Founded in 1923 and now roughly 150 members strong, Winchester Photographic Society has grown into one of the largest camera clubs in England. I was lucky enough to be invited to do a talk on one of my favorite subjects: Outdoor Portraiture, back in September 2025.
During my talk, I covered everything from how to find models locally using sites like Purple Port, how to shoot portraits of interesting characters you meet on the street and the camera settings you can use to elevate your portraits.
Once my talk concluded we had a brilliant hour-long Q&A session and as you had so many fascinating questions to ask so I thought I’d share a couple of the hot topics that you had questions about.
Who owns the copyright of an image?
In my presentation, I briefly touched on copyright and the importance of filling out a model release before you start shooting. I was surprised that many of the questions in the Q&A came from this area, and it felt like there was some real confusion around copyright out there, so I was keen to clear this up.
In the UK the copyright belongs to the photographer who fires the shutter, though it’s important to fill out a model release when working with a model as this is essentially your ‘contract’ that goes into detail about when the shoot was and expresses what you can and can’t do with the images – for example, whether the images can be used editorially, but not for commercial purposes such as advertising or selling them to an image stock library.
For street photography, the copyright again belongs to you in the UK and you have the right to take somebody's photo in a public place in the UK where I’m based. This law can, however, change depending on what country you’re in so be sure to check this before travelling. In the UK, you’ll likely be recorded on CCTV as you walk down any high street – remember that they don’t need your consent for this if you're in a public space, and the same rules apply when you’re in a public place taking street photos.
In the rare case where somebody has confronted me about taking their picture I have always deleted it as that’s just where I stand morally, however the law would be on your side if you objected. This is a bridge that you'll have to cross when you come to it as everyone is different.
How do I know if I should shoot weddings?
I covered some of my top tips for getting the best out of happy couples on their wedding day, ranging from posing ideas, prompts that they can whisper into each other’s ears to get a reaction, or even playing a special song through a speaker attached to your camera bag to catch them off guard and snap a cute reaction.
After the presentation I was asked by many of the society members "how do I know if I should start shooting weddings?"
My advice here is simple – don’t chase weddings if you’re only in it for the money. They are long, demanding days and the pressure on you will be through the roof, so you really need to love what you’re doing to make it enjoyable and get the best photos.
I also shared that I thought shooting a wedding would be one of the rare times when I think it’s justifiable for a photographer to work for free. There’s plenty of couples out there with little to no budget to spend on a photographer, and they’ll be happy with some photos from an inexperienced photographer like those just starting out, rather than none at all. This would be a good low-risk way to find out if weddings are for you, with a lot less pressure than if you were charging for your services and then it all goes wrong. If you don't charge, the expectations from you are low.
My other suggestion was to find a local professional wedding photographer and reach out to see if you can job shadow or be a second shooter on one of their upcoming weddings so you get a feel for how the day flows and what’s expected from you.
You might also like…
Want to know more? Check out our article If I had to start my camera setup from scratch tomorrow, this is the body and lens I'd buy.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
