Need opinions on next action to take...

[PhotoXopher]

Yes, actually I am really going to say no.

For what reason and what are your guidelines for accepting/denying people?

They're cute?
They're single?

 

[Chris Stegner]

First before you try to take any formal action you need to understand your rights in this - shooting for an organisation like a school or newspaper can end up with you revoking your rights to the images or the use of them during your time shooting.

Secondly you need to understand the limits on the internet site that the yearbook photos are uploaded to.

Thirdly you need to decide what your angle on all this is - just what is it you want out of it? And you also need to understand what reponce might come from various different routes you decide to take.

Personally I would simply be content enough with a simple attribution and a link to your online website (if you have one if not a flickr account works well) on the facebook profiles where people have uploaded your photos to. Possibly with some note being added to the online yearbook to tell people to perform this act in the future.

I doubt you will get any payment out of this nor will trying to charge for it stand you in good standing with the school nor your contemparies in the students. So that is a no deal line - though you might be able to charge for professional printing (since I assume the online images are only small websized versions and thus unsuitable for good quality prints). Of course this will all be based on both your agreement with the school and also the quality of the images you have produced - if they are good enough you might get sales.
Also going down that route you would have to consider who you pitch your sale to and for how much - pitching a sale of a sports team photo to parents (for example) is far more likley to sell for a higher amount than if you pitch to the students direct -- of course facebook/portrait images might sell more volume to students than to parents -- ahh things get all complicated now!

Thanks for the post. Good information in here.

Well last time I checked.. If I took the pictures I have the legal rights to the pictures.

Not always!

You're likely in a 'work for hire' situation if the school directs you and provides the gear you're using. If so, you don't own the images.

Check out www.copyright.gov .

If you're not yet 18 years old, your legal rights are somewhat limited.

FYI I am 18. So i take it they aren't as limited?

Anyways on topic, I talked with the teacher and he agrees with me. He doesn't think that the girls taking the pictures without asking permission is right at all. In the end we came up with the conclusion that anybody wanting to use my pictures for their own personal use and what not need to either ask me or him (I told him I would be fine with him granting them permission).

And I don't look for compensation, well anymore than I already am getting (school credit).

And my teacher said that technically if I am working as a freelance photographer and then providing the school with the work for yearbook. Well if the people are taking these photos without permission and uploading them to external websites then they are stealing school property. Just figured that would be some useful information.

Seems to me as the instructor said above, these are school property.

 

[KmH]

Well last time I checked.. If I took the pictures I have the legal rights to the pictures.

Not always!

You're likely in a 'work for hire' situation if the school directs you and provides the gear you're using. If so, you don't own the images.

Check out www.copyright.gov .

If you're not yet 18 years old, your legal rights are somewhat limited.

FYI I am 18. So i take it they aren't as limited?

Yep, in the eyes of the law you are now totally responsible for your actions and can no longer plead that you're not of legal age.

Be sure and read contracts before you sign them.

By the way, since you're a legal adult now, do you have a written agreement with the school?

You never did say who's camera gear you are using? The schools? Or your own? Do the tell you what to shoot and when to be there?

 

[Dominantly]

Oh man, to be back in HS again..

Do you have any examples of your work? I only ask to see if it's good stuff and worth getting all hyped up about.
Could you videotape yourself going up to the cheerleaders and telling them you want your photos back?

 

[JimmyO]

There just dumb school pictures for the year book, why would you care if some hot chicks were throwing them online, if anything I would be stoked. Now go try and get some ass!

 

[the iconic image]

Here's the bottom line and get used to going to it in any situation you ever find yourself in because in the end, the bottom line is all that matters and in time, you'll learn that and be telling the next kid going through this. Here it is: It just doesn't matter..

