I'd spent the last week or so thinking "I really needed to get out my backdrop and take Lily's Christmas pictures if I want to include pictures in my Christmas cards this year...." And this came after several weeks of debating with myself over whether to do Studio Mommy pictures or take Lily to a professional studio for pictures. Since I was relatively unhappy with Lily's last/only set of studio pictures, I opted for the Studio Mommy option. A couple days ago I actually did get out the backdrops and get Lily all dressed up and take a whole bunch of pictures. (I think I took over 70 pictures in an attempt to find one where the lighting was decent, the baby was looking at the camera--maybe even smiling, and nothing was blurry due to the moving subject.) I spent another day or two trying to decide which picture to print, and then yesterday I finally went online and placed my order for prints. I went in to pick up my prints this evening, and the photo people at Walgreens wouldn't give me my prints because they claimed that they were professional photographs and that I needed a copyright release from the studio before they could give me the pictures. After trying to reason with the photo people, I ended up leaving the store angry, confused, and without my pictures. When I arrived home, Jimmy went to Walgreens to try to reason with the photo people and retrieve my pictures, but he was also unsuccessful. I then wrote a very articulate but perhaps not-so-polite letter explaining that I give myself permission to print the pictures that I have taken. Anyway, after providing the photo people with the letter, I finally got my pictures. I think I'll be finding a new place to print pictures in the future....
Friday, December 19, 2008
Studio Mommy vs. Walgreens
I'd spent the last week or so thinking "I really needed to get out my backdrop and take Lily's Christmas pictures if I want to include pictures in my Christmas cards this year...." And this came after several weeks of debating with myself over whether to do Studio Mommy pictures or take Lily to a professional studio for pictures. Since I was relatively unhappy with Lily's last/only set of studio pictures, I opted for the Studio Mommy option. A couple days ago I actually did get out the backdrops and get Lily all dressed up and take a whole bunch of pictures. (I think I took over 70 pictures in an attempt to find one where the lighting was decent, the baby was looking at the camera--maybe even smiling, and nothing was blurry due to the moving subject.) I spent another day or two trying to decide which picture to print, and then yesterday I finally went online and placed my order for prints. I went in to pick up my prints this evening, and the photo people at Walgreens wouldn't give me my prints because they claimed that they were professional photographs and that I needed a copyright release from the studio before they could give me the pictures. After trying to reason with the photo people, I ended up leaving the store angry, confused, and without my pictures. When I arrived home, Jimmy went to Walgreens to try to reason with the photo people and retrieve my pictures, but he was also unsuccessful. I then wrote a very articulate but perhaps not-so-polite letter explaining that I give myself permission to print the pictures that I have taken. Anyway, after providing the photo people with the letter, I finally got my pictures. I think I'll be finding a new place to print pictures in the future....
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5 comments:
How frustrating!
My mom had this same problem getting photocopies of home photos from Kinkos and Wal-Mart. They wouldn't believe her either. She finally had success with a small local copy shop.
Happy New Year!
Ketty
There is a huge fine for printing copyrighted pictures for the store and customer if they get caught.
You might try Wolf photo if they have one there. They actually believe people are capable of taking quality photos. The ones here are very helpful. I would love to see a copy of that letter!
Could you just take in your memory card and let them look at other not-so-professional looking pictures so they know they're from your camera? I know that doesn't help when you're trying to do it all online, but isn't that proof enough?
I certainly understand the reasons for copyright laws and the ramifications of copyright violations, but when they aren't copyright images.... What ever happened to trust and honesty?
I don't think we have a Wolf Camera place here in town, but there's one within a mile or two of work. I might give them a try next time.
Also, Jimmy took the camera (with the memory card in it) with him the first time he tried to get the prints. It didn't make a bit of difference....
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