Trespassing Question

[THORHAMMER]

whats for monetary gain and whats commercial are 2 different but confusing things sometimes. If you are shooting commercially for an advertisment thats definately commercial work, but if you are shooting art and plan to offer it on your site for sale as stock or prints that falls under artistic use the difference is you are working for yourself , not contracted by another for those specific shots for their campaign.

Basically youll get in trouble if you go around with models and lights on sidewalk cause you will be hard pressed to show its art, but technically you could be working on a group art project , who knows but then the city probably has a cheap permit to allow the use of lights and all that cause youll be distracting to drivers and taking up a lot of the sidewalk.

most of the time youll be ok by yourself or with a tripod, (without models / makeup people)
if someone tells you you need a permit and your really just shooting for art reasons ask him why ? Hes got no awnser as long as your on public property or sidewalk, and breaking no city ordinance, dont sweat it.

If your a full time stock shooter and everytime you leave the house your thinking of the next shot its still not commercial really even, you dont know which shots will sell ? your werent comissioned ahead of time for thoe shots. Its the same as sitting at the park and painting something and then you find a buyer a month later. NOT commercial.

Mostly they will ask you if your a pro, or that you are taking a picture of private property.

The logic here is ridiculous :

IE: rally cross drivers are pros, but they drive family cars to get groceries, Clowns go to friends bday parties as guests, muscians play pianos for fun sometimes, and photographers go out for fun and shoot things. The difference is the strobes and gear, rally car, clown makeup and recording studio filled with corporate ears. Should the rally car driver qualify and pay race gas price to drive the station wagon down the street at speed limit ? NO.

The same cop who tells you because you might someday monetarily gain from the shots (in a stock agency) that its commercial (its not) will also be that cop who moonlights after hours bodyguarding a govt building while wearing his uniform and putting wear and tear on the cities police car but pocketing the money for bodyguarding 3701 N. Fairfax Drive in arlington. (real case)


The other thing is private property which has pretty much been covered here allready.