What do you do when...

Candid Arts

Ok, so here is the scenario:

I shot my cousin's wedding for free...because she's family and doesn't have much money. With the agreement that all photos would be purchased through my site at a greatly reduced price (because she's family). For the wedding itself, my room mate and I both shot the wedding. She took the girls and the bride's family, and I took the guy's and the groom's family. (they didn't want to see each other before the ceremony, so we kept them all separate for as many of the shots as we could get).

Anyways, so my family (the bride's side) was all shot from my room mate, they are all buying the prints they want from my room mate's site, etc etc etc...

The groom's family (the side I shot) want just a cd of all the photos...for free. I told my cousin (again the bride) that I'm not giving the groom's family a cd of all the images for free, and told her to have them contact me about prices for cd's and what not. End result is this...

My family is purchasing all the photos they want, thus earning my room mate some money. The B&G are buying a cd for themselves with low-res files of all the photos.

So..."What do you do when" you find out that the B&G are now splitting the cost of the low-res cd with the groom's family and are just going to make a copy of the disk, thus the groom's family won't be purchasing any photos?

Can I put something in copy right that the disk cannot be copied and any copied photos cannot be printed up? How can I enforce that if I do? Should I tell the B&G (now that I know what the "plan" is) that the price of the cd just doubled? Should I just do it and get screwed and never do favors or work with family again?

cdonovan

WOW

I feel for you. What a difficult position to be in.

I guess my first question is were they confused with what your agreement was. No doubt they heard, "free" and didn't dream that there would be costs to actually have the photos.

With an equipment list that you carry, I can't imagine how they don't feel like they want to pay you, obviously they like the photos, or there'd be no interest to buy at all. I think if I were you, I'd be totally honest with the bride. Tell her how you feel, what your intention was when agreeing to shoot her wedding, and how it hurts that people are trying to screw you over for a deal. You are related, and something like this can ruin relationships. I think it's tacky that they are being so difficult let us know how it goes

Candid Arts

She knows that the agreement before I shot the wedding was that they were going to purchase any photos at a super discounted rate. So...that's known. They do like the photos (They being B&G and my side of the family). I haven't heard anything from the groom's family.

run_kmc

Candid Arts wrote:

Should I just do it and get screwed and never do favors or work with family again?

Unfortunately, this might be your best option.

ChatKat

Freinds and Family
Sorry to hear you are going to be on the losing end no matter what.

I type a letter to the Bride and Groom and have them sign it. I tell them what they can and can't do with the disk. I wait to deliver the disk too until the possibility of image sales will thin out.

I made a decision that if I shoot for free, then I can't dictate as much in the way of details. Every time I have done a free shoot there is more expected. And I have had some less favorable experiences with friends and family. So now when I shoot for free, I expect that it will be free - free of sales, free of expectation on my part.

Even if I have shot under contract, once the disk and files are gone so are your chances to make much. There isn't much you can do when you tell the bride that they are the only ones who can make prints for themselves and that even parents must purchase prints direct from you and they have a disk. I know there were two weddings I did this summer where they got a disk but parents promised to purchase from me. I got ZERO sales once the disk left my studio.

Ed911

I agree with Cat.

It's been my experience that you will have more problems shooting for free than if you charged an arm and a leg.

Sure, you can add copyright language to your CD. But, what's that worth with family...will you sue. As I understand your situation, just charge a minimal fee for the CD and forget it. If not, you run the chance of losing friends. And, in the long run...the small amount of money that you will have made won't be worth the problems that it will cause.

The wedding is about the bride...the pictures are about the bride...the money is about the bride...it's all about the bride. You shot the groom and his side of the family....from the start, you were on the losing end of the transaction. Secondly, since it was your wedding, how did you lose control of the images...apparently you intended that all of the images would be on your website...some how you didn't convey this to your roommate...

If your room mate has the brides images on her site, how is it that you expected and conveyed these expectations to the bride that all images would be purchased from your site?

Chalk it up to experience. Let it go...

bmoreshooter

It does appear that you have lost this one. So, why not just bite the bullet and provide them with the best you have to offer and hope that your good work and attitude will bring you some future jobs. When providing them with free work it's not wrong to ask them to advertise for you. I have to agree with others that if you accepted the grooms side to shoot you started out on the wrong foot. As every bride will tell you the wedding day is "ALL ABOUT ME" and that's where the money is. Try to look at it this way, the business lesson that you just learned would have cost you a fortune in a Business School, so your coming out ahead. Try to avoid family jobs at all cost. Your best bet here may have been to let your roommate book the job and just work for her for a minimal fee.

zoomer

It is not worth a few bucks to piss off your family.
Just do it however they want and write this one up to experience.
Don't shoot for your family and if you do....shoot if for free.

promoguy

Just a an aside from a noob on here. It seems that most problems with photo sessions that are listed are those with relatives. I am not a professional photographer, but I do have a decent business. If you're going to be doing business with relatives do as you would with other clients. If you're going to do them a favor because of their relationship as a relative and that includes grandmothers, than just do it and at the end of the day if there are misunderstandings than just suck it up. That's the way it is with relatives.

Qarik

zoomer wrote:

It is not worth a few bucks to piss off your family.
Just do it however they want and write this one up to experience.
Don't shoot for your family and if you do....shoot if for free.

+1

Candid Arts

Qarik wrote:

+1

That's what I told her.

Thanks everyone for your input.

angevin1

Qarik wrote:

+1

+2