AboutJohn Wilson Expertise Over 25 years specializing exclusively in professional wedding photography. I can answer most questions relating directly to wedding photography concerning the business, film, digital, traditional & digital labs, marketing, effects, pricing & packaging, shooting outdoors and in-studio with multiple flash, color management and creating magazine style wedding albums. I can't answer questions regarding other fields of photography. I am a full-time self-employed pro wedding photographer.
Experience About 25 years experience photographing weddings professionally. Past 3 years shooting digital exclusively.
Education/Credentials Going to photography seminars and reading all the wedding photography books I can find then applying the techniques and new styles I've learned with each wedding. You always need to grow and learn to keep up in this field. With each new wedding you photograph, you must challenge yourself to do better work than your previous wedding. You must always have the goal of making the wedding photographs for a bride & groom be the best photographs they have seen of any wedding.
Expert: John Wilson Date: 4/13/2008 Subject: Feel Jipped by friend
Question I got married a few years ago and asked my friend to be the photographer for my wedding as she had just finished/was finishing school and I wanted to give her a chance to get her foot in the door & some practice in wedding photography. There was never a contract, and I'm not worried about what she charged. What I am concerned about is now, a few years later she is refusing to sell me any more photos, sell me the copyrights, or allowing me to make copies of the proofs that I have. I have offered her a substantial amount of money (at least it is to me, up to $2000) for the copyright since she says I can't order more photos after the first year. She also refuses to respond since I questioned her about it. What can I do, as a client to get more pictures with out breaking the law & what are my rights in this situation?
Answer Hi Rebekah,
It is so sad that these situations and so many like them happen every year. Cherry and I are contacted every year by brides who hired photographers who didn't even shoot the wedding day even when there was a contract for various "reasons" that should not be. There really are consumer issues for brides to think about before hiring a photographer. I say all this because I have a Consumer Alert page on my website which speaks on many of these issues and I have found myself a target of slander by other photographers in the Nikonian Forum. One even criticized me for addressing consumer issues like this.
Now more directly answering your questions. Since there was no contract, did you ever sign a model release? If not, she has no legal authorization to ever use any photographs from your wedding as samples of her work. In fact, she should have paid you or compensated you with free photographs in exchange for you signing a model release. Assuming this is the case, the photos she made of your wedding is useless to her and if she doesn't want to sell you more images or provide copyright release, then you can tell her to stop using your pictures. If you see she is still using them, you will have to take her to court. Especially if she is publicly displaying images of you and anyone else from whom she never receiving written permission.
Hopefully this will make her more appreciative of the fact your gave her the HONOR of shooting your wedding and so maybe she will be more willing to make the compromise with you.