You are making a mountain out of an ingrown hair.. The day you get a photo of the plane going down in a ball of flames with people in the windows with looks of terror on their faces, or get commissioned to shoot backup to Annie Lebowitz on a John Travolta portrait where you've signed an agreement not to publish anything you shoot for a fee of $8500 for the day, THAT is when it will matter. You're a high school yearbook shooter.. No offense meant here at all, but get over yourself. 50 other kids would get daddy's point and shoot and be willing to do what you do for a hall pass.. Now you may have more talent, and take more care with what you do than what they would produce, but trust me, they will find 10 people willing to get something done for a butterfinger and a dr pepper.

I am inserting some humor here to lighten the mood (hopefully) but you need to express your feelings in a diplomatic way to whoever you feel needs to hear it, and then move on with your life. Think long and hard about whether or not you want to piss off anyone over this or make yourself look silly, BEFORE you decide to make an issue out of it and include in those thoughts the determination you make on if THIS is the fight you wanna take up.. Believe me, if you stay in photography long enough, you will have a situation at some point that will warrant this type of response, but by that time this situation you won't even remember.. Give it some thought before you do something you may regret..

 

[mostly sunny]

Bravo

I would have never gave a nats a$$ about this in HS. Then again.. I blew off the yearbook staff to hang out with boys... :blushing:

Here's the bottom line and get used to going to it in any situation you ever find yourself in because in the end, the bottom line is all that matters and in time, you'll learn that and be telling the next kid going through this. Here it is: It just doesn't matter..

You are making a mountain out of an ingrown hair.. The day you get a photo of the plane going down in a ball of flames with people in the windows with looks of terror on their faces, or get commissioned to shoot backup to Annie Lebowitz on a John Travolta portrait where you've signed an agreement not to publish anything you shoot for a fee of $8500 for the day, THAT is when it will matter. You're a high school yearbook shooter.. No offense meant here at all, but get over yourself. 50 other kids would get daddy's point and shoot and be willing to do what you do for a hall pass.. Now you may have more talent, and take more care with what you do than what they would produce, but trust me, they will find 10 people willing to get something done for a butterfinger and a dr pepper.

I am inserting some humor here to lighten the mood (hopefully) but you need to express your feelings in a diplomatic way to whoever you feel needs to hear it, and then move on with your life. Think long and hard about whether or not you want to piss off anyone over this or make yourself look silly, BEFORE you decide to make an issue out of it and include in those thoughts the determination you make on if THIS is the fight you wanna take up.. Believe me, if you stay in photography long enough, you will have a situation at some point that will warrant this type of response, but by that time this situation you won't even remember.. Give it some thought before you do something you may regret..

 

[Sinister_kid]

For everybody's info. The girls are far from attractive. So that ends that point of this.

And as far as a legal contract yes I have signed a contract with the school (which I read over very closely) and I am using the school's equipment.

I talked more with the instructor and he is quite upset with the girl in yearbook (also on the cheer squad) who has been handing out these photos, which are not only of the cheer team but also of others things to which i have recently found out.

This subject and matter are pretty much solved and over with.

 

[thoughtcryme]

OK.
So what you're saying is that the cheerleaders at your school are all butt ugly?
I find that hard to believe.
Maybe if the the entire school is a huge special ed class, maybe.
But even then, the law of averages alone makes that point moot.

It kinda sounds to me like you got some social hangups.
I would bet my right eye on the idea that you take yourself too seriously.
You'll regret that!

You should try to get one of those ugly ass cheerleaders to model for you on a private shoot.
Or start charging kids for custom facebook photos.

 

[Sinister_kid]

^Uh, the girl who was uploading the photos is farrr from cute. There are 2 cute girls on my school's cheer team.

 

[Joves]

Well Im guess the site for the yearbook is a site for a review of it. In which case you might also try to limit the size of the photos on the viewable site. Or adding the right click disable to it.

 

[tsaraleksi]

To speak from experience here, having photos people knew you took all over facebook is a fantastic marketing tool-- it makes you the first person people think of when they need some kind of photography work done. And I bet that their parents might like to buy prints of their kids.

More importantly, these girls would not be paying you for photos, even if you were offering for them to buy rights (b/c they're in HS!) and these photos are not salable beyond these girls/the school (ie they're not stock photos, etc).

But more importantly, lighten up.