What do I do now?

I never saw this coming. At my daughters graduation. I took pictures of a lot of it. To stay out of the Pro's way I was 60' to the rear and used my 70-200 at 200 to get the shots I wanted of my daughter and her friends. Even though other parents were right on his tail within a few feet.

Now they are all coming to me for the pictures. All willing to pay for it. Now I'm torn. I wasn't the official photographer, his shots aren't impressive. Mine are better. Better images, better noise control, etc. He shot Nikon, I used my 5D.

Point is, I'm encroaching on his business. He's an old timer, who still shots traditional stuff. I checked his website and he's old school.

What do you think of my situation?

If he has a contract you need to respect that.

How do the other families know about your images? Did you post them somewhere?

The other families know because they saw my daughters and asked about them. Yes they are posted. I'm wondering if I should remove them?

I dont think you need to remove them unless photography wasn't allowed. If you want to make $$ then make a proposal to the school. There are many situations where the pro isnt the BEST taking pictures at the event - however it is their business and there is much more to it than taking the pictures.

if you sell them you may run into issues. If you give them away you'll be doing people a favour. I'd take the favour over the potential trouble, especially since any money made would be pretty small.

Ditto - with Tim on this one also. Take the high road, be a good guy, the money would likely be meager and not worth the potential aggravation.

tim wrote in post #5824047
if you sell them you may run into issues. If you give them away you'll be doing people a favour. I'd take the favour over the potential trouble, especially since any money made would be pretty small.

I'd be a little careful doing this also, depends on how close to home the school is, and the photographer who's job it was to take the photos. And how many people you have images of. If it is just close friends/families then no problem, if it is half or more of the graduates then there could be issues.

tim wrote in post #5824047
if you sell them you may run into issues. If you give them away you'll be doing people a favour. I'd take the favour over the potential trouble, especially since any money made would be pretty small.

Yeap! your all right! I'm just going to allow people to snag them off the site. If I upload pics good enough for 5x7, everyone should be happy. The pro is selling 8x10's.

take the high road and give them away 5X7s would be great

One other option would be to contact the Pro and see if you can work a deal through him. Otherwise I think you have the best solution.

I take pictures even if there is a pro. None of my son's friends had any good pictures at the graduation. My son's photo from the pro was decent so I bought it for $28 for an 8x10. I was not able to sit near the front, so I had my 85 1.8 in the top seats. My pictures of the friends were terrible, but still, better than the pro. Sad, isn't it. I gave the parents pictures, no cost. I always buy the school pictures even if they are stupid and I could have done it for free. I still complain about it and show what I can do so they know the pro needs some guidance, which I offer without issues. They know I am a teacher and a photographer.

In this case, just give them away and say, "Happy Graduation" on them and you're good. I, as a pro, would not feel badly. Maybe I'll work harder. And if he/she does take offense, too bad. No money exchanging hands here and he/she should be doing a better job.