What to do?

[KTowne]

I went November 17th for my maternity pictures with my son and DH, we won a free maternity session and a free newborn shoot, with free pictures from this photographer in town (she's a known and popular photographer), we asked about how long before we got the prints back, she said about a week to edit them, and she'd send them to me via email so that we could pick which ones we wanted printed. She also asked us if we felt comfortable with her posting our pictures on facebook, and since we aren't even ON facebook, I said no thank you, we just weren't comfortable with that (not to mention, she's a public photographer..anyone can look at our pictures on her profile), and didn't sign the paper allowing her to post them. Well a week after my pictures my SIL messages me and says I liked your maternity pictures! And I'm like what?? How did you see them already? And she said she posted 3 of them on facebook (before she asked, or messaged me about them first.. I hadn't even seen them yet) So I called her and asked her if she had finished them yet, and asked to remove the ones on facebook (thinking she forgot we didn't sign the paper), she hasn't called me back since, almost 3 weeks ago.. I called again yesterday to make an appt. for her newborn shoot (since we just got our c-section date, and her newborn pics have to be done before 14 days old), she still hasn't called me back, the pictures are STILL on facebook, and we haven't gotten our maternity pictures yet.. I'm debating not even going to her for newborn pictures now.. Not only is she posting them on facebook after I ask her not to, she's not responding to my calls, we still haven't even gotten our pictures from a month ago.. I don't know what to do! I'm getting very frustrated.. any input?!

[Des92]

I would be upset!  If she did that to the wrong person I am sure there is some amount of trouble she could get into due to her having a business and you declining her proposal to make them public.  If you don't want to go to those extremes I would just drive to her work place and confront her face to face.  I'm not saying go all crazy and have a cat fight lol, just tell you that you know she posted them even though you declined and ask her if she would delete them while you are there.  I would hate to miss a free picture shoot for something inconsiderate she did.  Let her know your upset because that is wrong!  I thought about this as myself (even though I have Facebook) and I plan on getting my little girls newborn pictures taken right away after she is born, and I would like to do some nakey ones lol, and I would be blazing angry if someone posted those publicly especially without my permission, and so would my husband.  Maybe your SIL can message her on Facebook and let her know you want them taken down?  I don't know, I just know that wouldn't fly with me!

[KTowne]

I think it's soo fake too!! It drives me nuts! Plus I honestly don't care who's changing, who's going to the store, who's got a doctors appt. haha.. she's getting absolutely nothing by posting them on there, at first I thought maybe she just forgot I said no, but clearly not or she wouldn't be avoiding me!

[mamaof4410]

I didnt like the fact that people I knew were posting about how great their lives were and I knew them personally and they were never happy when I talked to them. My 17 year old cousin would post on hers about how happy she was with her bf and they were having their first baby. Well like literally an hour  later she called my uncle crying he punched her in the face. Its fake. But I hope you dont have to go that far. Hopefully she just takes the darn things off. I mean what is she really getting out of posting them on there?

[KTowne]

I do too, there's just SO many people on it, and it seems like all the people around here are just on it to purely be nosey! Not to mention all the friggen CREEPS on there that live around here.. there's a reason I don't have one, and certainly don't want my kids on it! I'll update as soon as I find out if they got deleted, if they don't get deleted by 1-2 days I'm going to go to her office and make sure they're deleted in my presence.

[mamaof4410]

I had a Fb for like exactly 3 months and then deleted it. Hope everything works out for you!

[Bri_1985]

Ugh! Let us know how this turns out. I hate FB :-\

[KTowne]

I could probably speak to a lawyer about it, but it's really just a waste of money and time, since it was a free session so I'm not really out money or anything, I just don't want my kids on a public social media that any creep can view if they want, I think she knows she messed up, too or she wouldn't be avoiding me!

[mandi41389]

Once she reports it fb usually takes care of it in n hour ir so. I would def look for a new place n maybe call the place u won the session througg n complain so they dont use her again

[mamaof4410]

I would think if she didnt remove them wouldnt you have the right to talk to a lawyer since you didnt give her permission to post them on social media? When we had ours done at JcPennys they wanted me to sign a paper saying they did not have permission to re-use the photos. I got a copy and so did they

[KTowne]

Thanks ladies, I had my SIL report the photos, hopefully they get taken down quickly! And looking for a different newborn photographer!

