selling my first photo

ajmall · Mar 24, 2004

hi,

i am a student and have just sold my first photograph to a client of a friends design consultancy. i was asked my fee but never having sold a photograph i don't have a scooby doo (clue)!

it's a shot of the england rugby team on their victory parade.

thanks for your help and any of that is appreciated!

Andrew

ksmattfish · Mar 24, 2004

Do you have a release from the rugby team? You might want to check on the legalities. There have been lot's of discussions on this here (you might do a search for "legal"), but you should talk to a lawyer who knows the laws of your area.

vonnagy · Mar 24, 2004

good point ksmattfish.

funny you should say that i sold my first three photos yesterday. I went on the web to find out what other photogs where charging for similar shots (an 8x10 NZ landscape print averages around $70 NZD) Since mine where digital and I had to take them to town to print with no idea what the outcome would be, i charged half that. When I get my website going like it should I will just charge what others are charging on the net.

ajmall · Mar 24, 2004

damn have i seriously got to check legal stuff? so what, my photo is property of the england rugby team?

jack · Mar 24, 2004

hi ya guys,
matt's logic is sound, but i think its worth adding in this instance specifically for forum members who are outside the UK (& rugby culture), that the
rugby team victory was a national event,
which produced a mass-public event in central london while the
team took their bows. i think this allows the photographer IMO
to be excused any relase required. (the crowd is as much an element of
the photo as the team. an associate of mine recently filmed a
tv advert in a northern english city, and the high street segs in the video
were ok without a release, as long as the high-street bank and shop signage (the national icons) were obliquely filmed.

ultimately its the photographers decision. :0)

i messed up that day, if i was switched on , i would have gone done
the same thing. good work ! thats an image with plenty of shelf life. nice !

Big Mike · Mar 24, 2004

The photo is your property...but you can't just make money from it...if it contains a trademark like the team logo, without their permission.

The laws are different from place to place, that's why you should ask someone. Either a lawyer or a pro photographer.

Some places, you are allowed to use photos for news purposes but it's different if you are selling for advertising purposes.

jack · Mar 24, 2004

good point about logos Mike. i hear you.

EDIT: ajmall - it might be a lesson for a photographer too,
having digested people feedback here, that an unusual image,
such as the one you witnessed, should be offered quickly, while there
is a window of time, in which display advertising and news pictures
can merge a la corporate advertising (& patronage).

it wouldnt be far fetched to have seen a full page - display advert in the
broadsheets (or provincial papers) 'salute' to the team by an insurance
firm or bank etc. they , of course would have sourced these via agency.
but the agency images would be crowd shots like yours. i doubt
whether many releases were signed in the furore :0), and now its all
history lol.

if some corporate brochure wants a 'sporty' visual metaphor for their
blurb, in a few years time, IMO any images with the team sposor logos
would have to be licensed.