A client's past galleries are a guide to what it likes, not material you can reuse freely. First confirm you have authorised access and know the permitted uses. Then read the galleries for patterns: which moments were covered, which images were chosen and which were ignored. Credit earlier work to the people who made it, and do not present it as your own or your photographer's.
A new client often arrives with an archive: galleries from dinners, launches and conferences going back years. It looks like a gift. It shows what the client values and what earlier suppliers delivered. It also comes with questions about who made it, who owns it and what you may do with it.
This page is part of our overview of agency and recurring event-photography commissions.
Confirm access before you open the archive
Having a link is not the same as having authority to use the galleries. Ask the client who holds the archive, who gave you access and for what purpose. Get the answer in writing, even if it is a short email.
If the archive is held by a previous agency or photographer, the client may be able to grant access to a copy, but may not be able to grant permissions beyond its own. Our shared guide on image handover when staff or agencies change explains what to clarify.
Know what you may do with it
Four things are worth separating.
- Viewing to understand the client's preferences.
- Sharing selected images with your photographer as reference.
- Reusing images in new materials for the client.
- Showing images in your own pitch or portfolio.
Each may need different permission. Viewing is the least restricted and showing the most. Our guide on copyright ownership and permission to use event photographs sets out the questions, and the image-use and approval register is a convenient way to record answers.
Credit earlier work accurately
Do not present earlier suppliers' work as yours or as that of the photographer you propose. If you refer to an image, say who made it, or say that its source is the client's archive. Our guide on checking who actually made the portfolio photographs applies in reverse: be as careful about claiming authorship as you would want a supplier to be.
If you cannot find who made a gallery, use it as reference only, with no attribution claim.
Read the galleries for what they teach
A gallery tells you several things if you read it carefully.
- Coverage: which moments were photographed, and which were not.
- Selection: which images the client chose for reports, social media or press.
- Style: the look, the framing and the balance between candid and posed.
- Gaps: moments the client mentions that never appear.
The best source on preferences is the client. Ask it to pick a handful of images it likes and say why. That is more reliable than guessing from a large archive. Our guide to learning which event photographs people actually use explains the logic.
A hypothetical example
For example, an agency wins a manufacturer's annual conference. The client shares a link to five years of galleries, made by two different photographers.
The agency asks in writing what it may do with the links. The client confirms that the agency may view them and share a few as reference with its photographer, but not use them publicly. The agency spends an hour reviewing and finds that most images chosen for the annual report show speakers and delegate interaction, and few show the exhibition floor. It asks the client whether the floor matters this year. The brief to the photographer reflects the answer, and attaches six reference images with the client's permission.
Organise and protect what you hold
If you keep a copy, treat it with care. Store it where only the right people can open it, label it with the source and permitted uses, and delete it when the purpose ends if the terms require. The photo archive planner helps set this out, and our guide to finding event photographs again in a company archive shows how filing helps later.
When the archive is incomplete or unclear
Some archives lack credits, dates or terms. In that case be conservative: use for understanding only, do not reuse, and ask the client to find the missing records. If the client cannot, say so in your notes.
For a live brief that was left half-finished, see an agency taking over an unfinished photography brief. For how to adapt an annual event after a change, see repeating an annual event after the venue or format changes.
What to send us
Send the references the client has approved for sharing, and tell us what you want to learn. We reply in writing with how we would use them for the brief, and what we need to confirm date, venue, crew and deliverables.
Checklist
- Confirm in writing that you have authorised access to the galleries.
- Ask what uses are permitted and for how long.
- Identify who made each gallery, and under what terms.
- Note patterns: moments covered, images used, images ignored.
- Ask the client what it liked and what it wants changed.
- Share only selected references with the photographer, with permission.
Tell us what galleries the client has shared and what you want to learn from them, and we will say in writing how we can use them as a reference for the new brief.
Brief from our client's past galleriesCommon questions
Can we use the client's old photographs in our own pitch or portfolio?
Not without permission. The galleries belong to the client's relationship with earlier suppliers, and use is limited by those agreements and by the people in the images. Ask the client in writing what you may show, and credit the original photographer.
How do we learn what the client likes from a gallery?
Look at which moments were covered, which images the client used in reports or social media and which were never used. Ask the client directly which it liked and why. Patterns in use tell you more than the full gallery.
Can we share the old galleries with our photographer?
Only if the client allows it and the earlier terms permit it. Share selected images as reference where you have permission. Do not hand over the entire archive, which may include images with restricted use or identifiable guests.
What if the gallery has no credits or records?
Ask the client who made it and under what terms. If that cannot be established, treat the images as reference only, make no claim about authorship and do not reuse them. A missing record is a reason for caution.
Brief from our client's past galleries
Tell us what galleries the client has shared and what you want to learn from them, and we will say in writing how we can use them as a reference for the new brief.
What happens next: You send your event details on WhatsApp. Our team reads the brief, asks what is missing, then confirms in writing whether the date, venue and coverage can be booked, with a quotation. Opening WhatsApp does not send anything, and a message is not a booking until both sides confirm.
Last reviewed: