Write Your Wedding Photography Wishes Into Your Photographer’s Contract

A couple in New York recently filed a lawsuit against the photography studio they hired to photograph their wedding. They allege the photographer captured images of the bride while she was undressed, and these photographs ended up online.

It’s not fair to the parties to debate the lawsuit until all facts emerge, so I will discuss a hypothetical situation.

A couple hires a photographer and signs his contract. The contract states he owns the copyright to every photograph, and it includes a model release, which allows the photographer to do pretty much anything he wants with the images.

These two sections are standard in every wedding contract. I don’t know any established photographer who would limit his use of the photographs. It’s necessary to own the photographs for album production, printing, and marketing purposes.

A few months later the wedding date arrives. The photographer shows up and begins shooting the bridal preparations The bride tells the photographer she’s not keen on the getting ready photographs. She explicitly tells him not to take photographs of her naked or wearing underwear.

He already has shot a few cheeky frames. They’re not explicit, but they are nothing the bride would want strangers seeing.

A normal photographer, like me, would immediately show these photographs to the bride on the camera’s LCD screen. I would delete them on the spot if directed. If not, I’d mark them using a camera function, and I’d pull them out when downloading the photographs. I do this regularly since some brides request boudoir-style getting ready pictures. I’ve never published any of them anywhere.

But what if the photographer turned out to be a scumbag? He owns the copyrights and has your model release. Can he publish the photographs on his blog? Can he use them in his portfolios? Can he license them to pin-up calendars?

The photographer would likely be acting in bad faith, and failing to perform the agreement, when his client, who paid him to do a job, directed him to execute a specific task. Owning the copyrights doesn’t matter. The photographer did not obey his client’s wishes about which photographs he should or should not attempt to capture. Capturing the right photographs is the reason couples hire a photographer in the first place.

You may ask your photographer to write restrictions into the contract limiting what he should and should not attempt to capture during the wedding day. Any reasonable photographer will do this for you. He won’t accept a page full of restrictions, but a few limitations would be fine. It’s your wedding. You can tell the guy what to photograph. This is very different from placing restrictions on the use of photographs that he might capture. Photographers are much less agreeable to usage limitations.

I recently had a couple tell me that they invited a celebrity friend to their wedding. The couple told me not to take any photographs of her. I agreed but noted that I would not be able to keep her out of photographs taken with a wide-angle lens. They understood that their restriction could limit the quality of the wedding photographs, so they asked me to try not to single her out in the pictures. I followed their direction, and they enjoyed their wedding photographs.

Copyright Rich Dutchman 2010. Article may be reprinted in its entirety with proper crediting to the author.

Rich Dutchman’s wedding photography offers the right balance between photojournalism and classic wedding elements. After ten years and 400 weddings, Rich has learned that every couple’s taste is different. He partners with his clients and creates imagery that exceeds their desires. Clients always receive high-resolution digital files of every photograph. Rich photographs weddings in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, and all destinations. You may reach him at www.RichDutchman.com.