You’re at your kid’s soccer match at school, and you’re taking pictures. Being the photo buff that you are, you get everything: kids scoring goals, parents screaming from the sidelines, the popcorn vendor, and fans in the stands. Later, you show the pictures to some of the people and ? nd that some want to buy a print for themselves. This becomes a popular trend and, over time, your reputation grows. The local newspaper gets wind of your talent and wants to license a few photos so it can put some in the paper for an article on the school’s sports curriculum. Perhaps the local gift shop wants to sell enlargements of the shot you took of the winning goal at the state championships.
All’s going well — until someone tells you that you can’t do any of
these things unless the people in the photos sign a “release” allowing you to
use pictures of them.
Are they right? After all, you’re not the only person there with a camera. Everyone takes pictures. And, as evidenced from looking at just about any Web site on the Internet, photos are everywhere.
Yet, whenever people take pictures in public (especially around schools and parks where children congregate), there’s always someone in the crowd ready to voice objections, threats, or warnings. So, what’s wrong with what you’re doing? And if something is wrong, what can happen to you as a result?
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THE ESSENTIALS
Many people think they understand the subject of model releases for photos better than they actually do, and when you combine that misinformation with fear or greed, people tend to swing to either overly conservative or overly liberal interpretations of legal matters. The best way to learn this material is to follow these basic guidelines:
The laws regarding model releases are not codi? ed as they are with traf? c laws. There are no hard-and-fast rules you can apply mindlessly. The greatest mistake you can make is assuming that the law is written so clearly and unambiguously that you can just look up questions in a book and get answers.
