Rights to Photos

Hi everyone,

As some of you know, for a long time I believed that the clients should retain the rights to their photos at no cost to them. I have come to the conclusion though that this train of thinking does not protect the vast majority of my photos enough. As of Dec. 31, 2011 I will retain the rights to any photos taken during a session. Now I know your eyes are probably bugging right out of your head right now, but let me explain why.

Clients still retain the right to print their photos and use them for internet purposes. Those are yours and will always be yours.

I retain the rights so that I can legally go after someone who has stolen those photos and are claiming them as their own. I have come to find my photos on various other photographers' (I use the term loosely) sites and they were claiming them as their own. I have even seen the photos I have taken used by those people in contest. In order to be able to go after these people myself I have to retain the rights to the photos.

You can purchase the general rights to the photos if you want, but the rights you are given through our agreement are usually enough for the average person and average use.

I really do apologize if this causes trouble for you but as this little business of mine is growing there will have to be some changes.