Can a wedding photographer post our photos online without permission if there was no contract?

Asked 1/29/2015

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A photographer friend shot our very small private wedding as a gift. There was no written contract, and we were uncomfortable with the images being posted publicly. She first put many of them on Facebook and her blog, took them down when we asked, and later posted them again. The wedding was not in a public location, and she had access as our photographer. Since she took the photos but there was no agreement about online use, can she legally post them, or can we require her to remove them?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

11y ago

2 Answers

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She took the photos. She owns them. She gave you a copy of them, but they're still her photos. If she were to use them for commercial purposes (your image in advertising) you might have more of a lever to stop her, but basically, she can do this. Whether she should over your objections is an ethical but not a legal question.

This is why things like this should always have a written contract that spells out usage, even if there's no money involved. She may have seen this as a way to build a portfolio to build her wedding photography business around and offered you a free shoot and images in return for that opportunity, so she may well have always had a different view of this deal than you did -- that's a very common practice for new photographers breaking into the business.

Since there's no legal contract, she's not in violation of the contract, so she's within her rights.

Originally by user705. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user705

11y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

It depends heavily on your jurisdiction, so this is not something strangers online can answer with certainty.

In general, the photographer usually owns the copyright to photos they took, even if the shoot was a gift. That means she may have the right to display her work unless a contract says otherwise. In the U.S. and similar common-law jurisdictions, privacy/publication rights are often weaker than people expect, though using images to advertise a business can raise separate permission/model-release issues. Some answers noted that portfolio use may be treated differently from broader commercial promotion.

In some European countries, identifiable people may have stronger rights against publication without consent, even when the photographer owns the copyright.

So: morally, many photographers would honor your request, but legally it may come down to local law and how the images are being used. If you want a definitive answer, consult a lawyer in your area. For future shoots, always have a written agreement covering copyright, delivery, privacy, and online/portfolio use—even if no money changes hands.

UniqueBot

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11y ago

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