Authorization to post pictures of kids playing ball

Mossback

I ran across an interesting question the other day about posting pictures of kids playing baseball, or sports in general, on a SmugMug driven, or any other picture hosting web site online with pictures for sale without parents consent.

Does anybody know about issues or laws concerning this event.

jonh68

Generally, you are not going to get in trouble for posting kids playing sports because the public is invited and there isn't an expectation of privacy.

Most of the problems photogs run into is arrangements made by the league with other photographers where certain photogs have exclusive rights to sell pictures.

The only time you would need permission to sell a picture would be if it is a commercial sell other than selling prints to parents, friends, family etc. This would be like if the league wanted to use a picture of a player as promotion, or it is used for any kind of advertisement. You would need to get parental or guardian consent.

I have a disclaimer on my smugmug site for parents to let me know if they don't want the pictures up for their kids. I do it out of courtesy but I don't need to even if I am asked. So far, I have not had a parent ask.

wadesworld

John68 has covered most of the issues.

In public, you have the right to photograph anyone. If the photos are being sold to individuals and but aren't actually going to be used for selling or promoting a product/service, then you don't need any permission (in general). Things obviously get more complex when you're selling to any kind of publisher.

Do keep in mind that any organization can ask you to stop taking pictures. I recently was at a local BMX park and started shooting pictures of some of the kids. I was quickly approached by one of the parents and was told they had a rule in the BMX club about anyone but parents photographing the kids.

Now, it was on public property so I might could have refused to stop or have sued for access. But am I going to do so? Of course not.

A game at a YMCA is another example. You can photograph the event. However, the YMCA can ask you to stop at any time and you do have to stop since it's private property. However, they can't confiscate your camera, make you delete the photos you took or prevent you from posting the photos you took. They certainly can kick you off the property though if you continue taking shots after being asked to stop.

(In the case of a YMCA, you would be well-advised to talk to them ahead-of-time just to avoid such a scenario. They usually will not want someone profiting off their events unless they've agreed to it first)

A lot of people have a LOT of misconceptions about this issue. Many believe you must have signed permission to take a picture of a child. Simply not true.

Sadly, I see this issue continuing to get worse, not better as the level of paranoia in our society continues to increase.