Are these contracts decent?

[waple]

I found some contracts that I want to modify and use (if that's legal) and I was hoping to see what you folks thought about them. These are for weddings, but I'm assuming that I can easily modify them to fit "events" (parties, games, etc), "people" (portrait sessions, fashion shows), and "commercial" (food, products, etc).

Wedding Photography Contract - Printable version
Wedding photography contract by IQphoto

This one seems to be for commercial photography: Standard Contract - Photography Service Agreement - John Gress Photography When you read it, does it appear to be for a case where a magazine or other client hires him for a particular shot for a cover or ad? It reads, to me, like the client will get one photo from this shoot. Should something like this require its own contract or can the above type stuff be sufficient for all cases?

Are there stipulations that need not be there, or anything that should be added?

I may have missed it, but I didn't see anything that said the client had to pay for any prints in addition to the session fee. How should that be phrased?

[FocusingOnFlorida]

Not trying to be a pain, but honestly the best person to ask about legal advice is a lawyer. You may get some good pointers, but I would finalize it with someone more qualified.

[jfrancho]

Two services I recommend to any legitimate entrepreneur: a lawyer and an accountant. They will both be able to advise you best on contracts and tax laws, keeping your business on the up and up. Local laws make it impossible for a single template to work for all.

[waple]

I will finalize with a lawyer, but I want to get a good start.

I'd rather pay him an hour to go over all my fine points and concerns that I've already gotten out of the way, than pay him 6 hours and go in there not knowing where to begin. You know the old phrase, get your ducks in a row.

Wow, I just found out that I have an old friend who is a lawyer now, that does exactly this. Go figure.

[jfrancho]

The lawyer will bill you for the same time either way is my bet, based on my experience with lawyers.

[Tom Swaman]

Lawyers are like photographers. They want to get paid for what they do. The trick for a photographer is to find a lawyer who does as they commit and earns their keep. This is just like a photographer where all are not created equal.

Just a thought based on a good bit of personal experience. If I picked and chose my wedding customers wisely and I shot a whole lot of weddings from about 1965 through 1970, I avoided a lot of mumbo jumbo legalese. Frankly, if a client did not pay their bill, it was rarely of a size that would warrant my going after them. Rememeber that what goes round comes round and litigious folks tend to be not only pursuers, but pursued. THis legal business is a one word business, namely UGLY!!!!!

You might want to consider providing masterful photography with masterful personal communications. You might charge on a schedule such that your monetary liability is minimized at each phase of your work. Sure, you may lose once in a while, but my experience tells me that you do not lose very often doing things smart and nicely and this sure beats working with lawyers who do not know their ass from a photograph, let alone the value associated with photography. Just a thought. Just one approach to photo business.

Tom

[Songman45]

Remember that contracts bind you to a set of expectations and obligations. Yes, you want to protect your income and have some assurance of payment. Be just as aware that the faction of people out there who will take advantage of you will do so, with or without a contract. You may well give ammunition to a potential adversary. And laywers? Not only do they get paid to draw up contracts but even more to litigate. Your good attorney will not mind charging you to defend your position in the loophole intentionally left open to be exploited.

[Mark McCall]

I recommend a book called "Legal Forms for Photographers"
Amazon.com: Business and Legal Forms for Photographers (with CD-ROM) (Business and Legal Forms): Tad Crawford: Books

The book not only lists all the forms you could ever need, including several types of contracts, there is a CD in the back cover with all forms in Word, ready to be edited to reflect your studio name.

[Manamarak]

Two services I recommend to any legitimate entrepreneur: a lawyer and an accountant.

Wise words, ones that I have ignored to my peril. Better to be safe than sorry is my bet now.

[Light Currents]

Originally Posted by jfrancho

Two services I recommend to any legitimate entrepreneur: a lawyer and an accountant.

Agree, but with a slight money-saving twist: QuickBooks. My mother is a CPA and even she is the first to admit QB is so simple anybody can use it for the daily stuff.

HOWEVER, at the end of the year, without a doubt, everything goes to an accountant before it goes to the IRS.

