Advice on Photographer's release

[DennisM]

I got an email a couple of weeks ago from a small printing company that is putting out a book of nude photography and asked for me to submit 2 b/w's. I did, and they liked the look of them and want to include them in the book. Today I got the email info packet and was reviewing the photographer's release.

I have a couple of questions about it, and was hoping to get feedback, understanding that you all are not lawyers, but there are many experienced photographers, so I'll take any advice with that in mind...

There's a section that reads,
I (name) grant permission to (name of company) to use (photo title(s)) taken by me for use on the (name of book) book publication, which includes these images on it's associated websites in low resolution form (name of website) in support of it's book, photographer credit will accompany each photo)

I hereby waive any right to inspect or approve the aforementioned use of the images as I submit them and they will make all reasonable effort to preserve the integrity of the image that I have entered"

So my question is, does the second paragraph give them permission far beyond useage in the book or advertising supporting the book?

Sign Me
Doesn't Speek Legaleze in Florida

Dennis

[rjwarren]

Dennis

Are you asking about the "right to inspect or approve" paragraph? That just means that you don't get to approve the work before it's published. If this is a collection of a bunch of photographers, you can imagine the issue with circulating proofs for everyone.

The assignment is contained in the first paragraph where you let them use it specifically for the book and low-res for the website. No where else.

It looks like standard legaleze to me...

Bob

[DennisM]

Hi Bob, actually it was the second paragraph. I wasn't sure that it meant that they could sell posters of it, publish it in other magazines or books, etc... Didn't want to give up all rights to it, just for this book and activities related to it...

thanks!
Model Syndi

[R_Fredrick_Smith]

I see nothing wrong with the release. You're not giving them anything unreasonable. But I have a separate question. Do you get paid for having your images in the book, and do you get a free copy of the book? The reason I ask is because I've gotten requests in the past to use some of my photos in a book and then when all was said and done, they wanted to sell me a copy of the book and that was the major distribution of the book, in other words, selling it to the photographer. The rationale was that you would certainly want a copy of a book where you were included as one of the photographers. I also used to get the same type of offer from Poetry books. Anyway, just curious? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

cheers,
rfs

[Doug_Lester]

That's pretty standard wording, but find out about how the book is marketed. Someone else mentioned a very valid point. If the publisher is a "who's who" type book, or one of a few other types, it's probably a scam in which they hard sell you a copy of a poor quality book. No one buys them other than the photogrphers who are included.