So, I just completed a shop with a new agency, and I have a question....

After completing my first shop with them, I was sent an e-mail stating that I had not timestamped my photos (I had actually timestamped the one taken from outside the location, but not the business card I was required to get as POV) and that the system had flagged my shop for review. I immediately sent an e-mail back to the person who sent the e-mail, explaining that I was sorry and had felt fairly certain I had uploaded the timestamped photos, but I could have been in error and was now sending them via e-mail, with every other timestamped photo I took on that shop. (There was a lot of glare in the parking area, so it was hard to get a good photo, but it did support my claim that I was there.) A few hours later, my contact wrote back to say that she was sorry if there was any confusion, that my shop was actually accepted, that I was given a warning/notice for future shops. My BS meter is going off at full blast.

According to my contact, the app I was using (APD Timestamp) would actually have removed the metadata/internal date stamp from the photo properties. I have worked with three other companies using this app, and this is the first time anybody has had an issue with my timestamping. Is what I was told accurate, and has anyone run into a similar problem before? I do have geo-tagging selected in my camera options, but a timestamp never seems to show up on the photo itself, so I am not sure if it is working properly. I am using an HTC One M8, if that makes any difference. Would appreciate any words of wisdom, especially since I only have experience with a few different companies and this has never been an issue until now.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2015 01:02AM by OceanGirl.

I can only speak in generalities as I'm not certain about the capabilities of APD timestamp.

Metadata/internal data refers to the information typically encoded with any computer file that includes when it was creates. You can't see it in the photo, but there is a way to display it - sorry I forgot how. Try right clicking on any photo or computer file for more information about the file. There also is a program or two that can extract that metadata to add a timestamp to a photo when it was taken without the timestamp.

It sounds to me like you did forget to timestamp the photos and instead of rejecting the photos, they looked for the metadata/internal data in the files to add it themselves and couldn't find it.

I suggest you discover how to have your camera timestamp the photos.