I'm interested in sports shooting and event photography and would like to know the legal ramifications of shooting youth sports/events and selling the images online or on site.
Is there any problem with selling these images without a subjects permission. I will be selling prints and possibly files but low res.
Say I take photos at the homecoming dance and sell the images, does a parent have any legal ground for not allowing me to do so? I understand that the purchaser could not resell them or use them for any commercial purpose. But my main concern is the sale of the images of these children (legally) and how a parent would view this.
I'm trying to think ahead and one scenario is this. I take the photos and a guy has a crush on a girl and he purchases a photo of this girl at the homecoming dance or sporting event. He puts it on his wall and for some reason the girl finds out about it and flips out and tells her parents. Her parents investigate and find it to be true. At this point I'm the guy that they are going to come after I think.
The question then becomes, do I have a leg to stand on or am I writing a check out to the parents.
Please anyone who is doing this type of work give me your opinions and advice. Thanks again.
I’ve seen a photographer doing this at a HS track meet and he posts his images on a site like snapfish.com for parents to review and purchase. I thought that was pretty bold and was curious about the legal end of it. I found the following book helpful and interesting:
If your local librarian is as kind as mine, they will be able to get this through an interlibrary loan – you can also find it for under $25 at amazon.com. Sorry for the indirect answer, but hopefully this will point you in the right direction if you receive no other responses.
You should be cautious about running a business - selling pictures - or even just taking pictures, if done from a "private" place where the owner has the right to control use of the property. You could easily be ejected or prohibited from coming back. Those are issues of the owner exercising "his" rights, not of yours to take pictures.
Beyond that, assuming no privacy type issues and not used in a promotional way, the sale of the pictures should be OK.
Don't count on others being aware of the legal issues either, so that means you could easily get a lot of grief from people upset by what you do.
Craig...I would never just show up and take pics and try to sell them. This would definitely be a situation where I have permission and will be the "photographer" for the event and be under contract.
