From: ann sanfedele <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Peter -- > About a year ago I went to a reading of a play written by a friend -- > all the readers, except one, were members of > Actors Equity and doing the gig for free.... I was snapping away making > a little gallery for my friend the writer... > I posted the photos adn sent the writer the link -- I think I may also > have shown it to the list or at least to some > mutual friends... writer write me that this was, apparently, taboo.... > taking photos of pro actors during a performance > was a major nono --- of course, everyone saw I was taking them and I > certainly would have stopped if someone had > asked.... I didn't want my friend to get into trouble so I've hidden the > gallery - and I gave him a printout... > > I think it is one thing to grab shots of actors hanging out around the > set, etc, and another to shoot stuff that > would be in the film - just a guess... > > It's annoying,aint it?
It's also quite wrong. They have no legal basis to object. As with Peter's sign stating that "by entering you give permission to appearing in the movie", you have multiple "Fair Use" grounds on which to defend yourself: 1. You were there BY INVITATION of the writer, one of the participants. 2. Actors are PUBLIC persons, and their PUBLIC activities are, in the vernacular "fair game". It's a public performance. They only own the rights to COMMERCIAL exploitation of their persona's. Fair use allows you to use the product of your own work for self promotion. You could, legally, even sell prints of the photos you took, and certainly you can use them to "advertise" yourself as a photographer. 3. They could have asked you to stop while you were taking the photos, and did not. If the reading took place in a theater, they could have told you in advance "no photography allowed." But they didn't, did they? They didn't stop you from bringing your camera in; they didn't stop you from taking photographs. And I'd bet the original invitation from the writer included an implied, if not explicit, "Would you bring your camera and take some pictures of actors reading MY PLAY, so I can use them to promote myself?" I'd have told 'em to SOD OFF! And while they may hassle your friend, if he complained to me about it, I'd ask him back, "Why did YOU put me in a situation for someone to hassle me?" Consider having some special business cards made just for those occasions. The word "litigious" should feature prominently on the front, along with a statement of photographer's rights on the back. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
