Interesting that this thread has come up. I agree that the photographer
is giving their time and expertise, but also their reliability. It is
one thing for someone to get a crappy reproduction from a proof that
they hopefully paid for, and another for them to get the real thing.
I recently shot a project for a client. The results have been
published, and the contractor became familiar with the images through
this source. I still haven't found out who gave them to the contractor,
but a set of slide dupes showed up at the local lab with an order for
prints. As most professional labs do (especially if you have a good
relationship with them), they will require a copyright release on all
materials. As a prevention, I imprint my name, copyright date, and
current phone number just in case. This lab contacted me when they
tried to make prints before they did anything. I had the contractor
give me a call to purchase usage rights, to which he scoffed "but the
architect gave me these and....". It took some time to describe the
copyright protection, etc. but the idea and hassle of small claims court
was enough to convince him to pay (in my opinion) a small fee per image.
It is just incredible to think that something that will give them
business might actually cost something. It is also frustrating to think
that the usage fee was much less that the original shoot, and they were
choosing from work that was already produced, and not a "blind shoot".
I don't want to go on too much, but sticking to copyright, and proving
your professional worth always works out in the end.
Your contract could state that you work on an hourly basis,
and the results of your work, whether negatives or digital images, would
be handed to the customer at the end. Of course, this would not work
for a pro who owns his own darkroom, but it could work for someone who
always brings his negatives and/or memory cards to a pro lab for
printing. However, since I've never earned a dime for any photos, I
have no idea if this is practical.
Pete
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