Let me begin by saying that this post is not aimed at ANY particular client of mine, past, present or future. Its purpose is to EDUCATE and explain why certain expectations are in place.
I love to think that my clients choose me because they respect my skills, my knowledge and they value the service that I offer. Therefore, when I welcome them into my photography home studio in Exeter (yes, I welcomeyou into my home, my castle, my sacred safe space), I do everything to make you feel great. I do hope you will do a little bit too to make me feel great about the work that I do for you.
When you book a photo shoot with me:
You will receive all the support, advice and also some information about our photo shoot. I don’t like calling it a contract but in a nutshell yes, it is a contract. You are a client and I am a service provider hence by booking a photo shoot you are entering into a contract with me. It is only valid when we both uphold our parts of the terms. I will do my bit – prepare the set up, take photos on the day, edit them, deliver to you etc.
But there are some expectations that I wish my clients to follow and one of them is: „No phone photos in the studio, please”
„But it’s my child, I can take photos of them as I please”
Luckily, no one has ever said that to me but I gather some of you may be thinking that. As much as you, the legal guardian have every right to decide who takes images of your child and what happens with these photos, there are certain situations in which your right to photograph your own child is not granted.
At this point let me tell you a bit about COPYRIGHTS.
The law defines photographer as the CREATOR of the image and protects their rights. Whoever creates the image holds the rights for that creation and no one can print, reproduce, edit, sell etc. without creator’s consent. I wrote a whole blog post about copyrights – please have a peek here.
By creative process photographers understand: creative vision in their heads, planning of set up, providing props, guidance regarding posing, lighting set up, capture and post processing. That’s what it takes to create a photograph, pressing the shutter is just ONE stage of that process.
When you book a studio photo shoot with me that’s what I do before I welcome you into the session. I always spend time planning, shopping, setting up, etc. before the photo shoot and on the day. This is my investment which I make for you to create something unique and special for your baby. I then create images which you buy (remember when I said about contract? We are exchanging goods for money. I provide photography services in exchange for money. It sounds dry and impersonal, sorry about that, but in reality this is what it is. A transaction.)
When you take photos of your baby posed in MY creation you are in fact breaching copyrights. I planned it all, I spent time and money preparing it and all you do is come with your phone to snap it. You then look at the beautiful images that I prepared for you, that I spent hours editing and think: „Oh, I have that one already on my phone so what’s the point of buying?’ Instead of buying 20 gorgeous images that I created from scratch for you, you buy 3 as the rest is on your phone. I am sure I don’t have to say how that makes me feel.
One of my trainers, Tracy Wills, said that if my clients can take the same photo with their phone as I do with my camera then I should quit photography. And I agree with her. There is no chance phone photo can be compared to a professionally captured and edited image. Why would you plan all day, book and pay somone to take photos of your child to then leave with ones that are not even half as good as the professional ones? There are so many things that I can do with a photograph (clients call it 'photoshop magic’) – extend backdrops, remove bogeys, remove parent’s hands, legs, heads, swap faces, smooth skin etc. You are booking a photographer to do a bit of work for you so enjoy all they skills that they have to offer for you 🙂
And for evidence – a beautifully retouched image of baby Arwen and a phone snap of the set up. I have no doubts which one is likely to end up in a frame.
It’s all theoretical.
Phew. That was the hard part. I feel so so awkward having to write this. I am so lucky to work with people who respect me and my professional boundaries and are happy to stick to my guidelines. However, I dread the day when I see a client who simply chooses not to. I honestly do fear that. It gives me stomach ache thinking of the moment I have to tell my client to put their phone away and delete all the images they have taken. It is my worst nightmare to tell my clients that we are stopping now as they have breached the contract… Nobody likes confrontation and I am no different in this matter.
And I feel that I can avoid that by educating. And again that’s purely the purpose of this post. I am not pointing fingers at ANY CLIENT. Hand on heart. I am saying things out loud to make sure our time together is as great as it can be without any unnecessary disappointment or drama.
PLEASE NOTE it is an educational post, not aimed at ANY clients of Aga Kowalska Photography, past, present or future. The images chosen are for illustrative purpose and in no way suggest any wrong doing on these clients’ part.
THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR BEING AWESOME CLIENTS – Here’s to many many more beautiful photo shoots 🙂