Hi! I am a very new photographer and posted on a local mom’s group promoting free photos so I can practice using my camera and photoshop. I had a really great response and scheduled a lot of them over the next few weeks.

Well tonight, I had 2 scheduled. They both confirmed our session and asked if they could do a little earlier, fine by me! The first family was scheduled for 5. I showed up to my spot 15 minutes early to test the lighting, ect. 10 minutes before her session,she texts me that her toddler was not having it. She cancelled. Whatever, annoying but it’s fine cuz I have another family coming at 520. So I’m waiting and at 5:15 the second session client texted and said she’s running late, probably going to be there at 5:30. Okay, I’ve waited this long what’s 10 more minutes… Then at 5:35 she texted again saying “so sorry, we are still running late. Almost there!” I texted back at 5:45 and said “do you have an ETA?” She texted back 12 minutes (5:52 now!) later saying “we are 1 mile away.” But that point I was already driving off.

Now both of my clients are asking to reschedule. These were FREE sessions and I wasted over an hour of my night. For what?!

Is it rude to not let them reschedule a free shoot? I feel like I need to live up to my obligations to my clients but also, that was a lot of wasted time and it’s not cool! How do I politely let them know that I will not be rescheduling free sessions anymore?