Re: Portrait photos imported into avid are stretched - how to avoid?

You could run the pics through PS before importing them.

Create a new doc using the NTSC D1 Widescreen square pixel preset.
Drop in your pics, scale down and reframe if necessary.

When importing to the Avid use "scale to fit" in the import settings.
This will convert the pixel dimensions from 864 x 486 (square pixels) to 720 x 486 (non-square pixels).

Alternatively, you could scale the widescreen image to 720 x 486 in PS before saving the file. And then use the maintain setting in the Avid import settings. Some argue that PS does a better job of scaling an image. I think it's subjective. Either workflow will result in a proper anamorphic image.

In addition to dealing with the mismatched par's, passing the images through PS is also good for cleaning up of the images. In the long run it will save you time in the edit.

I'm not going to say that you deserved to get beat up by your client, but I will say what leaves your shop is your responsibility. The problem with photos and aspect ratios is that sometimes it can be difficult to spot errors in aspect ratios. A perfectly round logo that turns into an egg on the montior is easy to spot. A photo of Bob in accounting isn't quite as easy. You don't know Bob - is he fat or skinny? Of course your clients know Bob very well. They know he's been on the South beach diet for months and is in fact skinny - except of course on the video they just received.