Cousin asking permission for image use

[lexxibeth]

Hubby and I finally had our wedding day last October. We had limited budget but for ease of life after marriage (my mother) we extend the invite to first cousins. Ie, I do not have any kind of relationship with this particular cousin I am posting about.

As per, once the day was done social media was inundated with lots of pics from those who had camera phones and had shared the day with us.

Last night my cousin messaged to ask permission to use a photo she had taken on the day as a portfolio cover picture for a photography business page she is launching.

Now, I have a couple of issues but can't tell if I'm being a hormonal grump (32wk 5d today) but hubby also feels her request is pretty cheeky. Here's why;

Ignorant and cold to both of us on the day, kept to one side despite efforts to approach her.

Did not have a camera with her on the day, only her phone - which I find bizarre that someone wanting to advertise a professional photography service would use camera phone photos.

She has not shared a single photo of our day so in all honesty I wasn't aware she had even taken any!

I also saw that she had already gone ahead and used the photo 3 hours before she messaged me and the quality is not great.

Lastly, I feel like the implication is that she took the photo at our wedding as a designated photographer. To me that's unfair to our actual photographer and also a bit of a liberty/false advertisement.

As I've said, hubby is of the same mind as me but there's this little chime on my ear telling me it's no skin off my nose and I should be more supportive of someone trying to launch a creative career!

Thoughts?

Thanks akkakk, feel like I'm banging my head against a wall with this one!

The people saying they wouldn’t want their photos online are being ridiculous. Every man & his dog have plastered them all over Facebook already reaching far more people than this one the cousin will.

lexxibeth. I’m sorry you felt she was ‘off’ on the day, but you don’t know what was going on in her life. She might have anxiety, be unwell, have just split up with her partner, all manner of things. She’d probably have been better not coming, but you know what family pressure is like.

If she’s just not a terribly nice person, her photography business won’t go far.

If she’s a nice person having a bad day, then you’ll be helping her out with no skin off your nose. If it’s not a great quality photo, so what? People who were there have their own (or bought) photos, why does some random person looking at her portfolio matter to you? If people assume she was the photographer on the day, so what? It’s people you don’t know & never will, or people you do know who will know she wasn’t.

You’re making way too much of this, say yes, feel good, get on with your life and enjoying the thought of the impending arrival but also making the most of the peace before they arrive! 😁

Yes, you're being grumpy. It's your cousin's photo (copyright) and she was being polite in asking you. BTW you can use a camera phone to get some great photos. She's starting a business, be generous. She's trying to build a portfolio.

That’s true about the contract with your actual photographer, you’d best have a look at that first. You could always contact them to get permission for this one cousin for this one shot, but I’m guessing you won’t be doing that. If it’s in your contract & you don’t want to ask for an exception then you have to say no, but atbkeastbit won’t be your decision I guess.

boilingstormyseas

You’re wrong.

Try reading the posts above yours by Olivia & akkakk

'Hi Cuz, sorry I didn't realise you'd taken any photos - we didn't seem able to really catch your attention at the wedding so nice to speak to you. I've seen that you've uploaded the picture anyway without waiting for permission so perhaps you could confirm whether you're intending to use it for actual advertising? I assume not as it's a pretty awful quality camera pic isn't it so probably not! - so if you just like having that reminder of our day then do keep the image by all means'

:)

This discussion leads to the point of seriously suggesting that OP should threaten to sue her cousin if the picture is used without permission. Wow, hard core. I guess that will prevent any future wedding photos being shared between them!

I wouldn't want my photo being used as an advert for her company. Privacy is very important to me, I wouldn't even want pictures of my wedding on social media as hate the idea of strangers making internal judgements a personal private event. If I wanted strangers to see my wedding I'd have invited them. Anybody who says that there's no copyright issue here is also wrong, she's making money off the image of them, it would be different if she wasn't making any money but she is. They have a right to ask for some kind of payment for their image use. Personally I'd tell her to bugger off.

I am a professional photographer and there are a lot of people on here who don't understand the legal position and should not be giving advice. Olivia Pope is correct.

People, there is a difference between editorial and advertising. Legally you do not need permission to use someone's image for editorial - i.e. in a magazine illustrating an article.

If you are using an image to promote your business however, that is advertising and you need to compensate the person in the image for that, whether you took the image (i.e. own the copyright) or not. Your relative would need to show that she has compensated you in some way (the amount can be nominal) and that you have signed a model release form permitting her to use your image to promote her business. This will protect herself from any claims from you in the future.

By asking to use an iPhone photo of you that she took as a guest, it sounds as if your relative is an amateur trying to pass herself off as a professional. This is very inconsiderate on her part. Wedding photography is incredible difficult and stressful and the photographer only has one chance to get it right. It is completely unfair of your relative to dupe couples into believing she can capture the essence of their day when she does not have the knowledge or experience to do so. I hope that when they look at her iPhone images, they will see through her pretence and choose another photographer.

It is also unwise. There are plenty of cases of angry couples who have sued 'so called' photographers after it all went wrong on the day. They are all over the Daily Mail. If you really want to be supportive, be honest with her. Let her know of the dangers of setting up her business in this way, and you want nothing to do with a business con that could cause upset to couples on their big day.

If you had a photographer on your day, perhaps you could offer instead to put her in touch with your photographer so that she could get some tips/ask for an internship that would set her off one the right road. It might soften the blow!

Good luck!