Expert: Dan Pepper - 1/4/2009

Question
QUESTION: I was modeling for a photoshoot and was seduced by the photographer. We had sex in his room and when I got home I started thinking about it. I remembered (only too late) that there was a webcam pointed towards the bed and when I went through some of my photos where he had given me a hat to wear it said "wicked pictures.com" on it. I looked it up and it's a porn site. The photo shoot was in LA and the studio for wicked pictures isn't too far from there (or so I've been told). I'm pretty sure at this point that I was tricked into making a porn and i'm not sure what I should do or how I should go about seeing if I was actually tricked or not. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

ANSWER: Laura,

Did you sign any sort of model release or other agreement with the photographer?  This may give you some contact and other information that describes what rights you, and the photographer, have.

It is also probably a good idea to send a cease and desist letter to both the photographer and to Wicked regarding the content that may have been shot, as it would procured under false pretenses.  I can help you with this if you'd like.

Feel free to contact me through www.adultwebsitelawyer.com if you'd like to discuss.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your response. You have no idea how much I appreciate your help right now.

Yes, I signed a release form but it said nothing about having rights to any naked images of me. Don't they have to specify in a release form if they're going to use that sort of thing in order for it to be legal? I don't want to over-react though if he didn't actually video us because I'm not 100% sure the webcam was turned on. Is there any way I could check on wether or not I was actually tricked or not? If not then how do I go about writing to wicked and how will they know which one of their videos had me in it?

Answer
Laura,

Yes, a release form ordinarily needs to be very specific about the types of authorized use.

There is probably no way to know for sure if the webcam was turned on, but I imagine you'd rather not way until your images appear on a website somewhere.  My strong suggestion would be to get in front of this now to protect yourself.

By writing Wicked (and this photographer) you can help ensure you're protected, and sending a photo of yourself, along with other details of the shoot can help identify yourself.  Because Wicked may not be aware of the written arrangement between yourself and this photographer, you'd want to assert your legal claims preventing Wicked from using your images.