Is this a normal request from a School District?

MichaelKirk

[FONT=Geneva, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I am now trying to expand the photo venues I photograph at so I contacted my local school district about being allowed to photograph school games. This is the 1st reply I received from the sports director and trying to figure out if this is normal.....or it seems to me that it is a school policy that would become an impossible hurdle.

"First and foremost, XXX school district has a policy that pictures cannot be taken of our students unless we get written permission from each student to do so (for photographers that we sanction/allow/condone/etc.). With this said, this takes me to the question of if you did take photos at games, what do you intend to do with the photo's?"


I have no idea how anyone would be allowed to shoot at a school event with this policy? How are the local newspapers printing student photos in the papers? I know I could show up at most events and take photos, but I want to go about this the correct way and obtain permission to gain floor and field access.

My intention is to sell the photos to parents, etc and make some money.
How is everyone posting school photos on line - private password protected galleries or open for general public viewing?

Any ideas or suggetions about how to handle my next step? This could be a pretty big step for me so I want to try and do this correctly.

Thanks,
Michael

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mercphoto

The rules governing editorial use are much different than commercial use, which is how the newspapers can get in and photograph without requiring a waiver from each participant. Commercial can get trickier. Are you looking only to sell to the parents? Are you looking for an image to sell as stock photography? Or in an advertisement for a company? Etc. That is where the sticky legal stuff like waivers comes into play and it likely what the school district is wanting to know.

Bassett1976

Being a teacher, I know some of the reasoning behind not allowing pictures. The schools do not want people taking pictures that will exploit the kids. Even if you just want to sell the pictures to the parents doesn't mean that everyone would just take "appropriate" pictures of students. If a school will allow you to take pictures without permission they could get sued. This is the reason most schools avoid pictures.

Luckily, at my school, ever student is supposed to sign the release so we can take pictures. I'm able to get some great pictures of our sports team and we use them for the yearbook.

Seefutlung

I have photographed sports and school events at a number of different schools in a number of different districts (public and private) without review or consent of any kind. If it is a public event ... you should not have a problem. The school can restrict your access to the field, but cannot restrict you from taking photos of a public event. Whether or not it's worth taking the school district to court is another matter.

johng

Seefutlung wrote:

I have photographed sports and school events at a number of different schools in a number of different districts (public and private) without review or consent of any kind. If it is a public event ... you should not have a problem. The school can restrict your access to the field, but cannot restrict you from taking photos of a public event. Whether or not it's worth taking the school district to court is another matter.

Of course since the field and all the surrounding area is usually on school property they can kick you off school property. This approach is a VERY, VERY, VERY bad idea. Don't tick off the school and/or parents - you need them. So, play by their rules. As I read the letter, the school is saying: IF they sanction you, you are required to get waivers from the kids (in reality the kids parents since a minor can't sign a waiver). Part of it is to protect the kids but part of it is to protect themseslves against the pain in the butt of dealing with parents complaining about the photographer. Fortunately the school districts I shoot in aren't this paranoid yet.

Jeffro

Has anyone ever been to a school event and not seen someone with a camera? I'd be surprised if you have. If the school lets camera's into the event, they can't stop you from posting the pics.

Obviously you can't use the pic's for commercial purposes without a release of those in the shots. That doesn't keep you from posting them to sell to the parents.

The school can keep you off the field, court, and restrict your movements. If they kick you and only you out of the event, then you might actually be able to take legal action against them.

The High School here in my town has an official photographer, but they don't try to restrict anyone from taking their own shots....they can't (it would cause a public outcry). They do controll the field access though, and their guy has that.

dmcreations

To say this is normal would surprise me, but it sounds like it probably makes sense. In this day and age, who knows what people's intentions are for the photos they take. You should try to work with the school district to reassure them that you have their best interests at heart. Some thing you should consider:

• Offer to 'partner' with them by offering to pay a percentage of the profits towards the school or a charity. That will get at least some of them on board. Plus maybe a tax deduction for you??
• Show them some of your work so they know you do a quality job.
• Offer to password protect the galleries to prevent non-parents etc from accessing the pictures.
• Offer to provide them with rights to use some of the pictures in their year books etc.

There are a lot of things you can do to ease their concerns. Try to see the situation from their point of view, and consider how you could address those concerns. You'll need to be sensitive to the fact that these are children, and that means some real diplomacy might be needed.

Good luck to you!

mercphoto

dmcreations wrote:

To say this is normal would surprise me, but it sounds like it probably makes sense. In this day and age, who knows what people's intentions are for the photos they take.

In my opinion this is people simply being paranoid for no good reason. But that's what happens in today's overly paranoid society. Sigh...

dmcreations

Probably a combination of people being paranoid, and the lawyers being, well lawyers. Can't really blame the schools for opting to cover their own butts for fear of being sued.

nelsonphoto

Depends
Are you talking high school events or lower grades. Usually, at least in my state, High School events are also covered by the local press and they are less fussy about the cameras. However in Middle School I had to agree to password protect my galleries that had Jr high kids photos in them. I also have and Oregon Athletic Association (OSAA) press pass which helps me considerably.

I just password those gallerys not of high school events and give the AD the password and the coaches. They hand it out to the parents and everyone is happy. I also tell parents if they want their kids photos taken down just to hollar.

MichaelKirk

Highschool...
I am talking about Highschool. I am in contact with the High School Athletic Director (could not find any contact info for the Schools Boosters club). Latest word is I let him know my intentions and he has forwarded my request to his "Powers To Be"and will wait to hear back. I also asked the Booster club be informed as well.

Just waiting to see at this point....hopefully sometime this week

Michael

nelsonphoto wrote:

Are you talking high school events or lower grades. Usually, at least in my state, High School events are also covered by the local press and they are less fussy about the cameras. However in Middle School I had to agree to password protect my galleries that had Jr high kids photos in them. I also have and Oregon Athletic Association (OSAA) press pass which helps me considerably.

I just password those gallerys not of high school events and give the AD the password and the coaches. They hand it out to the parents and everyone is happy. I also tell parents if they want their kids photos taken down just to hollar.

johng

One other word of advice. If you haven't already, talk to the AD on the phone or preferably in person - not just via email. Right now, it's very likely you're at the bottom of the priority list.

You'll get the best results if you talk to someone in person so stop by the school if you can. If you can't, then talk to him on the phone.

If you're already talking on the phone rather than via email then good job! That increases your likelihood of a response by about 500%