Uncertain about location and subject material.
Azgard
Registered Users Posts: 13 Big grins
Hiya folks,
I’ve enjoyed reading the informative information presented on this forum and the pictures so many of displayed are really inspiring. Please keep up the great work.
I apologize if this is the wrong sub-forum. I tried finding the right place for this questions and this seemed to be the closest.
With the Halloween season coming upon us, I occasionally get asked by some of my friends to shoot some pictures of them in their costumes. This year, call me inspired, but I have a more grandiose plan then I usually do. Of course, this is partially inspired by another friend who has been working for several months on his costume.
The questions that I’ve been stumbling on is where, or how, I can shoot these, for lack of a better description, costume-play, pictures without running into too much inconvenience (or worse) from locals. I found a helpful thread here that linked me to some websites explaining my rights as a photographer, but other questions still remain.
Since the theme of this shoot is ‘zombie hunter,’ my subject will be wearing a uniform of some sort and wielding a weapon. The weapon is a Nerf Gatling Gun spray painted black. The orange nozzle tip will still be attached and I’ll be using Photoshop to remove it afterwards. His jeep will have temporary decals marking it as zombie enforcement unit from a fictional corporation. (It looks really nice.)
At this time we have no volunteers for the zombies, so we’re going to make it out to be like a recruitment photo for the fictional zombie enforcement corp.
Some of the locations I have in mind are local downtown streets. One in particular is going to be near (but certainly not on or even close) to a railroad crossing. To make the scene look abandoned and to avoid traffic and attention, we decided it best to plan the shoot for the really early morning hours (around 3am). We won’t be using private property, except for maybe one parking space in another location. Most identifiable parts of private buildings won’t even be in the picture with the scenes we’re thinking.
How should I go about this? Is there someone I should inform in the city? I don’t think I have to inform the property owners if we’re working predominantly in public right-of-way and not presenting their building. In fact, most of their businesses will be closed for the night. Nevertheless, a guy wearing combat fatigues, in a jeep with flashing green lights and [Nerf] Gatling gun mounted on the rollbar might raise some eyebrows. I’d hope any passersby’s will see it for what it is, but what can I expect from law enforcement?
I may be over-thinking this, but I’m also genuinely curious how other photographers have handled these things.
The other question that just came up as I wrote this up was about the fictional zombie hunter firm he’s using for subject material. He is dressed up as a security officer of a zombie hunting corporation seen in a video game. Even though I don’t plan to sell prints from this shoot on my website, I’d still like to use it as portfolio material. Now I’m wondering if once these pictures are done I’ll be able to show them off on my site.
Thanks for the comments/suggestions.
I’ve enjoyed reading the informative information presented on this forum and the pictures so many of displayed are really inspiring. Please keep up the great work.
I apologize if this is the wrong sub-forum. I tried finding the right place for this questions and this seemed to be the closest.
With the Halloween season coming upon us, I occasionally get asked by some of my friends to shoot some pictures of them in their costumes. This year, call me inspired, but I have a more grandiose plan then I usually do. Of course, this is partially inspired by another friend who has been working for several months on his costume.
The questions that I’ve been stumbling on is where, or how, I can shoot these, for lack of a better description, costume-play, pictures without running into too much inconvenience (or worse) from locals. I found a helpful thread here that linked me to some websites explaining my rights as a photographer, but other questions still remain.
Since the theme of this shoot is ‘zombie hunter,’ my subject will be wearing a uniform of some sort and wielding a weapon. The weapon is a Nerf Gatling Gun spray painted black. The orange nozzle tip will still be attached and I’ll be using Photoshop to remove it afterwards. His jeep will have temporary decals marking it as zombie enforcement unit from a fictional corporation. (It looks really nice.)
At this time we have no volunteers for the zombies, so we’re going to make it out to be like a recruitment photo for the fictional zombie enforcement corp.
Some of the locations I have in mind are local downtown streets. One in particular is going to be near (but certainly not on or even close) to a railroad crossing. To make the scene look abandoned and to avoid traffic and attention, we decided it best to plan the shoot for the really early morning hours (around 3am). We won’t be using private property, except for maybe one parking space in another location. Most identifiable parts of private buildings won’t even be in the picture with the scenes we’re thinking.
How should I go about this? Is there someone I should inform in the city? I don’t think I have to inform the property owners if we’re working predominantly in public right-of-way and not presenting their building. In fact, most of their businesses will be closed for the night. Nevertheless, a guy wearing combat fatigues, in a jeep with flashing green lights and [Nerf] Gatling gun mounted on the rollbar might raise some eyebrows. I’d hope any passersby’s will see it for what it is, but what can I expect from law enforcement?
I may be over-thinking this, but I’m also genuinely curious how other photographers have handled these things.
The other question that just came up as I wrote this up was about the fictional zombie hunter firm he’s using for subject material. He is dressed up as a security officer of a zombie hunting corporation seen in a video game. Even though I don’t plan to sell prints from this shoot on my website, I’d still like to use it as portfolio material. Now I’m wondering if once these pictures are done I’ll be able to show them off on my site.
Thanks for the comments/suggestions.
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Comments
There should be no issues with traffic problems at that time of the morning, just keep in mind you don't have the right to hold up traffic or inconvienience motorists to do your photography. Just try to not give any citizen anything to complain about so the cops are not called to your location. (For instance, parking in a wierd position may garner a complaint if a motorist has to drive around you.)
The last part of your question, about the security officer uniform related to the video game, the only potential problem I see is if the video game company claimed trademark infringement by you using the name of the security company. Is the name trademarked?
www.ArtMorganFineArt.com
I think I'll go with notifying them as well.
The uniform I think is fine. But the logo and name are fairly well known. I'm sure they're trademarked. I talked to my friend and he's ok with removing the decals for at least my portfolio shots. I think that'll solve the issue.
Thanks for the input.