contract

Tips for Creating Your First Contract as a Wedding Photographer

Creating your first contract as a wedding photographer? My first tip is to hire a law professional to review your contract. While over a decade of experience in the wedding industry allows me to give you some tips based on my experience, a wedding photography contract is a legal document between you and your clients that outlines expectations, responsibilities, and deliverables.

Photographers, Beware THIS Type of Instagram Photo Rights Grab

Photographers, beware: if you're ever contacted by a big brand on Instagram or any other social network with a request to "share your photo," make sure you read the fine print of any terms you're shown. If you don't, you could easily be agreeing to give away unlimited usage of your work.

Wedding Photographer Asked for Refund Guarantee in Case of Divorce

You can't make this stuff up. Scrolling through Facebook last night, we ran across a screenshot of an email sent to Reddit user justinwheelon on June 4th. The couple, clearly planning ahead, asks if the photographer could add "a clause that guarantees us a refund should we ever get divorced."

How to Read a Licensing Contract as a Photographer

So you’ve spent years honing your photography skills, perfecting the art of puppy fashion photography. You’ve set up a website to share your marvelous work with the world, and one day you’re contacted by a corporation who wants to use one of your photos in its ad for doggie perfume. You’re thrilled; you’ve worked and hoped for this day!

A Simple, Fair, and Free-to-Use Wedding Photography Contract

Here’s a simple, fair, and free-to-use wedding photography contract that includes payment schedule, harassment, privacy, deliverables, and cancellations—in other words: everything you need in a professional service agreement—because Christmas!

Stock in Trade, or: Why It’s Important to Read Photo Modeling Contracts

As photographers in the United States, we hold the majority of power when it comes to our images. We automatically own the copyright to all photos we take, we are the ones who register our photos with the U.S. Copyright office, and we are the ones who license our images to clients, publications, and even the models in the photos.

That copyright, in addition to the model releases we obtain from our photographic subjects, allows us to have a substantial amount of control over what we can do with those photos. This can sometimes create a moral ambiguity as to how we decide to publish those photos, blurring the lines between what is right and what is ethical.

Taylor Swift’s Concert Photo Contract Changed to Be More Photographer-Friendly

Taylor Swift's concert photography contract recently came under fire for being overreaching and for threatening to destroy photographers' equipment, leading some publications to boycott the contract and obtain photos by other means.

It looks like change has resulted from the controversy: Taylor Swift's concert photo agreement has been revised to address concerns that were raised and to be friendlier toward photographers.

Woman in Viral NYC Catcalling Video Suing Creators for $500,000

When working with paid subjects in shoots, it's always important to have written contracts and signed releases to prove that you have permission to do what you wish with what you capture. Here's what can happen if you rely on verbal agreements...

Last year, a video of a woman being catcalled more than 100 times while walking around NYC for 10 hours went viral online, amassing over 40 million views. Now the woman is suing the creator of the video for $500,000, claiming that she never gave written permission for the video to be used before it was widely published and promoted.

Newspaper Sends Cartoonist to Foo Fighters Concert to Protest Photo Contract

The Washington City Paper recently decided to boycott the Foo Fighters' restrictive concert photo contract by buying photos from fans instead. Now a different paper is protesting that same contract in a much different way.

This past weekend, the Quebec newspaper Le Soleil decided to send a cartoon sketch artist to cover a Foo Fighters' concert instead of putting a photographer in the media area.

Newspaper Rejects Foo Fighters Photo Contract, Will Buy Fan Photos Instead

There's a revolution brewing in the world of concert photography. After photographer Jason Sheldon penned a viral open letter to speak out against Taylor Swift's concert photo contract, a major Irish newspaper decided to boycott photos at Swift's recent concert. Now a Washington newspaper has followed suit with another major player in the music industry: the Foo Fighters.

The Washington City Paper says it won't be sending a photographer to this weekend's Foo Fighter concert due to the fact that the band's contract "sucks." Instead, the paper hopes to buy photos directly from fans who attend the show.

Taylor Swift Photo Contract: Break Our Rules, and We Can Break Your Gear

Yesterday, photographer Jason Sheldon published an open letter to Taylor Swift, accusing the singer of being a hypocrite by accusing Apple of treating artists unfairly while herself handing out heavy-handed contracts for concert photographers to sign.

It turns out Sheldon's contract was a bit outdated: the latest version goes a step further by stating that photographers who violate the contract can have their gear destroyed on the spot.

The Importance of Contracts: Wedding Photog in a Dispute Over Album ‘Cover’ Charge

Update: There are new developments in this story. Please see below.

There's a dispute going on over in Texas that shows the importance of getting your contracts right as a photographer. A pair of Dallas newlyweds are going public with their disagreement with wedding photographer Andrea Polito over an album "cover" charge that Polito is asking for -- a charge that doesn't specifically show up in the contract.

Wedding Photographers Supposedly Using Fine Print to Sue Clients Over Bad Reviews

In the age of the Internet, with sites like Yelp often being the first stop for anybody looking for a service (say, photography) they've never used before, it's no surprise that pros are trying to keep their star ratings as high as possible.

What is surprising is the news that some photographers are keeping their reviews positive by threatening to sue anybody who writes something negative.

After Unflattering Viral Photos, Beyonce Now Banning Pro Photographers

How do you solve the problem of professional concert photographers snapping unflattering photos of you during your live shows? One way is to ban them completely, and that's exactly what Beyonce is doing with her latest concert tour. Policies like hers may be growing in popularity among artists who want to control their image, but the policy is still causing quite a hoopla.

A Collection of Free Sample Legal Forms for Photographers

If you're looking to make money from your photography, it's important to have the correct legal forms signed by the correct people, whether it's releases by models that pose for you or contracts with gallery owners who will sell your work. To get you started in figuring out what your contract needs to say, legal contract service Docracy offers samples of some of the most common and important legal forms that photographers use.