The Legal Aspects of Photographing Antiquity

Advance Notes: In a public place (whether admission is charged or not) it's possible to photograph freely. Only if the photographer is actually trespassing would there be problems with the law. However, in foreign countries, photographers and publishers may encounter restrictions regards photos in public places that are more rigorous than in the States.

The necessity for a property or model release is dictated by a photo's eventual use. If photos are used for editorial purposes (not commercial use), model releases are not required.

ANTIQUITIES

In the case of the pyramids, the Siq, Jordan biblical sites, the Minoan palace at Knossos, Crete, the rock Tombs at Petra, and the like, whether the photos are of the inside or outside the site, no model or property release is required if the pictures are used to "inform and educate" (editorial use). Only when the picture is to be used for a commercial purpose would releases be needed. This would apply to pictures at archaeological digs, as well.

The confusion over whether a public object can be photographed and published, most usually comes from persons who arrive at the stock photography industry through the commercial door rather than through the editorial door. For example, photographers who have worked for a newspaper most of their career, know that model or property releases are not needed if the photo is to be used "to inform or to educate." Conversely, photographers who have worked in the commercial or advertising sector, e.g. corporate, advertising, and graphic art services, know that any photo used for endorsement or advertising purposes most always requires a model or property release.

Here at PhotoSource International, our emphasis is on editorial photography, and most of our markets, such as magazine and book publishers, maintain an editorial focus.

About $70,000 a day is spent on editorial photography in this country. That's about 1/5 of what is spent daily on commercial stock photography.

Although the monetary rewards in the editorial field are not as high up front as in the commercial field, other rewards abound.

One example: editorial stock photographers can afford to specialize in a field they enjoy working in. This allows them to build a deep selection of images in that specialization, making them a valuable resource to photo researchers and publishers in that field of interest. (Book and magazine publishers, of course, specialize, too.) Although the per picture fee is not as high as in commercial stock photography, many publishers buy in volume, which often makes up the difference over the long haul.

In many cases, however, researchers would do well to check if model or product releases are possibly available for the asking. This in the event the particular picture lends itself for commercial use, also.

Rohn Engh is director of PhotoSource International and publisher of PhotoStockNotes. Pine Lake Farm, 1910 35th Road, Osceola, WI 54020 USA E-mail: info@photosource.com Fax: 1 715 248 7394. Web site: www.photosource.com