The Contract Rollercoaster: Not for the Faint of Heart

So let's say you're an emerging photographer. For argument's sake, let's also say you have been following the career of Jerry Rice (SF 49ers) since you were a kid. Imagine you get a mysterious message on your voice mail from a magazine you've never heard of (and thus have never marketed your services to) about the opportunity to shoot the cover story featuring, you guessed it, Jerry Rice. Uh, holy crap?

This is exactly what happened to Bay Area photographer, Sonya Yruel about two weeks ago. She had been left a voice mail from someone at The Green magazine (and no, it's not about being eco-conscious - it's about, well golf and "the green" you play on) originally asking if she'd be interested in shooting an event for the magazine. As an event photographer in the area she called to investigate. Imagine her surprise when she was asked, "Do you know Jerry Rice? Well we need you to shoot him for a cover story." "Know Jerry Rice!?" she excitedly told me, "I watched him play football with Joe Montana during the 49ers' golden years!!" So whether or not she wanted to shoot Jerry Rice was a no brainer. Then her conversation with the editor got a little strange, "Are you a student?" he asked. "No, I'm a professional photographer," she replied. Which led her to also ask, "How did you hear about me/my work?" The editor didn't seem to know other than to respond, "Oh, our intern found you. What's your website?"

Hmm. Something smells fishy. You are supposedly a major magazine, and you want a pro photographer to shoot a major sports star the coming week, but you haven't looked at the photographer's website yet?

Nonetheless, it sounded like an exciting opportunity. Sonya would be scheduled to shoot Jerry on "the green" in San Ramon with the CEO of the magazine the upcoming week. In addition, she'd be getting the feature story which would be up to 11 pages. Wow! A cover feature story with Jerry Rice!!! (Ok, so I have to confess I personally had no idea who Jerry Rice is, but I get it. If someone called me up and asked if I'd like to shoot a cover story on Bono, I'd probably pass out from the excitement.) Additionally, the magazine wanted her to cover the event with Jerry Rice after the shoot. Two gigs for the price of one phone call. I had spoken to Sonya the previous week about interviewing her on a recent gig she scored with Heeb magazine (but we'll save that for another post) but this opportunity - wow, the excitement was catching.

The highest of highs. So high you can almost touch it. This is where the saying, "the higher they are, the harder the fall" (words to that effect) comes in handy. I got off the phone with Sonya, excited for her and crossing my fingers that all would work out. She was slated to speak with the magazine again the following day once their contracts division sent over the paperwork. She had been asked to send over a production estimate for the shoot. She quickly pulled together how much an assistant, lighting, insurance and gear would run and sent it back to the magazine.

I got what sounded like a disappointed voice message the next day saying, "Call me back if you want to hear about the saga with the magazine." As it turns out, while the magazine didn't balk at the expense estimate (around $700) they were asking Sonya to be a "Contributor" to the magazine. As a new photographer, Sonya wasn't sure what the standard "Contributor" is asked to provide. Apparently, the magazine had sent her a contract approving the expenses for the cover shoot but also putting in that the magazine would own copyright of all the images from the shoot. They were willing to pay her a fee for the event photography and cover expenses, but wanted her to literally "contribute" her photos for the cover shoot of Jerry. Flummoxed, she called the magazine back and asked to speak to someone about her contract. She was passed around a bit since their Contracts negotiator was out of town until the next week, but eventually spoke to someone who assured her that while they understood her situation (that she couldn't approve handing over copyright of her images without a creative fee), "all of the photographers we've worked with have been ok with this agreement."

Crash landing.

I'm sorry. What? You'd like me to produce and shoot a cover story for you and not pay me at all? And I'm supposed to be happy about this? When I spoke to Sonya, she said she'd thought hard about it: the promotion she'd get from having shot Jerry Rice would be really great and the experience would probably be pretty exhilarating, but she couldn't dismiss the voices in her head that told her, "You can't sell yourself or the industry short." After reviewing the contract, she had told the magazine her terms: Either they would have to let her keep the copyright OR they would have to pay a creative fee to keep the images. The creative fee she quoted them to sell her images was more than reasonable.

For any of you who have ever taken a class or spoken to a professional about work for hire or copyright issues, you know that everybody, and I mean every body advises AGAINST it. As a photographer, all you have is the right to your images. I have heard of rare situations (usually in advertising) where photographers have opted to give up the rights to their images - but they are bought out. For a lot of money.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised: everyone wants whatever they can get away with or as much as they can get for as little as they can get it for. But this is supposed to be a legitimate magazine. They are not a startup. They were willing to pay for equipment and event photography - but not the cover shoot. I get that Jerry Rice is famous. I get that it would be a boon to one's career to have him in your portfolio. But even Jerry Rice had to start somewhere and I'm sure he was paid.

Kudos to Sonya for being the consummate professional in a really difficult position. I'm sure it was tempting to want to do the shoot of someone she's idolized even for free. But at the end of the day, she stuck to her guns. And we should all applaud her. After all, if she had accepted this shoot for free, would they continue to expect her to shoot for free in perpetuity? And what kind of a precedent would this have set for the rest of us trying to get paid for our work?

Shame on The Green for trying to exploit young photographers. How do you get away with this? Does anyone expect you to work for free?

I am currently shooting for a startup magazine - and while I don't get paid a lot - I am still getting paid. AND I get to keep the copyright to my images. It's the honorable/right way to do business.

So to wrap it up, in a 24-hour period, you can experience the highest highs and the lowest lows. All for love of the job.

Check out Sonya's work at sonyafoto.com . Sonya is an emerging photographer in the Bay Area. She has been shooting events for the past four years and is currently building her editorial portfolio. A new project she shot for Heeb is due out soon (look for more on that in an upcoming post!)
http://www.sonyafoto.com