooper sites. And there's nothing you can do to stop it.

So, before you sign a contract with the Kent Wedding Photographer - or any wedding photographer for that matter - check carefully who owns the copyright, and also look out for a model release. You are not obliged to sign it - you can get them to cross it off.

Photo 3 Solutions wedding photographer website analysis

What does a wedding photographer's website say about them?

As with any business, the professionalism of a photographer's website reflects how professional that photographer is.

And it's pretty clear that Photo 3 Solutions take a DIY attitude to most things.

Photo 3 Solutions have several websites out there, as well as a blog, all with spidering layers of hundreds of pages, clearly built for search engines and not human visitors - who can spend hours going round in circles trying to find the information they're looking for.

It's also obvious that the website is home made, considering the poor, busy layout and lack of decent typesetting.

The final serious issue of all Photo 3 Solutions websites is the most damning. The complete lack of high quality photos in a portfolio. And that means high quality from two angles - firstly the skill of the photographer, secondly the resolution and quality of the image itself.

All professional photographers should have at least one clear portfolio, which showcases their work. The Photo 3 Solutions showcase is a cluster of badly lit, badly composed images with tacky, amateur post-production that usualyl consists of a cheesy soft lighting effect.

And Photo 3 Solutions appear to realise the poor quality of the wedding and portrait photographs on offer, because all of the images are so small, you can barely see them anyway.

If you're looking for a storybook digital wedding photographer in Kent, find someone better than Photo 3 Solutions!