Legality Question? HighSchool sports.

NorthernBuck

I take pictures at High School athletic events in Ohio and sell the pictures to the parents. I had an e-mail from an anonomouse (sp?) person asking if it were legal to take pictures and sell them with out a release. I have permission from the athletic director to take the pictures an I'm only selling them back to family members so I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear but would like some input from anyone who may be in the know. Thanks in advance.

i_worship_the_King

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=97869

Basically, my understanding is that if you're in a public place (which their kid is) the only course of action they have is for an official (such as the athletic director) to deny you access or access of your gear. If they allow you and your gear into the arena then any shot you take (not obtained by extraordinary means - bathroom/locker room/etc.) can be published, sold, blown up to billboard size and shipped to Jamaica. Even in the event that you're asked to leave the photos that are already on the card still hold to this rule. They cannot confiscate your card/files without legal action (if they're totin' a warrant, you're in worse condition.)

There's my 2cent - check out the 'Photographers rights' on the link.

jonh68

NorthernBuck wrote:

I take pictures at High School athletic events in Ohio and sell the pictures to the parents. I had an e-mail from an anonomouse (sp?) person asking if it were legal to take pictures and sell them with out a release. I have permission from the athletic director to take the pictures an I'm only selling them back to family members so I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear but would like some input from anyone who may be in the know. Thanks in advance.

It's a public event so you are fine. The only trouble would be if a photographer has exclusive rights to shoot pictures. The athletes are performing in public and the parents have to sign waivers because their kids will be covered in newspapers.

You can't go into a classroom and post pictures of the classroom or students in the class unless you get the OK from the administration that parents signed a waiver. There is an expected level of privacy inside a classroom, but performing outside in public is different. If parents don't sign a waiver for athletes, they usually don't play.

A newspaper cannot check every time a player is going to be used in the paper for sports. When we do school stories on students, they are excluded from publication if the parents didn't sign waivers.

AndMan

If you look in the "Mind Your Own Business" forum you'll find a load of stuff on photographer's resources including guidance on when you do & don't need a model release.

This link will take you straight to them.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=97869

Peter

NorthernBuck

Thanks for all the great information. Does anyone have any tips on how to make this available on their site?

KED

NorthernBuck wrote:

I take pictures at High School athletic events in Ohio and sell the pictures to the parents. I had an e-mail from an anonomouse (sp?) person asking if it were legal to take pictures and sell them with out a release. I have permission from the athletic director to take the pictures an I'm only selling them back to family members so I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear but would like some input from anyone who may be in the know. Thanks in advance.

All of the prior replies offer good guidance and direction to additional resources, but I feel compelled to add that in my experience, anonymous posts/comments/emails are not worthy of a single keystroke of response, let alone personal second-guessing.