Our B&H lecture is now up on YouTube here.
It was up last week, but our blog was down then and it’s now all corrected. Check out the video. Lots of new stuff.
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Our B&H lecture is now up on YouTube here.
It was up last week, but our blog was down then and it’s now all corrected. Check out the video. Lots of new stuff.
#1 by Chris on June 24, 2014 - 5:00 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed your video and am glad your blog is back up and running again to soak in some more of your valuable info.
Here’s a question that ran through my mind while listening to you:
Not being a pro photographer and not dealing with copyrights and patents and releases all the time, let’s say I become eye witness of a random event taking place in plain sight and I happen to record it on camera, whether video or photo. Typically I’d say it might be something I wan to pass on to local law enforcement and/or CNN iReport and such.
But then it feels like it might be a good idea to take a deep, deep breath first and think about what to do next. Dependent on what it is I just captured, I feel like having Ed on speed dial would be a good idea?! 😉
Is there something you might be willing to share in terms of how to behave legally correct in a few different situations, maybe based on actual events to illustrate it better? I would greatly appreciate any input!
#2 by Chris Adval on June 30, 2014 - 3:38 am
where can I find the first video you guys had on B&H? I tried searching it on their youtube but couldnt find it.
#3 by John K. Humkey on July 2, 2014 - 5:32 pm
Loved the video, but it disturbed me greatly. (Amateur photographer here, have never sold anything. But someday, maybe . . .) Think of the section about the girl on the Aids/HIV poster. . . If we can’t reasonably use “any photo for any purpose” with just a generic release . . . then, the entire Stock system (every company, everywhere, of every type) is wiped out. We have relegated the entirety of commercial photography to “studio” (at least planned) shoots, for Explicitly Specified “known in advance” Purposes. I know photography (as an amateur) is a WIDELY performed enjoyable activity. It could very well be the 2nd most widely performed enjoyable hobby among the general public. If everything must be “planned” for a specific purpose, then we’ve sucked the life and enjoyment out of the process. (Do prostitutes enjoy sex?) I’m not saying its wrong to be “commercial” about photography, but . . . rulings like that pretty much wipe out “Street Photography”, or “Event”, or “vacation” photography, (even with general purpose model releases) since you’ll never know how someone might be offended or (at least emotionally) injured by the way a photo is used later. I suppose a “photojournalist” at a historical event, or with a historical person, might get away with some things, but us “average folk” just seemed out of luck. Second disturbing point was the “register everything”. If I can copyright all 3,000 photos I just took on vacation, for $55 . . . well then OK. (Or better yet, all 10,000 photos I took this year for $55. Then OK.) If its 3,000 * $55 = $165,000 . . . its gonna be a very very very long time before I can take the camera on a vacation again. It was all great advice. I don’t disagree with any of it, but . . . it seems to envision/require a world where, “Photos are only taken intentionally for an explicit purpose, which is stated on the model’s contract in excruciating precognitive detail.” And that (other than for a very tiny minority who can shoot “up front” for a known stated purpose) . . . it pretty much creates a world that sucks the life, fun, and spontaneity out of photography. (Thanks bunches.) Seriously, I did enjoy the video, even if it doesn’t sound like it.
#4 by Edward C. Greenberg on August 5, 2014 - 6:36 pm
For Chris: Only some of our videos done for Kelby are now available to non- subscribers, subscribers get them all. Last year’s B&H seminar should still be available.
For John: Relax. There are laws against libel yet billions of words are written and published every day. Street photographers and journalists practice their craft every day without being sued for falsely identifying someone as a pedophile, murderer or drug dealer. If you need to portray a model or actor in such fashion for an ad or otherwise, “sensitive issue” releases are common place and are available for free from us in our books, at our seminars and via Kelby Training.
How do you think your life would play out if Jack took a photo of you walking down the block and then published it on page 1 of The NY Times with the headline “King of Kiddie Porn Walks Among Us”? Don’t you think he should get permission from you to portray you as a pariah if you are not?
For 99% of all uses a general release is fine. Sensitive issues ie nudity, diseases, criminality, use of children and so on require a special release. Very few of our clients seem to have a problem getting such releases on those rare occasions when needed.
$55 for the entire registration. NOT PER PICTURE. We say and write that daily and did so at B&H. $55 covers several thousand images.