Question about contract holders rights to proofs

[jennisphoto]

I shot a wedding back in November where the groom's sister purchased the wedding photography package

as a gift to the new couple. I was made well aware during the day that the family of the groom was not

particularly inviting to the new bride. In fact I think they down right hated her. Long story short, the

sister was the one with whom I had contract with and had payed me for my services. When I finished the

proofs I sent two copies to her, one for her and the other to give to her brother and his new wife. This

week I recieved an email from the bride saying that she was a little disappointed because she thought that

I had taken many more photos then she recieved and that there were no candids at all included in her

proofs. I know for certain that their were candids and also about 400 proofs. I am guessing that the

sister decided to remove some of the photographs before passing on the CD.

 

Now I am in a bind. Who do I hold loyalty to? I know that it was the sister that ultimately payed for the

photography but I feel badly about the bride and groom not having access to all of their photos. If I do

however hand over all of the proofs to the bride and groom it may fuel an even larger feud between

families. Any suggestions would be excellent!!!

 

Thank you!

[jml]

Jenni, my initial response to this is that their feud isn't your problem. You've received payment for the job you did and thus your "contract" with the sister-in-law is finished. You are well within your rights to simply send a copy of the complete disk to the bride with your complements and without any discussion as to what may have happened to the missing pics. Otherwise your rep as a photographer may suffer unjustly and then you just may end up a casualty of their family feud. Perhaps others will have a different view and offer alternative suggestions that will help you decide what course to take. I hope it all goes well for you!

[steinway60]

I would say, the 'family feud' is not your problem. Sis of groom may have footed the bill for the pics, but bottom line, the Wedding Day is all about the bride and groom. Right? Would it be out of the question to just send the Bride and Groom the complete CD directly? I feel kind of sorry for her, personally.

[jana w.]

What about sending the B&G a watermarked low-resolution CD of all the pics you sent to the sister? If they want home-rights use to the images tell them they can fork out cash themselves (if you didn't give the sister exclusive rights, that is). I would tell them that even though it was thier wedding, the sister is the one who paid and signed for the wedding. Any problems that arise after delivering what you promised, it is not your problem! Now if you wanted to be nice, throw in the watermarked, low-res CD to the B&G but of course, you are under no obligation.

[l_e]

I would imagine you retained some sort of copyright to the images of the wedding. If you have completed your obligation to the contracted party then you can do whatever you wish with the images.

 

I don't know how giving a complete DVD would create a larger feud. Just apologize for the mix up and deliver the complete DVD. I imagine charging the B&G for a low-res CD would make things worse and make you look bad.

[stephen dohring]

Check with the contract holder she might be planning some prints or an album surprise and she took out the best stuff?? - otherwise tell her the truth about your reputation and that the bride called. Why can't we all just tell the truth all the time? You should be able to call the contract holder and tell her what you told us.

 

If you went on the brides side worse case the sister is going to tell people "that dammn photographer gave her the pics I didn't want her to have!" That is not so bad as what the bride would say.

[craig_gillette]

Well, you might expect some print orders from the couple, you probably don't expect anything from sis? Unless things are really unusually contracted, you still hold rights to the images and there is no reason why you can't burn a CD for the B&G? Do so - what's it going to take in time/effort versus what it might bring in? If nthing else, she gets images to consider.

[savagesax]

What Jena says, sent a low res CD. Offer her to come to the studio/house and pick out her order.

[buckry]

You may have been paid by one person, but the subject of the photographs is the bride and all loyalty should lie with her. Is the sister in-law picking out the enlargements for the bride? Is she choosing her favorites for the bride to hang in her house? Is she deciding what goes in the album? I hope the answer is no to all of those. By all means send the bride whatever she wants, the sister in-law should never have been a part of the proofing process in the first place. I have lots of people that pay for photography for the couple, but I would NEVER send the proofs directly to them.

[john_h.1]

"but the subject of the photographs is the bride and all loyalty should lie with her."

 

Nonsense.

 

Any duty a professional has here is to those they have a contract with. Even if every single image features only the bride. If it is not a violation of the contract to provide images to the bride then that's well and good. Then the images can be provided based on other factors such as those discussed above if desired. There is no duty of loyalty however. If that were the case, then third parties could magically alter contracts that people have entered in to at any time. A totally absurd concept.

 

For future reference...If a duty is to be conferred to a non-contracting bride, it should say so in the contract.

[ellis_vener_photography]

If you are going to deliver on CD or DVD use CD-R or DVD-R media. Never use CD-RW or DVD-RW. That will keep someone from fiddling with what you deliver.

 

In the meantime just burn another proof CD and deliver that. Don't get involved in a family squabble casue no matter who wins, you'll lose.