Hello, hoping to gain the perspective of some photographers!
We are getting married next year (UK) and currently speaking to photographers to capture our day. There is one who we’d love to move forward with, however in her contact she states that she owns the copyright to the photos and may use them for marketing / her social media after. This seems to be a standard clause across photographers. We can purchase the copyrights for an additional £2000 (fee for photography is already £1000).
This is an issue for us as I have escaped an abusive situation and the perpetrator still tries to harass me. If he knew how to find me today or what I was up to, it wouldn’t be safe for me. For this reason I don’t have instagram, facebook etc and I’m very hard to find online. It fills me with dread that my image may be posted online for marketing material.
I explained this to the photographer but she has reiterated that she owns the copyright and would try to contact us to ask if she wanted to use them, and that she likely will as she’s not got any of our venue in her portfolio. My concern is that if she ultimately owns the copyright can we ultimately refuse this? I’m not going to enjoy my wedding day knowing that she’s capturing my intimate moments and potentially publishing them somewhere online where I will be put at risk.
I respect the dynamics around copyright but I’m so disappointed that people who are in a vulnerable situation like mine either need to pay a fee of thousands of pounds to protect their safety, or just don’t hire a photographer?!
I’d love to find a way forward to work with my photographer, any advice is welcome.
Many thanks.
The photographer retaining the copyright does not prevent you from revoking your rights to not having the images publicly shared. This is a right in law to you as the commissioner of this photography for private purposes.
If she reduces this, after the fact, you can take her to court. You have the power here. Thankfully.
Here's the actual statute.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/85
I'm not licensed (or "licenced") to practice law in the UK and am no expert on laws there, but I would imagine based on my decade plus of general common law jurisdiction legal experience that you can probably grant that permission through contract - so signing a contract that allows for the photographer to publicize the photos means you might not be able to revoke permission afterwards. I would be interested in hearing if the right survived any contractual term to the contrary from a UK lawyer.