Moral Dilemma…

[VampireKetsuki]

http://vampireketsuki.deviantart.com/journal/Moral-Dilemma-372152473

Read that and please give me suggestions on what I should do?

[iliketag]

First, I would recommend just copy and pasting your post over to this Forum. Reason being, most of us will not click links without being told quite what we’re clicking on.
Second, go ahead and post the image here or link it for us. We can take a look at it and let you know if it’s something profile worthy and if it is, then we tackle the controversy of it.

Yes, a photo can absolutely be a reminder and bring to surface a lot of emotion, that’s our goal right? So there are two sides and ultimately you will still have to make the call.
On one side you have a photo you are proud of that you have the right to display and use as you see fit.
The other side requires sensitivity to the clients and maybe putting this photo away and not using it for your public portfolio to protect their emotional interests.

As a professional, you have to draw a line. How long ago was the divorce? Has she purged her life of all imagery and reminders of him due to being extremely sensitive? You have to think about tact in this kind of situation and if she is still hurting and would have access to your portfolio (and use that access), I would say put the photo away for now. If she has healed or is handling the situation well, I see no cause to not use the image, but ask for permission to be respectful.

Honestly, it won’t necessarily be an easy choice and you need to guage the level of sensitivity you need to express.
I’ve had to face something similar but not quite as rough. I have a wedding I shot for a friend last year and a few months down the road, after moving to England with him, him growing despondant and not wanting to help with her daughter, she realized things were too rushed and it was not going to work out. Sadly, they officially divorced. So when I wanted to include her photos in a mini portfolio, I asked her. She said it was fine but maybe only use one or two of them as a couple and she that she still loved her bridals, even if it didn’t work out. She was at a healthy place emotionally though, so it was easier for her.

[Worst Case Scenario]

Get used to it!  I’ve shot nearly 1000 weddings and I know that there are images on my website of couples who have split and one who I think has died! No one has ever approached me to take them down but  I would if they asked. Years ago we used to not charge until they picked up their album and we knew they were happy.  But we got so fed up of couples splitting up before they had chosen their pictures that we now charge in full up front. One couple actually split up on honeymoon!

[cameraclicker]

I’m not following what a final portfolio for a course at the Art Institute has to do with the real world.  That is, why would anyone outside the Art Institute see the portfolio?

 

[VampireKetsuki]

To CameraClicker (sorry can’t see how to reply directly to the post) my final portfolio is hopefully going to be my first permanent portfolio that I will show around to possible clients. It’s not just for a course, it’s for the program itself, if that makes sense.

[fstopper89]

You should still use the image in your school portfolio. They do not know the backstory about the subjects of the photo, as they are judging it on photographic merit only. However, if you post it on a public internet portfolio and/or use it in a business portfolio, there’s a better chance it will be seen by either the couple or people who know them, and you may not want that.

I almost had a similar dilemma last year. I did engagement photos for a friend and was so excited about how they turned out. Throughout the next week I had posted several sneak peeks online after editing, and she texted me saying they had a fight and broke up! Not only was I sad for her, I was extremely disappointed it would be morally wrong to use those images in my portfolio… and they were what I felt to be some of my best work. Well the next day she said they talked it out and things were fine again so I was relieved. Had it been just a client that I didn’t know personally, I probably would have still used a few of the best images in my port, but since it was a friend I couldn’t have at all.

[stef]

Years ago we used to not charge until they picked up their album and we knew they were happy.  But we got so fed up of couples splitting up before they had chosen their pictures that we now charge in full up front. One couple actually split up on honeymoon!

I didn’t know how common this was until recently. It’s happened to me, too.

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