[brian.austin]

Originally Posted by Light Currents

Agree, but with a slight money-saving twist: QuickBooks. My mother is a CPA and even she is the first to admit QB is so simple anybody can use it for the daily stuff.

HOWEVER, at the end of the year, without a doubt, everything goes to an accountant before it goes to the IRS.

Having an accountant doesn't mean they should do all the bookkeeping. On the contrary, that's just too expensive.

Accountants should be advisors and tax preparers, as well as a "go to" resource for special projects like new financing. They should be seen a few times a year, though, and not just at tax time.

Quickbooks is nice but might be overkill for a lot of home-based photographers. Quicken has a new version called Home & Business that tracks business expenses and separate business accounts like a "Quickbooks Lite". Great compromise and nicely combines with the home finances.

[Light Currents]

Originally Posted by brian.austin

Having an accountant doesn't mean they should do all the bookkeeping. On the contrary, that's just too expensive.

Accountants should be advisors and tax preparers, as well as a "go to" resource for special projects like new financing. They should be seen a few times a year, though, and not just at tax time.

Quickbooks is nice but might be overkill for a lot of home-based photographers. Quicken has a new version called Home & Business that tracks business expenses and separate business accounts like a "Quickbooks Lite". Great compromise and nicely combines with the home finances.

And I'm sure BOTH are better than Peachtree which I used for years from which I still suffer late night nightmares, chronic vomiting and nervous facial tics from.

[Julio]

this contract , the first link
looks ok and similar to the one i use
never had a problem
Problems are previewed before the contract

[Light Currents]

Does anybody know of a draft / link for a contract licensing the use of an image. Not for a photographer and a photoshoot, just for image usage. For example, a license for the single use in a brochure that promotes a hotel, a license for the use of an image on a website, or a license for the use of a picture that will hang in the lobby of a downtown business building... etc. That sort of thing. I googled, but couldn't find one.

[m.b.]

Try this, not sure if it's what you're looking for...

ASMP: Licensing Photography

[00silvergt]

Originally Posted by jfrancho

The lawyer will bill you for the same time either way is my bet, based on my experience with lawyers.

Usually lawyers bill an hourly rate, billed in 1/10ths of an hour. So every 6 minutes, you will be billed. In larger firms like ones I work for, they are very strict about the billing. Smaller firms, this maybe a little flexible. I have the benefit of having over 1000 lawyers that I can ask to review my documents on their free time, for usually nothing or at the most lunch on me. I been in the legal industry for over 10 years and so I also have the benefit of having another side (plantiff) look it over to see if they can find the holes. Anyway, I highly recommend you hire an attorney. I also recommend against trying to play lawyer by drafting your own, unless you know a little about contract law and the laws governing your locale. Most of the time, lawyers would have these already drafted as a boiler plate and they simply add considerations that you request. If they have to edit your document, I will guarantee you it will cost you more. You may still want to print these out so that the attorney can use it as a guideline, if they do not have the boilerplate on hand.

[texasshooter]

It is all well and fine to speak to an attorney which I do recommend, but he will work withing your guidelines. He has no knowledge of wedding photography or what to protect you from. Failing to direct him or her will result in a pretty sterile document. So know what you want before you get there, having said that I would address the following off the top of my head.

** The parameters of the agreement are..... How much will be paid, what they will get, and when, and the circumstances should the client fail to pay. address overtime also

** Unless you are providing a CD with the images, then instead of protecting the proofs, you should protect the images themselves.

** Get a clarification of the word deposit, instead of retainer.

** It is unrealistic to expect no other pictures by anyone else at the wedding. I have placed in mine that no one is allowed to interfere, obstruct, or compete with my efforts to capture and document the clients day. Failing to do this could result in non-completion of the agreement with no further liablilities against the studio.

** I do not understand that if you are retained by a client and, you turn down everyone else who calls for that date. This is your only booking for that date. You arrive and start to shoot then some bonehead in the kitchen, or some guest starts a fire, according to your contract you will give the money back for the date? Not me. If I didn't cause it, I'm not taking food off my families