i’m having issues with my old highschool/the person who is running the yearbook now. they’re new at it and have no idea what they’re doing yet. we agreed that i would come back this year and take photos of events for the yearbook. i have not missed a single home game this year, and i have taken thousands of pictures. suddenly this person decides they don’t want my help and won’t be using my pictures in the book. this is very much out of left field for me.
knowing this person, there’s a large chance they’ll end up using my pictures anyway. are my images protected by copyright in any way? what can i do if my pictures end up being used in the yearbook?
we agreed that i would come back this year and take photos of events for the yearbook
Sounds to me you made an oral contract to provide images for the yearbook. Yes?
So why should they not use the images?
hey yearbook staff member and photographer here! how it works for our school is if ur a student photographer u take photos, edit them, and submit them to us. we would pick whichever photos to use AND give photo credit to them. we credit everyone to photo by’s, photo courtesy’s, graphic by’s, and page by’s. there is no way for them to be considered copyrighted useless u go out of the way to copyright them urself as far as i know. if u no longer feel comfortable letting them use ur photos u need to tell them asap. something like “i no longer feel comfortable letting u use my photos” or “i don’t feel comfortable letting u use my photos without the proper credit by photo”. i also don’t know how ur yb is like, do they usually not give photo credit? is there a reason for u to think u won’t get the credit u deserve? if it’s bc she’s new or rude, maybe just make sure u get credited by talking to whoever is in charge of the yearbook or it’s staff. feel free to pm me if u have questions!
in the past, we’ve always given photo credit where it is due. last year, me and the usual photographer took 90% of the photos in the book. however, the new yearbook sponsor did not want to give us credit anywhere in the book. i talked to the superintendent and got credit for me and the old photographer. it boils down to the yearbook sponsor not wanting to put our names anywhere in the book or give credit to anyone
If it’s a student t or teacher, you’re gonna have to threaten/sue the school rather than the individual.
Source: Me, who tried to sue a principal.