[Kimberly Dow]

I have a photo shoot this coming Saturday with 8 models, $600 worth of costumes and a hired professional photographer.

I hired this particular fella because at a charity event I discussed the trouble I have had with copyrights with another photographer who had photographed one of my paintings and then held the copyright of that photo and was looking to sell photo-prints of my painting. I made it clear I needed a professional who would be for hire, but I needed to own the copyrights of the photos. At least I thought I did.

All has been planned well, then in a casual email he mentions that he will be keeping copies of the photos on CD in case he wants to use any in his photo-art he sells. Now - how could he not get that that is exactly what I did not want??

If I chose to paint from a particular photo and then he sells the same exact scene locally - well let's just say the market in this small town cannot stand that.

How do I word a contract with him that states this as precisely as possible? Is it possible or do all photographers always own what they snap?

It may be moot now since I emailed him back and he may not want to do it, but I consider it either completely stupid of him to not get it - or evil of him to wait this long to spring that on me.

Any timely suggestions would be helpful - the options here are limited along with my budget...