The session...the result...

I spoke in my last blog about the Intellectual properties issue of writing, photography, general creation of tactile items. To make a long story short, my client that I photographed on Friday wanted a disk of all of his images. We hit a conversational impasse concerning who owned them ( the files ) as they are by law mine as the creator. Granted I had two hours of shoot time, some wait time as he was late, stuff happens...not the end of my world, and the time it took to download the images. I am amazed that , as an "author", he does not realize the copyright issue directly effects him. In our long conversation I asked him if it would be OK if I bought one of his books then made 100 copies for all of my friends cutting him out of the financial loop. If I printed his book on pink pages with a yellow and red cover altering his concept of how the book should be presented, would that be OK with him ?? I never got an answer...if he objected then how could he expect to receive the files ?  My main concern is NOT the money. The concerns belongs to the quality of the finished image. He takes the image to a processor, probably a drugstore, large discount chain, who knows......I will gaurentee that the finished prints will not be up to my standards. I just won't have that happen.

Another interesting point that came up in the conversation is his concept of loyalty. I spoke with the web design company that referred him to me and told them the course of events. I didn't feel that it was fair for him to have digital files in his possession that were a direct result of their reference, especially when he said, " I have not signed a contract with them, I may go with someone else or do it myself." If he had the files there is no telling who would end up finishing his web site, with great pictures, gained from a reference from a company that he may or may NOT use. Just to keep things simple I decided to cut my losses. I gave him his money back and showed him to the door. Life is just TOO short. Tomorrow will be a great day !