We’ve all been there – ‘official photographer’ at an event and we ask (or get post shot permission) for a photograph and then, later on we receive an email or other message asking us to remove that image… in this situation, what do you do?
[ Image re-used under Creative commons licence - see original]
I’ve had it happen to me twice in the last few months and it’s always awkward – as invariably it’s been by a person involved in one of the better shots of the day. In both cases, the request has arrived after I’ve already published my images and, as my Flickr stream and website are picked up very quickly by Google you can guarantee the images are already in the public domain.
My response has been to not just roll-over to the request but to send a copy of the shots I was planning to use to the person involved, to explain I had already published and to ask if they were willing to expand a little on why they have decided to change their mind on permission. In the first instance the person who queried my actions had misunderstood my motives and re-assigned permission and all was well. The second instance was very recently and I’m awaiting feedback on my enquiry.
How has this gone for you in the past – and how would you deal with it?
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There are so many turns and u-turns here. To navigate these issues it always, always pays to get a model release signed.
There are cultures that forbid the publication of any work but during any consultation with an event, they should make it clear to their audience that images will be taken and slected for use. If your consultation is 1-2-1 then the ground rules must be discussed upfront and clearly. If all goes well then model release time.