From Lemondrop.com, posted Nov 17th, 2009 by Lauren Fritsky
Sara Bostwick had no qualms with vowing to accept her husband for better or worse. Her wedding photos were a different story.
The New York newlywed recently lodged a lawsuit against a photographer whom she claims took revealing pictures of her on her wedding day, then posted them online. Bostwick says she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from the exposure, detected when her husband spotted the shots on the studio Web site two months after their wedding.
The photographer being sued is Carolyn Monastra, who works for Christian Oth Inc., rated one of the top 10 wedding studios in the world by American Photo magazine. (The studio also appeared in the movie “Bride Wars.”) Bostwick alleges Monastra took photos of her in her underwear even after she told her to stop.
You could argue that if Bostwick had really wanted Monastra to lower her lens, she would have had her removed from her dressing room. But any bride will tell you that a wedding day is chaotic, and Bostwick was probably distracted. Still, no matter what Bostwick told Monastra, the written documents may matter more in court.
Dennis DiPasquale, a New Jersey wedding photographer, says it’s a dicey situation. While he agrees Monastra should have stopped snapping when Bostwick told her to, the use of the photos on the studio Web site present a different problem.
“There is usually something in the contract between the photographer and the client stating information about using pictures for promotional purposes, either on the Web site or in ads,” he said. If you don’t want that, “you look on the contract and scratch out the part where you can do that. Put a line in it. Initial it … It gets kind of tricky if it’s not on there. Is it implied? That’s something more for a lawyer than a photographer to decide.”
Update: A spokeswoman from Christian Oth got in touch last night with this statement about the lawsuit:
“We are surprised and disappointed to learn that Mrs. Bostwick has filed a lawsuit against us in which she claims that we intentionally violated her privacy. We have never posted any images of Mrs. Bostwick on our public website or in any other public venue. Client images, such as Mrs. Bostwick’s, are posted on our proofing website and are always password protected… We believe that the substance of the allegations contained in Mrs. Bostwick’s complaint are completely without merit, we emphatically deny those allegations, and we look forward to having this case dismissed.”
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Zookbinders Commentary:
No matter who you think is right or wrong in this situation, this story should make all of us think about what we photograph, what and where we post our images, and how well our contracts are worded in order to protect ourselves as well as our clients in this type of any situation arising from our photography.
