Wedding photographer disappeared

1ipstick

Wonder if anyone can offer advice.

I got married nearly 5 years ago and went with a local wedding photographer in my parents' town (where the wedding was held). He gave us the spiel about how we could order prints at any time, years down the line, as long as we had the ref numbers of the photos we wanted.
Anyway, 5 years later and my mother in law would really like some of the photos printed - we have the full album and had ordered a few extra prints at the time for my mum.

The photographer operated out of a building that also has a hairdressing salon - my husband phoned up and asked to speak to the photographer and was given very short answers - basically no he wasn't there and no they wouldn't give his contact details over the phone. I asked my mum to drop in in person and she said they took her number and said they would pass it on to the photographer but she is highly dubious that she will hear from him - she said they seemed quite shifty and avoiding answering questions.

I'm pretty cross as part of the service we paid for was the ability to get re-prints whenever - as he has the photo negatives. We have tried taking the actual photos we have to get professionally scanned in and printed but nowhere will allow it as we don't hold the copyright - the photographer does.
What are our rights in this situation? Could it be argued that we've taken all reasonable steps to contact him and get photos printed without the copyright (unlikely I know)?

I'm extra cross at myself, as my husband & I organised every aspect of our wedding ourselves except for the photos, as my parents persuaded us it would be better to use a local guy and we didn't research anyone else - and this was against my better judgment as the pics weren't brilliant (I think they're fine but my husband is an expert in such things and was quite disappointed in them). I know it's also common now to get them on CD which would have solved our problems.

McKneff

I wouldnt waste any more time on it. You might hear from him or not.

Just get someone (a friend) to scan them into your computer and either print them or email to MIL and let her print them and then you dont have to worry about copyright.

Its really not worth getting cross about.

1ipstick

I've paid for a service I'm now being denied. I'm not asking whether or not I should get cross about it; as I said, I would like to know what my rights are.

Obviously I've considered scanning them in myself but we are after professional quality.

Edit: sorry, don't mean to sound snotty, just curious about what the legal situation is here as well as wondering what to do!

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Well maybe you should wait and see if he contacts you before you start shouting court etc

As for rights, right to compensation but good luck quanityfing any compensation from their breach of contract.

nell35

A lot of photographers will only keep negatives for a certain period of time - 5 years or so. Negatives take up a lot of space!!!
The guy might of retired, died or simply closed the business as it was no longer viable.
Give the guy a chance to get back to you.

I dont want to encourage breaking copyright laws but if you have tried all avenues of contacting him you can always get a friend to scan the pictures. 'professionally scanned' means they probably know how to work the scanner :rotfl:. Lots of places will use a normal scanner it might just be the settings they adjust - if you have a friend that can work one you'll probably find the results just as good.

trolox

I have to say that nell above gave so good advice. To all intense and purposes 5 years is more than a reasonable amount of time keep negatives (which being solid physical objects take up space (usually in a filing cabinet). However, the photographer has obviously worded their contract 'incorrectly' by stating that you could come back many years down the road - most clients I guess will not need reprints etc more than a year after the date, and I am guessing that it might be rare for someone to come along 5 years later anting photos.

As someone else posted, there is probably a good reason why they cannot be contacted - either gone under, retired or died - businesses are transient (especially these days) and believe it or not the photography game is actually quite difficult to make a decent living from (especially these days).

Your choices are:
a) track him/her down. Companies house would be a good place to start - you can see if they are still trading, have filked accounts etc. For a small fee oyu can also get contact details etc.
b) if they were a member of the SWPP or BIPP (2 proffesional bodies who wedding photogs can be mmebers of) then they might have some record of them.
c) as someone suggetsed get a friend to scan the prints and either email or print them.

Whilst I dont at all condone breaking copyright (and yes the photographer does own that - they created the image, therefore it is theirs, and they have essentiually licenced it to you by selling you prints), I personally would do (c) - the others are a lot more hassle than they are worth tbh (and this comes from a semi-pro photographer)
I am guessing since you can use the internet etc, you are reasonably computer savvy. In which case for the price it would likely cost you for reprints from the photographer, buy yourself a scanner (or an all in scanner/printer) - with some decent paper (I owuld recommend Ilford gallerie personally) you will be able to easily get good quality prints for the MIL - the scanners these days are easy to use and some simple software like The GIMP or Picassa (both free) will do any colour adjustment of the scans you need to do

1ipstick

Thanks everyone - some good tips.
Yes I had wondered at the time how you'd get your negatives if the photographer went under a bus... hadn't anticipated needing any more this far down the line tbh! It's just that he made such a big deal about always being able to get copies - it was quite a big part of his 'sell' - perhaps to try and compete with the people that were starting to put images on CD.