Expert: Tricia Scott-Sahler - 11/5/2009

Question
Dear Tricia, Recently My wife and I got married, and we hired a proffesional photographer to take or photos.  Naturally we signed a contract for the payment purposes, and thats all.  My problem is that she asked us if we would like our Picture in the local newspaper, The daily journal we said fine and gave her the names of the people in the wedding.  She went ahead and added her Phograhy business name at the bottom of the segment.  
Now, my real problem is, Is that she has continued to use our photo for advertising pruposes, showing our picture, the date of our wedding, and in big bold print underneath, Her business name, web address, and Phone number.  I want to know if this is legal, because we did not give her permission to do this, and I am thinking of sending her a bill for persnal use of our photo.  It makes me mad that she did not ask us to use it, and word has it that she used it in another local paper as well.  I have the add as proof.   Do you feel that I would be safe to pursue getting compensated for the use of our personal photo? And I feel that we signed a contract to take our pictures for our personal use. Not hers. Am I corresct?  I appreciate any response you might have for this.  Thank you..  Jamie Strong

Answer
Jamie,

I work in the commercial world, where using images taken for jobs in self promotion is the standard.  I asked a wedding photographer I know and he said that he has it written in his contract that he can use any images for self promotion use as this is their "product" and how they can show off what they do.  This could just be a case of miscommunication, since you allowed her to send it to the paper.  I think the best thing to do is to let her know you don't want her using your photos for her promotion.  I bet she'll respect your wishes.  

Tricia