From: "HarrisVIII" <acphotREMOVE_THIS@gmail.com>

I would presume, that would be based upon the contract signed by the potential client.  For
example, a "cancellation fee" clause.

A google search for "photography contract" finds this clause:

"H. Cancellations
Cancellations and postponements: Client is responsible for payment of
all expenses incurred during the commission up to the time of
cancellation, plus 50% of creative fee. If notice of cancellation is
given less than two business days before shoot date, Client will be
charged 100% of the creative fee."

The whole contract can be seen at
http://www.johngress.com/info/contract.php

If this or something like it was not in your contract then you can only
reasonably expect the client to pay for work actually done. In this case
that would be 1 hour on site and any prep work you had to do. If your
contract includes provisions for offsite work, a general daily fee,
mileage reimbursement, etc. then you can charge for them too.

If your contract consists of only an hourly or daily fee then that is
all you can charge. You might look at the ASMP's model contracts for
future work. These kinds of charges can't be instituted retroactively.

The legal specifics depend on exactly what your "written
instructions" actually say.  For example, if it lists a
specific amount of work in terms of hours, product, or
money, and is a signed letter, then it would appear to
be a contract, and that you could literally sue them for
non-performance with an expectation of winning.

Of course if it is for $400 worth of work, a lawyer
would cost far more than that...  but if it is for
$40,000, you should obviously be seeking the
professional services of an attorney.

Assuming this is not a large enough dollar amount to
warrant an attorney...  you can bill them for time,
provide them with whatever product you have completed
(and bill them for it, whether they want it or not),
*and* you can also bill them a reasonable amount as a
cancellation fee.  What defines "reasonable" is a matter
of opinion, but certainly it cannot exceed the amount
that you would have billed if you had completed the job.
(Don't laugh...  it is common in the industry that I
retired from, telecommunications, to write contracts for
services that include a very simple formula to pro-rate
a cancellation fee: it equals the percentage of
remaining contract!)

Note that unless your contract actually spells out each
part of the above, they can easily ignore your bill too!

And perhaps if you hit them with anything that they feel
is unreasonable, they might just do that.  With what
they think is a reasonable bill, they might just pay it
to keep you from sending it to a collection agency (an
action that should perhaps be very carefully made
obvious as a potential result of non-payment, but not
something you'd want to club them with either).

You probably should tread lightly to begin with, and
amoung other things find out why they cancelled.

Not a problem... You have a 2 hour charge so far plus  charge to meet
the new photographers.

BTW you may have done absolutely nothing wrong it is possibly whilst
client was talking about it to partner (either sense) or friend they
said my son/brother/nice does photography and will do a good job lets
use some we know as a favour to them.

Legally and reasonably are two different things.  However if you are
"reasonable" it will get you further than being legal in the first
instance.

As for "legally" you don't give any indication of where in the world you
are. The law varies. Are you here or somewhere foreign  like the US?

Depends on the contract. I would think you can charge for the couple of
hours (a half day) if it was a large project they have cancelled after
you have started a half day  (or a day ) is not unreasonable. I would
also change for your time to meet the new photographer (who I will bet
has some sort of relationship to the client)

Be reasonable. ... You will get a better deal that if you go in
"legally" with all guns blazing. You should get a better result. Also IF
you have to go legal you can show you were "reasonable" to start with
and it puts the others on the back foot to start with.

Finally GET YOUR CONTRACTS SORTED OUT BEFORE YOU START!

The answer depends upon where you and your former client are located.
Different states have different rules. From what you post there definitely
looks like there is some monies due you. But, remember there are multiple
sides to every story. As someone else posted, try to work things out
amicably. If they are stubborn, you may be able to go to a small claims
court. No legal fees, just state your case, the court will listen to both
sides and tends to do substantial justice. If you go that route, bring
everything you have relating to the issues and do your presentation on
point. The court is not interested in the  color of your tie when you made
the deal.

HTH

Personally I'd just drop it and move on if it is only a couple hours
invested.  Bummer, but no cost of consequence out of pocket, and it
wouldn't be worth the angst of collecting in a situation like this.

If you had a proper business instead of a micky mouse one, you would bill
the client accordingly and make this clear from step one.

Your (ex) client is taking the piss out of you, but it seems you don't have
the guts to take the piss back.

Send a bill for your time used already, this includes any post processing.

I have a clause in my contracts that covers cancellations and all of
the terms of the assignment are covered in the general contract,
including the period of time it will last.  I also get 50% up front,
which I retain if the contract is cancelled less than 72 hours before
I am to do the job unless certain conditions apply regarding things
that are not in the clients control.

If I am going to scout out a sight, I usually do that before the
contract is negotiated and it is simply a part of doing business.
However, if I do something at the direction of the clients over what
would be normal, or is not covered in the contract, I bill them for
that separately and immediately.  In your situation, not knowing what
the actual understanding was, you may have put in that shooting time
pro bono, as it were.  That is, if you didn't have an understanding
that you would be taking prelim shots and charging for that.

Some people will walk away from a situation like yours if it is
reasonably billable, but I am in business and I can't pragmatically
afford too.  I insist that clients meet their contractual obligations,
just like I work very hard to meet mine.  I don't get all mad about it
and start making threats, etc., but If I have to get legal, then I
will.  That's only happened once.

If you're an amateur (and I have great respect for amateurs) taking
pictures is a sideline for you.  Walking away is really a personal
decision and it may be best to chalk everything up to experience and
move on.  If you're just starting out as a pro, then you need to
really tighten up at least your policies and procedures in this area.

Vance

Vance

If he wants your preliminary shots he should pay for your hour.  If he wants
more of your time I would ask him to pay for it plus the time previously
spent.  It costs little to send out a bill or two to see if he pays it.  He
may be much more willing to pay if the amount is very fair.

Thanks for all the replies - there are reasons why this was a little bit
more of a relaxed agreement which I'll not go into now. It just gets
annoying when these things turn sour. I'm doing some other work
for the same organisation in a different department so I think I'll make
a reasonable charge for a few hours work, move on and chalk it up to
experience.

I hope my replacement is crap! :)