Curious about Photo Etiquette

[Maleficent13]

Let's say you are somewhere (event such as christening, a holiday, a vacation, etc) and you take a lot of pictures. Pictures of *other people's* children. Not that they accidentally got in the shot; you took the pics specifically of them.

Would you offer the parents of those children copies of the pics? Would you at least offer to let them SEE the pics?

I guess I just find it strange to take a bazillion pics of a kid that is not your own and then never mention it to the parents later, as in, "Hey, you want to see the great pictures I got of Johnny?"

 

[JunieJay]

I can't imagine taking a ton of pics of someone elses child. Unless they were standing next to my child. That actually sounds a little bit creepy to me.

I do take pics at birthday parties, etc., of other children, and I don't offer duplicates to the parents. But we are talking one or two shots at most.

 

[Pam]

I have always given the photos to the parents.

But hardly anyone ever returns the favor to me.

 

[Chattyaholic]

I might e-mail the pictures to them, but wouldn't pay to make copies for them. If they want pictures, they can take their own, unless they specifically asked me to take pictures for an event or something. But if it's my camera, and I want certain pictures that include their kids, I don't feel obligated to have copies made for them.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Within our family, we always post all our pictures from holidays, etc. on Snapfish and then send everyone an e-mail that we've posted new pictures, so everyone can download any pics of their kids if they want.

As far as friends, if we're all out somewhere and we get some good pics of their kids, we usually send a quick e-mail with those pics attached.

 

[DawnCt1]

I send them the pictures that I do not want to keep and my friends and neighbors have done the same for us.

 

[Pam]

I guess I need to explain myself further.

Over the years I have been the Room Mother at school parties, Den Leader of the Cub Scouts, my daughter took dance for 14 years and did the recital thing. She was a cheerleader in middle and high school, as well as on the HS danceline. My son was on the JV Golf Team. Both kids were/are in band, ensemble singers, etc.

I am known as the "Camera Lady." Some people think it is permanently attached to my body.

Many parents were unable or not interested in attending many of these events. I took photos of my kids, as well as the other kids. I then shared them.

Going to many Eagle Scout ceremonies the past couple of years, it became the running joke that if I hadn't taken and given all of those photos, most of the boys wouldn't have a single picture of their Scouting events to put on display.

Mal - your situation is a little weird. Was this a relative, friend or stranger snapping the photos?

 

[NMAmy]

I'm always the picture taker in our family. My niece is the only one with little ones right now so I do take a ton of pictures of them. I get copies and put them into scrapbook pages for my niece (she's getting her Master's and has one child who is 12 and then two more children under the age of 5 so she's a bit too busy!) I also give extra photos to my sister and my mom.

I also have co-workers who bring their kids by work from time to time--like at Halloween or Christmas. If I take pictures, I get extra copies for the parents.

So, yeah, I think it's weird to take pictures of other people's kids and then not give them copies. Rest assured, Mal, if I ever take a picture of Hepzibah, you're getting a copy!

 

[shirleyb]

I'm kind of like Pam, in that (until DH recently broke my digital that is) I am rarely seen at any kind of function without my camera. Since I often will make photo slideshows for sports or scouts banquets, I am usually taking pictures of other peoples kids to make sure that all the kids are represented in my slideshow.

The only reason I can see where I might take a bunch of photos of someone else's kid other than what I listed above, is if I thought I could get some kind of really neat/interesting shot, that I would later share with the parents. If I didn't get a great shot, I'd probably delete them and that would be that.

 

[spoon2003]

I love taking pictures and always made copies for friends . But over the years, I've come to realize that some people don't share my love of pictures so now I'm more selective. I still take them as I enjoy the process and seeing my composition, but I will delete most of them after review. At DS' last soccer season, I took pictures of every kid in action, had over 1000 pictures, reivewed and put over 400 pics on a CD and circulated among the team for the parents to copy. Out of 14 families, I got one "thank you"!

 

[JESW]

I am also known as "the camera lady" in our area. I am fortunate that I am home and able to attend my kids school functions. Not everyone can do that so I purposely take pictures of their children and at the end of the year I give out those pictures. I am a bit behind and just now getting to last year. I also take pictures for my dd8's Brownie troop. We put together a book of all their events that they get at the end of the year. I also offer the parents the "extra" pictures that didn't fit in the book.

I am a scrapbooker and I love pictures. I don't mind giving photos to other people. At some events when I have my telephoto lens I have had people ask me if I could get some close-ups of their child and I don't mind. Some pay me for prints and some don't and I figure it all evens out. (these are people I know - not complete strangers!)

Jill

 

[Maleficent13]

Mal - your situation is a little weird. Was this a relative, friend or stranger snapping the photos?

It is my friend's sister. This sis is all about getting in her nephew's face with a camera (I'm talking 50-60 shots per visit) and then leaving, only to do it all again next time. And not once, ever, has she mentioned the pics to my friend. I just find that weird. Everytime I see her I think, "you're a kook".

 

[snowy76]

It is my friend's sister. This sis is all about getting in her nephew's face with a camera (I'm talking 50-60 shots per visit) and then leaving, only to do it all again next time. And not once, ever, has she mentioned the pics to my friend. I just find that weird. Everytime I see her I think, "you're a kook".

So it's her nephew? Does she have any kids of her own? My sister visits a lot to see my son because the way she looks at it, she may never have her own kids and doesn't want to miss out on whatever my son is experiencing. I don't think it's so kooky if it's a relative

 

[shirleyb]

If it's a relative, then no. She might be an amateur photographer, who's really trying to get some good shots, and the nephew is just her subject of choice.

 

[lulugirl]

It's her nephew, what's the big deal? Why doesn't your friend just ask her sister if she got any good pictures and please share some

 

[Maleficent13]

I didn't say it was a big deal. It's just weird.

 

[kennancat]

I attended the first birthday party of a friend's kid and took lots of pictures. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I do plan to burn off the photos and give them a copy on a CD. I've emailed them pictures from the christening, but I didn't have as many so they could fit into a single email. It sounds to me like the sister just hasn't realized that it would be nice to share the pictures.

 

[Nancy]

I can't imagine taking a ton of pics of someone elses child. Unless they were standing next to my child. That actually sounds a little bit creepy to me.

I do take pics at birthday parties, etc., of other children, and I don't offer duplicates to the parents. But we are talking one or two shots at most.

I've taken pictures when they are at my house for parties, but they are group shots and one of my kids was probably in them. I would not take pictures of someones kids unless I was just shooting pics of who was there...and no I wouldn't give copies to the parents. Those were pictures that I snapped as a remembrance of my kids party, thats it.

 

[Anewman]

I didn't say it was a big deal. It's just weird.

I understand, but the original post makes it seem like some complete stranger is talking pictures of kids not that an AUNT is taking pictures of her nephew.

Big difference.

 

[clarabelle]

I would email them as well. Also if you are involved in an organization like scouts a picture CD (Or a picture collage or place mat) makes a great parent gift for the kids to give to their parents. (mothers day -fathers day) .