Jump to content

What will happen with our photography when we will not be here?


Recommended Posts

I know that this subject could be a "taboo" and sad issue, but soon or later, hopefully as later as possible, that moment will arrive. A fact of live.

My question is to know what the people having hundred of thousands of digital images and maybe hundred of boxes full of slides did already when they abandon us, or plan to do, when we will not be here in this world.

 

The whole collection of images could be worth from pennies to lots of money depending of course of the quality of them at that moment. 

 

I my personal case, I do not have children, my wife will keep them, but what about later...

 

To be honest I do not know what I would like to do, for what it is at the end, in fact, my life in images. Too personal to ride off all at some point of time, and to get some cash, and at the same time to abandon them.

 

When I bought my house I found dozen of interesting stereoscopic photograph in the middle of old furniture and I have kept them. It is sad how could end your memories sometimes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting - I'm thinking about the same since yesterday evening... Global telepathy? ;)

Have no children, no wife and no husband ;) It's sad thinking about the end, but it's beautiful what we do - capture reality. Ironical, it's worth so much and nothing at the same time.

 

stipe, December is always depressing month, at least in Poland :) No sun, or snow, just gray everyday life, waiting, thinking... nothing.

Abiyoyo, when have you see sun lately (in UK)? :P

 

I'm curious of your thoughts...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

"The whole collection of images could be worth from penis to lots of money depending of course of the quality of them at that moment. "

Is your PENIS worth nothing ?

 

Hopefully, the original poster meant "peanuts" rather than "penis." While the former are worth little, the latter is invaluable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

"The whole collection of images could be worth from penis to lots of money depending of course of the quality of them at that moment. "

Is your PENIS worth nothing ?

 

Well, it´s depends, in 60 years for sure nothing :) Thanks for the typo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

"The whole collection of images could be worth from penis to lots of money depending of course of the quality of them at that moment. "

Is your PENIS worth nothing ?

 

Well, it´s depends, in 60 years for sure nothing :) Thanks for the typo.

 

Now that really was a Freudian slip!

 

Seriously, it is worth thinking about will happen to one's masterpieces after one has moved on to that big stock agency in the sky. Hopefully, someone will be able to continue benefiting from all those lucrative distributor sales.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made a will a few months ago and other than my mother who would not know what to do with it and can't operate a computer anyway,I appointed an executor to my estate and leaving a percentage of sales to various friends.

 

My friend that I named the executor and main beneficiary is very financially saavy and I hope she can turn it over in any way that works and make a fortune.

 

Some best friends deserve your kindness long after you're gone!

I'm divorced with no kids so no real options to leave it to relatives.

 

L

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can bequeath the copyright of your images to someone, they can then benefit financially from them.

I wonder if you have to do this as a particular statement within your will, or is a general clause transferring your wealth and possessions to someone sufficient for them to claim the fees?

 

Would a simple note of instruction to Member Services be sufficient?

 

The way fees are at the moment it might cost more to have the will altered than they would be likely to receive (having just made a couple of newspaper scheme and one distributor sale)  :(  :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can bequeath the copyright of your images to someone, they can then benefit financially from them.

To do that you will need a written will(all states are different with requirements.I had to bring 2 witnesses to my bank to notarize mine) with specifics and make sure you have an attorney that is aware of your will and your request so they can do the copyright registration transfers with the US Copyright office.

Having images out there that are not copyrighted is not a good idea. A registered copyright is the only way you will get an attorney to take an infringement case on a contingency basis and the only way you can collect damages.

 

L

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Everything in a will should be laid out and explained in the document  as specifically as possible with no room for any grey area interpretation.I'm not a lawyer but boy have I had more meetings with them in the past few years than I've had boyfriend dates!

Which...is never a good thing!

 

If you have a large 'estate' with photos and other valuables make sure you've gotten the advice of a lawyer.

The recipient might have some tax liability to pay so...discuss this with all parties.Like what if the recipient got saddled with a large tax bill for your 'million dollar' self-valued collection of photos. :-)

How would they pay that money to the tax man?

Not sure how this would work but I have no idea what my images will be worth when I die and called it my photo archives.

 

Also important is if you are on a 2nd or 3rd marriage with kids from a previous marriage.Depending on where you are located...your kids could inherit everything and your spouse could be penniless.

If that's the case,your significant other could find you no matter if you went to heaven or hell or wherever...and cause you problems in the next life!

