This month in Philly we talked about second shooters. We talked about whether second shooters should keep the rights to their images or not. Should they be able to use the images for whatever or be restricted. There were definitely two schools of thought. I think most of us fewlt that second shooters are work for hire, they shoot for us, we keep the copyrights, some allow usage on the blog if they plug the studio and make it very clear who they were shooting for. Some photographers felt like they created the image, they should be able to do what they want, whether it goes on their website, they submit to a contest etc. They did agree the main photographer could sell the image to their clients but felt like they shouldn't use it on their website as their own creation.
Personally, the second shooter is a work for hire. They would not have gotten that image if I hadn't advertised, networked, schmoozed and sold myself to the client.
How do the other PUGS feel about second shooters?
We also discussed a second shooter agreement, which I can link to if people are interested. Of course, have your lawyer look at it too.
We also talked about elevating the wedding industry on the East Coast specifically Philadelphia. We have found there are three groups. The ones who have been around, successful, teaching and speaking at conferences that rarely if ever share in the area. They never come to the meetings, they don't really mingle with other photographers except maybe within their own 5 or 6 people group. Then there is a good group of us, successful but are not teaching and speaking nationally and we get together at these PUGS and share, talk, learn and grow. Then there are the weekend warriors who sometimes come to the meetings but don't have a lot of time.
Do other PUGs have these issues. Is there an elitist group among your community that if they shared and hung out could elevate your local market? How have you encouraged these photographers to speak, share or at least be social? How have you educated the weekend warriors that undermine the industry? How do you build local buzz about different photographers?
We would all love to have the fun, comraderie and elevation that California photographers have done for their local industry and the industry at large.
