joe_garrick

The real problem here is that the rights apparently weren't agreed to when the photos were taken. If you've been paid for a print and there was no rights agreement, it could be considered a "work for hire" and all rights would be owned by whoever paid for it. The agency is unlikely to buy that because they don't want to risk a lawsuit that could throw a wrench into the expensive production works for this book.

In any case, try to find another photographer that has worked with this agency and see what they arranged, keeping in mind that someone with an established reputation is going to get way bigger fees than someone without one.

White seamless paper will suffice for most straight portrait work, unless you really like that hand painted "old masters" look (you'd be amazed how many people do).

Of course, with a little DOF and lighting control, you can get by with nearly anything. A sheet or just a big, cheap chunk of heavy fabric will work so long as you can toss the background out of focus.

My advice is to get by with the bare minimum and spend the money you save on film.

CAUTION!

This entire thread just raises a huge red flag for me. Have you discussed exactly what photos are going to be done at this wedding, who will be there, etc., with the bride and groom? This is a (hopefully) once in a lifetime event for these people, and you should have a complete understanding with them - in advance - of specific photos you plan to take and when. You may like B&W, but do your friends want B&W wedding photos? Weddings are unpredictable, chaotic, and frequently completely irrational events, and these people will have specific expectations of what they'll want to see in their album when you're done. If you bring them wonderfully artistic work when it's all over but they didn't get a picture they wanted of the bride with the groom's stepmother's aunt from Cleveland, it's not going to be a success regardless of your talent. NOTE: You will probably be asked to shoot stupid wedding cliche photos. You'll think they are idiotic, the bride will say "oh that's sooooo sweet, can we do this?" You'll hate it, but you'll have to do it and tell her how wonderful and beautiful she's going to look in the picture. It's her day and I recommend that you don't argue artistic taste with her but rather just humor her and go on with your life. Shoot whatever artistic stuff you want, so long as you make sure you shoot what SHE wants. The groom may also have lame requests. Do those too and don't give him a hassle about it - most guys already have a hard enough time looking overly romantic in the company of their drinking buddies.

Assuming you work all of that out, be prepared with plenty of film and no less than two of any piece of equipment you might possibly have a need for, including camera bodies, lenses, flashes, etc. Double that for cables of any kind and for batteries. Things get dropped, lost, bent, and broken, and the happy couple isn't going to have any sympathy for YOU if your prized and expensive camera is dropped and they don't get THEIR pictures.

You will need to know, in advance of the big event, every possible photo setup you intend to use and plenty of them that you won't. You can't make this stuff up on the fly on the wedding day because the wedding party isn't going to give you time for it. If you get an hour to shoot 60 photos, praise your good luck.

You will need to be prepared to do all sorts of stuff that has nothing much to do with photography, including soothing the frayed nerves of the bride, telling groomsmen how to dress themselves, telling bridesmaids how to stand so that they don't look like they just got off a horse, keeping track of wandering ushers and relatives, making minor repairs to dresses, shirts, and floral boquets, and a long laundry list of other things you have probably never considered. If one of the groomsmen puts his flower on the wrong lapel, the bride will notice it in the photos, she probably won't like it, and it will be YOUR FAULT that it's wrong. Don't count on friendship to save you when things go wrong, especially if your friend is the groom. Few men have any concept at all how overwhelming and consuming an event a wedding is for a bride. Additionally, it's more difficult to do this work for people you know than for people you don't know. Even if you're competent, they'll treat you like a friend and ignore half of what you ask of them, rather than treating you like a person with a job to do.

Just to illustrate how strange things can get, here's a little story. I shot a wedding where the groom wore a white tux (and shoes) and the rest of the men wore black tuxes (and shoes). To amuse the bride, someone jokingly told her that her groom was going to wear one white shoe and one black shoe for the service. This light-hearted tension breaking one-liner sent the bride right straight over the edge. She went absolutely ballistic and had a ten minute temper tantrum. Once she calmed down enough to realize it was all a badly timed joke, she went into a ten minute crying fit. Once that was all over, another ten or fifteen minutes were required to repair the damage done to her makeup during the crying fit. In all, over a half hour of prime photo taking time was lost due to a stupid gag. I once saw a bride enter a five minute giggle fit in the middle of the service. I saw a videographer trip over a flower pedastal and send himself sprawling through the neatly posed wedding party during the vows. I've seen groomsmen pass out and I've seen a bridesmaid throw up during the service. I saw a moron with a camera and a big Metz flash on a bracket stand three rows back from the front of the church in the center of the aisle and fire that big flash off, blocking my view the entire time, until the minister calmly reminded everyone that no flash pictures were allowed during the service. Strange stuff can and will happen, so be prepared to deal with it.

Don't overlook one of the most annoying aspects of doing this, and that's that while everyone else will be enjoying themselves at your friend's wedding, you will be WORKING.

I'm not trying to scare you off from this job, but you really should know what you're getting into. For a couple of hours, you're going to be ringmaster in the biggest circus ever to happen in the lives of a couple of people.

Good luck!