 

L

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Linda. : Lawyers make good boyfriends, just be sure you have an iron clad prenuptial.

 

In Canada if your images have value to a charity or educational institute, you could donate them in return for a tax exemption certificate for either you right now, or your estate when you die.

 

You could divide your images depending on the needs of the institution. Bird images to the department of ornithology at the museum, for instance. Local historical images to your local library. You could even create a body of work now with a particular institution in mind.

 

Even if the tax exemption is not of use to you, it would ensure a place for your photographs.

 

You could also keep your images in Alamy, and bequeath the copyright, and the Alamy income, to your heirs in your will.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Linda. : Lawyers make good boyfriends, just be sure you have an iron clad prenuptial.

 

In Canada if your images have value to a charity or educational institute, you could donate them in return for a tax exemption certificate for either you right now, or your estate when you die.

 

You could divide your images depending on the needs of the institution. Bird images to the department of ornithology at the museum, for instance. Local historical images to your local library. You could even create a body of work now with a particular institution in mind.

 

Even if the tax exemption is not of use to you, it would ensure a place for your photographs.

 

You could also keep your images in Alamy, and bequeath the copyright, and the Alamy income, to your heirs in your will.

Interesting, I haven't thought much about any of this. Bequeathing copyright never occurred to me. Thanks for the info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most of what I do is a tax deduction so no,I would not want to donate anything more now.I give a lot to charity as it is and my archives are huge(300,000 images since 1978) and they produce good consistent revenue.I'm years away from retirement but you never know what can happen in life.

I know my copyrights are worth a fortune as I started registering more than 20 years ago and photography has been my only source of income since 1980.

 

I dated a lawyer in my 20s and he was so damn analytical that ordering dinner in a restaurant turned into case discovery and plea bargaining on what to order,LOL!

 

Oh and I almost dated one I met on match.com...However he FORGOT to mention he had FIVE kids!

Me asking,'sure you counted right?' was probably not the right answer...But being past the age of kids...I really have no experience or desire that raise kids so nothing panned out there either.

The bad part is after awhile...single life doesn't seem so bad after all! No one to nag me on how much I've spent on camera equipment. :D

 

L

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could also keep your images in Alamy, and bequeath the copyright, and the Alamy income, to your heirs in your will.

That is for the moment my intention. To try to upload, here or elsewhere, most of my current, and future, images and leave them in a sort of "auto-pilot" and my heirs will receive whatever my images could get.

I will try to digitalize again to the best resolution possible all my slides in order to pass just hard disk and not hundred of boxes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sort of busy right now, but this is an important subject and one that I would appreciate seeing a response from

Alamy.  I have for the record, had a number of publishers call me looking for photographers because they wanted

to re-use an image that they had licensed years ago.  In several cases I did know that the photographer had passed

away and a couple of times I was able to refer them to a surviving spouse or child.  I do think it would be a good idea

for Alamy to make some public (at least to the contributors) policy about arrangments in the event of a contributors

demise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sort of busy right now, but this is an important subject and one that I would appreciate seeing a response from

Alamy.  I have for the record, had a number of publishers call me looking for photographers because they wanted

to re-use an image that they had licensed years ago.  In several cases I did know that the photographer had passed

away and a couple of times I was able to refer them to a surviving spouse or child.  I do think it would be a good idea

for Alamy to make some public (at least to the contributors) policy about arrangments in the event of a contributors

demise.

 

+1 to that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A partnership rather than sole trading is not a bad idea with the images credited to the name of the business - can be just husband and wife, or include the kids so agencies continue to pay the business after you have dropped off the perch. It also saves a lot of messing about with probate and allows a continuity - e.g. payments will continue to drop into the partnership bank account and be accessible to the surviving partners.

 

As one who has passed the three score and ten I'd like to thank the OP for cheering me up this morning - necessary as it may be.......

 

By the way it is YOUR responsibility - not Alamy's - they have enough to do trying to market images to the best advantage in a difficult time. I am pretty sure that they continue to make payments to the designated account until told otherwise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you have a corporation or LLC in the States agencies may be able to deposit your money in your bank account but if you are a third party,chances are you will not be able to access those funds or transfer without legal docs from a lawyer.

In the 90s I was the executor to a family friends estate and and I,along with the persons son went to the bank to withdraw and close out the bank accounts and had to go back to the lawyers to get a letter and copy of the will. In the USA,the will needs to be notarized and witnessed when signed.

 

L

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.