Copyright release?

[amorton1437]

I take a lot of picture of my son and send them to my mom. To make it easier on her, i just have them sent to a store near her like walgreens or walmart or something and she can just pick them up. She went in today to pick some up and they hassled her for a copyright release. She tells them that her daughter took them and she doesnt have that. She ended up having to sign something saying she had permission to obtain the prints of the photos. I had the same thing happen when I picked up some photo cards I had made to send out. I stood there for 20 minuts arguing with the girl that they were not professionally done, they were done with a black sheet in my living room and I ended up finally signing the form saying that they were mine Ok, I get the copyright thing. Its fine. I am just wondering how i can avoid this in the future for my mom? I usually order mine online, but it was cheaper and I didnt mind the lower quality for what I was printing, and she doesnt want picture mailed to her house because she "doesnt trust the post office" Should I just make up some form for my mom? What does it need to say?

[Photo-John]

As a working photographer, I'm happy to hear that the big box stores are demanding releases before printing photos that are obviously shot by pros. However, I am also hearing a lot of storeis about overzealous employees who don't quite seem to get it. If you take a high quality photo and then take it in to get printed, they shouldn't give you the third degree about it because they don't believe you took it. I put a logo on the front of all my prints so that no one will print it. That should be what they look for. Otherwise they should print it.

In your case, I think you should make your mom some sort of document that gives her permission to have photos from you printed. I think the best thing to do is ask Walmart what they'd like. Send it to her and she can ask them to keep it on file so she doesn't have to bring it in every time. If they can't handle that, maybe she should look for a new place to have prints made. There are lots of options and some might even make better prints than Walmart

[SmartWombat]

I had a similar issue with our local Costco.
I use them because they publish the colour profile of their printer on the web.
And because the technicians there are not trained to do a good job for me
After rejecting all but 2 of a batch of around 50 12x18 prints...

I left with them on file a release for my membership card no and my wife's card no to print my images, because they insisted they were professional images and had to have a release!

I'm glad they take that care over my copyright.

[mjs1973]

I have run into this a few times myself at a local Walgreen's. I don't print much stuff there, only when I need something in a hurry. There is one guy who has asked me to sign the release form every time he was working. At other times I have gone in to pick up my prints and saw the release form in the package with the prints. The tech working pulled it out and handed me my prints, no questions asked. They have never been pushy or argumentative about it with me, and I just signed the paper and left.

I'm glad they are looking out for us, but at the same time I can see why it could be a problem for others. I photographed a friends wedding a couple years ago, and gave her a CD with all of the image files for her to print herself. She went to the local Walmart and they required a release before they would print them. I typed up a very simple note saying that she had permission to print them and that was the end of it. It was nothing formal, just a couple lines stating that she had permission to print them and that's all it took.