Gilad Wolfin - the Israeli test shoot photographer
Gilad Wolfin the test shoot photographer based in Israel claims to be an international photographer and Gilad Wolfin moves between test shoots in London and his family in Israel.We have heard mixed reports about Gilad Wolfin regarding the quality of his photography and professionalism.
Let us know if you have come across Gilad Wolfin.
Scam Report - February 2007
We have received the following report on what appears to be a classical test shoot scam!Gilad did a shoot, got paid £175 in cash upfront, emailed across a contact sheet with all the photos he took so that the model could pick and choose the ones she liked.
Gilad then retouched the chosen photos, but rather than giving them to the model, he now demanded an extra £240 for retouching and for prints that the model did not ask for!
Gilad basically makes a living out of demanding a hefty fee for each photo - something he keeps quite about before and during the test shoot.
"she didn't ask and therefor was not told...."
In this email, he says that unless he gets the extra £240, he won't hand over the photos so the model would be left with a useless contact sheet and £175 down:
On 24/01/07, gilad wolfin
good morning.
you have all images from the shoot on E mailing size (the size you want....)
please feel free to crop out of contact sheet as you wish....
thanks.
have a great day.
Gilad.
This sounds like blackmail to us!
This is Gilad Wolfin's official response:
This is an official response from Gilad Wolfin. MAKE SURE that it is posted FULLY this time, or you will be sued for slander!!!
The model booked a test shoot with me after hearing about my work from a mutual friend.
The shoot was done in and around the model's place in London. The fee was 175.
All went well and everybody was happy with the results.
*The model received the contact sheets in digital format (all pictures about 500 pixels on the long side) from me on the day of the shoot, and I was paid after the shoot.
The model was happy with the results and ordered 12 pictures from the shoot as follows (and I quote from her e-mail):
*Outside shot - b/w J22F1251 - please thin the stomach and back etc and make the nose and face look good.
Dress - colour - 1295, 1324 please help eye brow, 1311- please fix nose (looks v big, I think because I am always sniffing as cold?) 1328, please help underarm, stomach and superclean the face, overall cleaning and nose please 1357, 1351.
Glasses, 1394, please help even the lips as gloss is messy and look quite thin and erase arm creases etc.
Makeup - 1446, 1435,1442, 1446, 1394 all in b/w. Also, can you maybe move the makeup brush on 1446 which is on the ear as this is a better shot?.
*The work was done on the pictures and they were printed to portfolio size (10*12) and sent to London for collection. (I charge 10 pounds sterling per print and 10 for retouching, which is regular industry prices).
To say in The model's defence, she seemed to have been genuinely surprised that the pictures were printed and that there was a price tag to retouching and printing... and she wrote
The model: "As I explained in my previous email I have no use for prints as all of my work is direct and done over email. I didn't even know that you offered this service as when you were here you said that we would do everything online. Please can you just email over the pics in the highest resolution you have" (Why high res if you don't intend to print?)
I apologised for the misunderstanding and wrote: "the correct price for the work done on your behalf is 20 A PRINT
as you are unhappy with that you can have the pictures on disc as you request for 10 per picture.
the work that was done, was done on your request !!!!" (as it is clear from the pictures order, a lot of work on the pictures was requested and done!).
The model then wrote back through this website
explaining her point of view and demanding the retouched pictures in digital format with no additional payment.
While understanding her predicament, I in return explained to her why it will not be acceptable on my side in this letter:
"in the end of the day you never said NO PRINTS
since the norm is prints!!! when you send me shots numbers you say you want..., its fair for me to assume that is what you want.
since you are unhappy
it is very fair that I give you what you want for 50% of what you should have paid for it.
it is very fair that my costs of printing for you and the fedx charges are at the least covered.
I will not take the whole blame for: the misunderstanding on your part (50% is more then enough for my part in it...).
and you will not get cheaper rates then this for the type of work you requested on your shots, and you know it!!"
"everything is done over board always!!!"
Any way to make a long story a bit shorter,
the matter was finalised with the model's boyfriend this way:
I refered him to the local photo store to get a price qoute for a 10*12 print multiplay by 12 and thats that (not even covering my professional print labs charges mail costs and the time that was spent on getting the model to look the way she wanted (retouched to perfection...)
Nothing like this has happened to me before or after this incident and i truly hope it never will...
It's put down to misunderstanding
which as ever, I try to avoid!!
From a model's point of view and to the audience of this web site: always assume you are being charged for everything if you hiring a profesional in any field!!.
To the site administrator:
You can completely remove this slanderous piece, or publish my response in full by the end of working day, Tuesday the 20/11/2007.
I take my work and art very seriously as you can see on my website: www.giladwolfin.com and this insinuation is ridiculous!!!
Otherwise, expect to be contacted by my soliciter.