marnifinder

I am not at all in this business but what i would do is give the couples the pictures with an explanation of why they hadn't received them beforehand and ask them for a voluntary donation for your efforts with a suggested monetary sum to compensate you for the time and effort. You could even offer to post process the photos for a nominal fee. It would make you and them feel better, I think.

Thank you. I just keep thinking that if anyone had wedding pictures of mine that I had never had or seen... I would most definitely want them. They are not bringing anyone joy in my hard drive. Thanks for your response.

Get over it.

Her actions were more than an just being an "unprofessional jerk". What she did was a breach of contract and you could have sued her for lack of payment. Both you and her last 2 clients you shot for were damaged by her actions. I would not concern myself at all with any negative impact to the deadbeat who did not pay you, and at this point, I would simply send those 2 couples the images you have without any request for payment. The damage was done 3 years ago and it may make you feel better sending the images to be enjoyed by someone than leaving them on your hard drive.

I am over it. I guess I just thought the pictures should go to their rightful owners. And the best thing for me to do would be to give the couples the photos without any request for compensation.

Her actions were more than an just being an "unprofessional jerk". What she did was a breach of contract and you could have sued her for lack of payment. Both you and her last 2 clients you shot for were damaged by her actions. I would not concern myself at all with any negative impact to the deadbeat who did not pay you, and at this point, I would simply send those 2 couples the images you have without any request for payment. The damage was done 3 years ago and it may make you feel better sending the images to be enjoyed by someone than leaving them on your hard drive.

I think you're right. The best thing to do would be to get the photos to their rightful owners and cut my losses. I would much rather them get to enjoy the pictures instead of as you said just sitting around in my hard drive. Thanks... I guess the ethical thing to do is to just give them to the couples. Thanks... I needed that push.

Here is another one of the shots... It didn't upload in my first post above.

Hi. I have a quandary that I have been debating for quite some time. I was a second shooter for one particular photographer for over 6 weddings. She said she loved my work... yet she always had a reason for why she'd pay me the next time. I was naive enough to keep shooting for her until the 6th one. I realized she wasn't going to pay me. When I confronted her about this, she made up more excuses about shortage of funds. She had taken my raw files for all the previous weddings except for the last two I shot. She didn't even ask for them. I believe she thought she'd have to pay me in order to get the raw files. I am under the assumption that she told the clients that her second shooter ruined the photos that she took and cut her losses. It has now been 3 years later, and the file folders of 100's and 100's of great shots from these last two weddings haunt me. My question is.... would it be ethical of me to approach the two couples that didn't get my shots in order to sell them my shots at a very low rate? I would think that they would still want the pictures of their bridal party that I took and the countless candid shots of friends and family celebrating their special days at their receptions. I know I would have loved for a treasure-trove of shots to be unearthed from my wedding. But I guess ultimately, even though the photographer I shot for was a real unprofessional jerk to me, I still do not want to step on her toes. Thoughts? I have attached a shot as an example of my work from some of my weddings as a second shooter.....