Should I be flattered that someone used my images?

[snyderman]

Backstory: I shot my local HS basketball team last season to work my way onto the football field this fall to shoot my HS football playing son and the team. At the end of basketball season, the basketball coach and A.D. got a 170 slide presentation from me.

Fast forward to today: 2009-2010 school calendar arrives in mail today. Distribution is to probably 4,000 homes (a guess) in my community. Two of my shots taken during basketball season were used in the calendar.

Not sure what to think of this. Should I be flattered that the school chose to use a couple of my shots, or should they have asked for permission? Honestly, I didn't charge a dime for shooting basketball but did it for the experience, to 'give something back,' and for the oppty to shoot football this season and next.

Please share your thoughts so I can put this in perspective. Thank you.

dave

[JulieNick]

They should have asked for permission first, but most people usually don't. Please say that you at least got credit for the photos they used.

[FlyingPhotog]

Depends on the arrangement you have with the School / Athletics Department.

Did you ever sign anything stating in Black and White that the School can use your work as they see fit?

[argyle]

I'd much rather be paid than flattered...

But since you wanted to "give back", let it go. Next time, at least have them credit you for the pictures.

[snyderman]

They should have asked for permission first, but most people usually don't. Please say that you at least got credit for the photos they used.

Not seeing any credit on the calendar for the 100 or so shots of students and student-activities.

And after further review, make that THREE of my pics made the calendar! ;)

dave

[snyderman]

Depends on the arrangement you have with the School / Athletics Department.

Did you ever sign anything stating in Black and White that the School can use your work as they see fit?


Signed nothing. My guess is that they took them off the Shutterfly website where the pics of the games were posted for the players, families and friends to view them.

No big deal. I didn't expect to make anything from the players or families. Just kind of a head-scratcher that the school would use them without consent or permission.

dave

[snyderman]

I'd much rather be paid than flattered...

But since you wanted to "give back", let it go. Next time, at least have them credit you for the pictures.

Exactly. It won't go any further. Was looking for some perspective from the more experienced here at POTN.

Guess they thought they were good enough for distribution. That's a good thing, I'd say.

dave

[jdlloyd67]

I had something similiar happen at my neice's high school. They used about a dozen of my shots, taken at a few of my neice's basketball games, throughout their yearbook. I was flattered more then anything but did talk to the teacher overseeing the year book production and asked her to please ask for my permission if they want to use images in the future. Turns out my neice had a friend on the yearbook staff and she gave her the pics to use. No biggie really.

[DennisW1]

Backstory: I shot my local HS basketball team last season to work my way onto the football field this fall to shoot my HS football playing son and the team. At the end of basketball season, the basketball coach and A.D. got a 170 slide presentation from me.

Fast forward to today: 2009-2010 school calendar arrives in mail today. Distribution is to probably 4,000 homes (a guess) in my community. Two of my shots taken during basketball season were used in the calendar.

Not sure what to think of this. Should I be flattered that the school chose to use a couple of my shots, or should they have asked for permission? Honestly, I didn't charge a dime for shooting basketball but did it for the experience, to 'give something back,' and for the oppty to shoot football this season and next.

Please share your thoughts so I can put this in perspective. Thank you.

dave

Do I understand correctly that you just gave the couch and a.d. the images? They might have well thought they were without any restriction if nothing was stated.
I guess at this point you might as well just be flattered that they liked your work enough to include it in the calendar. And since you've already admitted that you weren't looking for any compensation for the work then there's really nowhere else to go with this.
In the future if you want compensation for your work you will need to set the ground rules right from the start, but that's up to you.

[joedlh]

I think one must know one's client. Schools are run by people with education degrees, not law degrees and not business degrees. The students don't have any degrees at all. They and probably the non-teaching staff have little understanding of copyright law or property rights. My guess is that when it came time to put the calendar together, it was an informal effort by a committee of staff and students. They selected images from all sources. Most of them had no attribution. They probably mixed student efforts with parent efforts. If the photographers wanted credit, they probably wouldn't know where to start actually to find the photographers.

In this scenario, I would expect that I would not get a credit unless I put it on each image. Of course, you actually put them on a web site for all to see (and grab). If you feel exploited, then don't do that this year. If I were the person to whom you gave photos and you asked for a credit, I would tell you that I couldn't guarantee it and would you like them back.

[DStanic]

I would just feel good that they made it in the calender, I'm sure they just wanted people to enjoy it and didn't think about all the detailed logistics because it's a community thing and there are probably other people like you who also contributed and didn't get credit either.

I feel great when someone on facebook uses one of my shots as their profile pic, it doesn't say anywhere "taken by DStanic" but I feel great none the less.

[jgrussell]

Guess they thought they were good enough for distribution. That's a good thing, I'd say.And I'd use that right now to get the permission you want to shoot football this fall.

[crn3371]

And I'd use that right now to get the permission you want to shoot football this fall.

I agree. Use the fact that they published your shots as leverage to get on to the field for football season.