Customer Requesting All RAW Files

I've had this customer for a few years. Peter used to phone, but over the last couple of years, it's been all via email. The jobs were not big, half a day here, a day there… Last spring he told me that he was leaving. I took him out for coffee and a nice cake.

Last month, September, I got a request from Hank, who took over Peter's job, to photograph…

He wanted:

• All the photos “taken”
• RAW and he hoped that I was using Nikon because their files are better
• All the photos had to also be processed
• All the photos had to be also converted to Black and White

He also mentioned that he expected my prices to be the same as before.

I flipped, I blew a gasket… How dares he? So I took my own advice and did absolutely nothing until the end of the day, when I calmed myself down and thought more about the situation. Something is wrong with this request.

1. This is not a standard request
2. When somebody makes an “unreasonable” (in my opinion) demand, there's almost always a reason. Either it's the way the person works or there's an ulterior motive.

After thinking the situation, I replied that:

1. I do not provide RAW photos. Providing the photos as RAW is the equivalent of providing a dictionary/lexicon with each email. RAW photos are only data streams that mean nothing without the processing. Nobody can actually view the RAW photos without some kind of processing.
2. If they wanted me to edit all the photos and also to convert all the photos to black and white, I will have to charge.

I didn't mention that I never provide all photos, not anymore that any reporter or writer would provide copies of all the edits including the final draft.

Obviously, I didn't get the job. After a few weeks and meeting with somebody else working there, it turned out the Hank brought in his cousin that is a part-time wedding photographer.