Increasingly, more photographers are adding a clause to their contracts stating them as the “official and exclusive” photographer and forbidding anyone from taking pictures. This restriction extends to family members and guests with small personal cameras. The reasons for this clause are two-fold: To make the photographer’s job easier since he/she does not have to deal with people ruining his shoots by misdirecting the photo subject’s attention away from him but also to limit people from making personal copies of his posed shots and photo opportunities lest he lose money on reprint orders.
Reject a clause with a total ban on anyone taking pictures but the photographer. Instead, an alternate clause to offer would be this one:
1. SERVICE COVERAGE: Under this contract, Photography by John Doe is the exclusive official stills photographer of the wedding event(s). Coverage shall begin one hour prior to the ceremony and be continuous through the specified hours of the contract. Simultaneous stills coverage by another contracted or professional photographer releases John Doe from this agreement.
This is the perfect alternative because it addresses only other contracted or professional photographers shooting the same event. There have been reports of the bride’s family hiring one photographer and the groom’s family hiring another photographer and then there are subsequent conflicts at the wedding as to who gets a better position to shoot the best angles, who does the posing, etc.
Comments on this entry are closed.