Wedding client altered my contract

Jmm06

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Hey all, First post-timer and working my way up in the photography world here. I recently gave a wedding client my contract that addresses standard photography protections not just for myself, but also for my clients. The client altered several changes to my contract and sent me a 'revamped' one. Some of the terms she changed included copyright and model release. Original version in black. Altered version in red. What should I do? Sounds like a client I may need to turn down. Thanks for your input.
 
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Not a pro, but I would not sign an altered contract without adjusting the costs. They probably don't know what copyright really is, but If they want it, it would cost them thousands of dollars per photo.
 
Not a pro, but I would not sign an altered contract without adjusting the costs. They probably don't know what copyright really is, but If they want it, it would cost them thousands of dollars per photo.
I'd figured so but then she's a financial analyst which would make it hard for me to believe.
 
Find a new client. Posted that before I read the "contract"... is that your version? Or the client altered version? Either way, it's gobblety-gook!
 
Find a new client. Posted that before I read the "contract"... is that your version? Or the client altered version? Either way, it's gobblety-gook!
No worries. That's the client altered version that I posted above. Thank you for advice!
 
Your original seems well written; maybe a bit over-the-top as far as the model release portion, but not bad. The client clearly has no concept of copyright law. I would NOT get involved with him/her.
 
Tell them if they want copyright to the images you would gladly do so but the price will be more.

If they don't like it then tell them they will need to find a new photographer.

And next time don't send them a contract they can edit. Ether give them a printed document or a non editable PDF.
 
Your original seems well written; maybe a bit over-the-top as far as the model release portion, but not bad. The client clearly has no concept of copyright law. I would NOT get involved with him/her.
Thanks again for your advice. I greatly appreciate it. Sadly it sounds like the client would be a headache to deal with.
 
Tell them if they want copyright to the images you would gladly do so but the price will be more.

If they don't like it then tell them they will need to find a new photographer.

And next time don't send them a contract they can edit. Ether give them a printed document or a non editable PDF.
Maybe in the future when I gather more experience I'll discuss giving copyright to clients, but for now I'll pass. That's a great idea on the PDF - I don't know why I didn't do so. Thank you.
 
there are substantial areas of business in which making edits to contracts is standard practice. in fact the retail photography business is the only one i can think of offhand where certain vendors brush off the idea of editing a contract.

a pdf can be printed and marked up with a pen. don't rely on technology to solve what is ultimately a problem of local customs.

its clear that what the client wants is some form of leverage. they want some legal recourse which gives them somethign otehr than a refund in the event that you drop the ball and fail to deliver, which isn't a horrible idea. they're not going to get a chance to reshoot.

obvously you'll be told that this is an awful idea and you should just blow these losers off, but if you offered them the right to a complete cpy of your raw unedited files if AND ONLY IF you fail to deliver by such and such a date and after so and so procedures for recourse blah blah. this covers them if you drop dead before you can get the edits done, etc, and it's obviously all they're looking for.

if you wanted to get fancy you could drop a copy of the data in escrow the morning after the wedding, and pick it up after you complete your deliverables
 
Their changes to the copyright section make no sense. They want to hold copyright while you have to work on the images, but not have it once they have the digital copies! I'm sure they will freely use those digital files regardless of copyright.
They also are demanding ALL the images that alone would be enough for me to politely turn them down.
 

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