legal question...internship photos

[molsen]

I shot some pictures of bands at a concert Saturday night for my internship at the local newspaper. (Florida Times-Union/Jacksonville.com). The photo gallery from the concert went up on the website in the form of 600px pictures with no option to buy them. http://photos.jacksonville.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=476068 Apparently, the lead singer of one band really liked the pictures I took of him and e-mailed my supervisor, saying,

"I found the pics on the entertainment section. WOOOOOWWWW!!!! Can I have Matt's email address so I can send him a HUUUGE thank you? These pictures look AMAZING! Also, is there any way I can get a copy of them? Buy them or sign a release agreement? Something?"

I got the following e-mail from my supervisor today regarding that question:

"This is so great, Matt. You are going to be in high demand when you graduate! Can you make a disc of the pics for *** please."

What do I do here??? I honestly don't want to just GIVE my pictures away to a band that might use them for promotional or commercial purposes.

But, at the same time, I was able to get into the concert for free and snap the photos because of my internship....so I assume they have some sort of say over what I do with the photos. Or do they?

Basically, I'm really conflicted. I would like for the guy to have the pictures, but only if I can guarantee that he credits me if he uses them anywhere else. However, I don't know if I really have any sort of grounds to request this as I am just an intern.

What do you think?

 

[Big Mike]

Without any other agreement in place, you, as the photographer' own the rights to the photos you take.

On one hand, you don't want to give them away...but on the other hand, you are 'just an intern' and you might be better served by being the nice guy in this situation.

One option might be to just put your name right onto the photos.
Another option might be to give them the disk, but stipulate the right that you are giving them...'for personal use only'...or something like that.

 

[molsen]

thanks for the response....and good point.

all of my images' EXIF data contains my copyright info. anyways. I might just go ahead and give them to him and make an agreement through e-mail that they're for personal use, or to credit me wherever or however he uses them otherwise.

I think that would be fair. I'm certainly not implying I want to be paid for them....I just want to be credited, that's all.

 

[JIP]

You work for a newspaper any photos you take are THEIR property. You are welcome to deny them the images or claim copywright but I would not be surprised if the internship ended there or at least got a little rocky. If you go to any newspaper in the country and want to purchase an image you saw in the paper they will not give you the email address of the photographer they will sell you the image outright (if they do that).

 

[molsen]

You work for a newspaper any photos you take are THEIR property..

I know THAT...but whoever took the photo still gets the credit. giving credit where credit is due is different than buying the photo. same goes for stories in the paper. if someone wants to buy a copy of it, they buy it from the paper, of course. but the story still has to have the writer's name on it.

I told my supervisor I'd like for the band guy to credit me if he uses the photos and she said ok

 

[molsen]

Ok, I just spoke with the band guy. I told him I would put the images on a CD and he can do whatever he wants with them as long as he gives me credit for using them outside of personal use.

I don't think requesting credit for creative work I did is stepping out of bounds in any way.

 

[judson]

Just a quick legal opinion. Your photos probably fall under the work for hire rule of the Copyright law, so you do not have the copyright on them. You are receiving some type of compensation by the newspaper (school credit, I assume), which would trigger that provision.

 

[molsen]

Just a quick legal opinion. Your photos probably fall under the work for hire rule of the Copyright law, so you do not have the copyright on them. You are receiving some type of compensation by the newspaper (school credit, I assume), which would trigger that provision.

yea, you're probably right. i really should ask my supervisor about this. i know i cannot sell the photos i take as a result of my credentials with the newspaper....but what about photos i take under that but don't give to them to use? as in, they're good photos but don't meet the needs of my employer....

 

[molsen]

I spoke with one of my supervisors today about all of this. She said I'm free to do whatever I want with my photos as I own most the rights to them. I just can't make any money from them.

So I'm free to put them on other websites, use in a portfolio, give to other people, whatever. Just no profiting