i’m having issues with my old highschool/the person who is running the yearbook now. they’re new at it and have no idea what they’re doing yet. we agreed that i would come back this year and take photos of events for the yearbook. i have not missed a single home game this year, and i have taken thousands of pictures. suddenly this person decides they don’t want my help and won’t be using my pictures in the book. this is very much out of left field for me.
knowing this person, there’s a large chance they’ll end up using my pictures anyway. are my images protected by copyright in any way? what can i do if my pictures end up being used in the yearbook?
So, without more information it’s hard to assess this specific situation, and anyone who says otherwise is not a lawyer.
What are you trying to protect, and how important is it to you? If you want to pay a lawyer $300/hour or more to get to the bottom of it, that’s certainly your right. So is bulk registering your photos as unpublished, sending them a letter saying you do not give them a license to use your photos, and making a demand if they do. But that’s more likely to net you some bad PR than a payday, and it doesn’t sound like you were ever in it for the money. It sounds like you want an outlet for your frustration with this person. We hear you and sympathize, and agree that the other guy is a jerk.
It’s probably not worth picking a fight. You’re the adult now, and the other person is a high school kid you don’t really know, so the best advice I can give you is to be the bigger person and let it go.