We screwed up
I don’t remember where it was, but years ago I heard someone say that most people are more likely to return to a restaurant that messed up their order but apologized and made it right than a restaurant that got their order right the first time. Correcting a mistake is one of the purest ways to gain trust with someone: it says, “even when things go wrong I will work hard to make them right.”
That’s the approach we have with our photo studio. We’re not perfect, and we don’t trust anyone who claims they are. Everyone makes mistakes, and we’re the first to admit it when we make one here.
So this is the story of a recent mistake we made. One that resulted in the first reshoot we’ve undertaken in years.
We’ve been a longtime member of Chicago Loop Alliance, which, if you’ve been living under a rock with a volleyball you’ve named Wintson and haven’t heard of them, represents the Chicago Loop as a central business district and connects Loop-based businesses, creates events and programming in the Loop, and promotes the Loop as a premier destination for both locals and visitors. And they’ve been a longtime client of ours: we’ve photographed some of their events, taken portraits for their honorees, and we take new headshots for all their staff and board members every year.
They also promote our business through their channels and connect us with awesome partners, and darn it we just love them so much. Which is why we were so hurt and ashamed of ourselves for royally screwing up a recent photo shoot we had with them. They were heartbroken. We were heartbroken. Actual tears were shed.
If you’ve ever hired a service-based business for anything you know those tears and have likely shed them yourself. You’ve felt that pain the last time a plate of overcooked pork chops was set down in front of you, or when the cable dude put a hole in your wall, or when your hairstylist thought you said “crew cut” when you actually said “just a trim.”
We didn’t want that feeling to be the feeling CLA has every time they see our logo for the rest of our lives. We wanted both our teams to keep the warm fuzzies we have for each other. So the owner and the Operations Manager met internally, put each step of the process for the shoot under the microscope, and analyzed what went wrong.
Act 1: The Scope
CLA needed a new look for their photos with an image of the Loop in the background. It was February so an outdoor photoshoot was not going to happen. But no biggie at all! We have the power of green screen. The plan was to take everyone’s photos in front of a green screen, and insert an image behind them. Easy peasy: we’ve done it thousands of times.
Act 2: The First Problem
We recommended choosing an urban background from our own library that gives them the look they’re going for. BUT we didn’t do a good job of explaining why. To make a green screen look as seamless as possible and not too… well… like it was taken in front of a green screen… the background should have a little bit of a graduated bokeh (or out of focus areas in the photo), and the lighting should reflect the surroundings so the subject is connected to the background.
The client wasn’t digging any of our background options and wanted to use their own. They had a library of photos of the Loop and selected one for us to use. We had our reservations on using the background, but we didn’t speak up. We also didn’t do a good job of helping them select a better background from our own library up front, and could have sent them some narrowed down options instead of the whole library to choose from.
Act 3: It Only Gets Worse
On photoshoot day, the photographer was having an off day, which happens to us all now and then. Their posing and coaching was flat. The room was small and it was hard to light the green screen properly without getting that dreaded green spill onto the subjects’ shoulders. The photos came back like this:
Act 4: Redemption
We got on the phone with our client and the first words out of our mouths were MEA CULPA. This was our fault. We identified each step in the series of cascading mistakes that were made and have outlined new internal procedures we’ll use in the future to prevent them from happening again. We asked CLA to give us another chance, at no charge, to implement our solutions, and they graciously accepted.
The solution was to have each person come into our studio individually, which was less stressful than having to bring everyone into the office on the same day again, and retake their photos here. This time, we used a white screen instead of green, and a photo from our own library as the background.
What we learned
We’re midwesterners so our favorite dessert is humble pie. It’s hard to toot our own horn, and it’s even harder to live with a mistake. What we can do, and what we personally think we all should strive to do, is rewrite the history of past mistakes with a present and future that makes them right. Making mistakes and correcting them is how we all learn, grow, and thrive.
What we didn’t expect out of the process was to feel pride when it was done. We’re proud of how we took responsibility for our work, and we learned that it means embracing the bad photos and not just the good ones. We don’t turn away from them and pretend they never happened. After we hit the “delete” button, we must click that shutter button again and take a better photo than before.
We wanted to send a special thank you to CLA for continuing to trust us, and for letting us tell this story. Also we can’t wait for Sundays on State! Everyone mark your calendars for June 16th and July 14th!