Anonymous People

[mr_engineer]

A quick question for you all...

I want to enter a local photography contest that's looking for shots representing "family". I have one shot that I took at a local park one day, completely randomly. I just turned around, and there was this wonderful shot of a young child and her grandfather playing on the swings. I think it's a great shoe-in to win, and want to submit it, but:

My question is, is it legal to submit this photo for a contest without the consent (written or otherwise) of the people in the picture?

I'm totally new to the legality of photography, so any help you folks can provide is VERY appreciated!

[Saralonde]

There is a thread on Photographer's Rights List of Photographers rights.... Maybe there is something there that could help you.

[smc1377]

The May 2007 issue of Shutterbug Magazine touched on this issue in their special feature called "Privacy Rights and Copyrights: What Photographers Need to Know". Don't know about Canada, but this is how it is in the States.

From what I understand from the article, photo contests are considered "commercial use" and therefore would require model releases. Quoting from the article, it states:

Basically, getting privacy rights released to you with a model release is necessary if you plan to use the images for any "commercial" use such as websites, photo contests, annual reports, advertising, product promotion, promotional brochures, posters, greeting cards, calendars--even your own marketing--as these are all considered non-editorial use.

Shutterbug Magazine - May 2007, pg 30

I would guess that Canadian Law is probably not that different than American Law in this regard.

[Nicole]

Interesting I wouldn't have expected that they would consider photo contests and websites commercial use necessarily. I suppose it's easier to place these topics in with commercial use than devise other "exceptions" to the rule. Thanks for sharing

[mr_engineer]

That makes sense, actually. Ah, well, such is life. Thanks to everyone for the help!

[Digidave]

Originally Posted by Nicole

Interesting I wouldn't have expected that they would consider photo contests and websites commercial use necessarily. I suppose it's easier to place these topics in with commercial use than devise other "exceptions" to the rule. Thanks for sharing

When you enter a photo into a contest, you are required to give them the okay to use that photo for commercial purposes. That is where the commercialization comes into play. Once the photo is entered, it can be used by them for whatever purposes they see fit. This may not be true to all contests, but for a vast majority it is. This is just my understanding of what I've read & heard.

[ELAY]

Mr. Engineer --

This is kind of grey area in Canada.

Each of us has the right to control commercial exploitation of our images. For those of us who aren't Sydney Crosby, the value of that commercial exploitation may not amount to much. However, there is currently no explicit protection for non-commercial use of our images in the common-law part of Canada (there is an older case from Quebec you can read about here) -- though I suspect that may be coming some day, with all the new privacy legislation in this country.

So, your anonymous family does have the right to control the commercial exploitation of the image, which may include its use in a contest. I wouldn't say that submitting the photo is definitely off-limits though. I think that if it came to it (and I can't actually believe it would -- if the family got wind and objected, you would just graciously withdraw the entry) and the thing went to court, the court would look at all the circumstances of the contest before deciding whether submission constituted commercial exploitation.

The other thing to consider though is whether your contest has rules about submission of images of people (which it really should). I would think that any serious contest would require entrants to certify that they have obtained releases from any persons who are the main focus of their photographs. If you submit your photo, give the certification, the family hears about it and it turns out that you don't have the requisite release, well, that could be awkward and embarrassing.

EL

[pegasus]

I'm not sure I understand. Well, I do and I don't. Why is the news media excluded? They post photos all the time without releases, don't they?

[CallMeKat]

oh, i thought that the photo is property of the photographer. guess things have changed?

[Diana1979]

I entered a contest just the other day and when I submitted the photo, I had to agree that I was the guardian of the child(ren) in the photo.