[mandi41389]

i would still ask the family member who saw it report the photo. if you dont want the pictures posted on there. fb is very open and you could prolly now find it on google. any picture that is on fb is on there somewhere for the world to see. report the photo and itll ask y and say she didnt have permission to post it. i have done it when people posted photos of one of my cousins after a bad accident the mother didnt want her daughters photo on there if people wanted to see her or the severity of the injuries they needed to come and see her and not just look for a picture. its called respect.

[Kimejo_81]

Rachyrou, here you need a written consent. Yes after I do the shoot the images are copyright and belong to me, however to put them on public forums, advertising, etc you have to have the signed consent form. The client has the right to refuse to be on such a forum, however they cannot stop me from using them in my portfolio or private website (that users have to get login information to use to pre view pics).

[KTowne]

And no family issues, she's always on her FB.. I actually saw her across a grocery store parking lot and was walking her way to talk to her when she jumped in her car and took off (acted like she didn't see me).. clearly avoiding me.. I'm going to report them though, getting them off FB is most important to me!

[KTowne]

Oh no, the law here is she has to have my signature to post them (that's why she has the consent form) which I didn't sign, I'm not going to try to sue her or anything, it's not worth the money, time or effort.. I just want them taken down. And it's not so much taking a long time, it's not responding and being professional, it's definitely been a shady experience and I doubt I'll go back to her for my newborn

[rachyrou]

Kimejo_81
That's interesting, I was told (uk here) by other UK photographers, once you have the permission of the person to take their picture, you are entitled to do what you want with them.

[rachyrou]

I looked into being a newborn/baby photographer for a while. Apparently sadly they have rights to use your photos wherever they want, they only ask out of common courtesy. ( I went into it for a while, if someone said no, i didn't use them BUT legally you can, once you've taken photos you have the copyright of them and can do as you please)
I would keep asking about it. From experience, editing can take a LOOONG time, it used to take me 4-6 hours per picture... so if I was doing 40 photos you can guess how long that would take.. and with a baby to look after sometimes I would take longer than expected, but i would always let the person know i was running late and there wasn't a problem (plus as I was just starting out I was doing photoshoot and images completely free so I could practice)

It took me a month in some cases doing the photos, I liked to take my time to make sure they were at the highest standard and weren't rushed.. but like I said i'd always let people know. Has she been active online? Is there a chance something could have happened and she hasn't been online or working at all eg family emergency? If she has been online etc and ignoring you on purpose, don't use her again. If she has a genuine reason then fair enough, i'd again point out, and ask her why she put your photos on facebook, if she asked you and you said no?

[Kimejo_81]

I would suggest spreading the word of your negative experience. Word spreads quickly when a photographer is shady. It does here at least. I've had lots of.folks call me and say cuz they were jaded by another photographer that they were in the market for a new one. Good for me, bad for them.

[mandi41389]

Have the person who told u they were on fb report the photo n the reason put she didnt get permission ive done it

[KTowne]

I honestly could care less (I actually took 2 of my photos off from FB so I could show my mom, so I have 2 at least, the 3rd one was terrible) if I get the pictures.. I just REALLY don't want my newborn on FB at all.. neither does my husband, especially on a public page, we're making sure none of our family posts pictures after she's born and we DEFINITELY don't want her posting them, especially after this incident I'm afraid she's going to. I'll definitely have someone report the photos on there. We'd rather pay someone else to take pictures and actually do it right than to go through this again, she's a really popular photographer in town, too, so I can't believe she's doing this!

[Kimejo_81]

As a photographer myself, I can tell you its not legal for her to post your photos without a signed consent.  Especially on a public forum. Here in MT if I did that and refused to take the pics down I could be sued. I suggest setting up a temp FB page and going on and reporting the images once u report them u can say they are your images and FB will remove them for you. As for the photographer in question I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her. That is a horrible and non professional way to act & treat clients. I am sorry you are going thru this. If she has a studio I suggest showing up during her normal business hours. Unfortunately if you guys didn't sign a contract or agreement you may never see the photos she took. Even with legal help. :-( It ***** because photographers like her give photographers like me a bad name just by being a photographer :-( I hope u can get it worked out.

[OorahMommy]

Have your sister report the photos on Facebook and report her page. She's infringing on your privacy

[searra]

I personally would show up at the place were she works then she cant beat around the bush about your pics. If there still not ready I wouldnt let her do the newborn ones.