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Don Sanderson wrote:
Consider yourself absolved of all responsibility for my sorry butt!
Don
-----Original Message----- From: graywolf [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2004 10:12 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: OT:Model Release
I had better add here that I am not an attorney. I am not responsible if you get sued. I am only reporting my own practices. Whew....!
graywolf wrote:
A model release is a legal contract. A minor can not be held to a contract, so if the person is under 18 you need a parent or gardians signature too. Note the too, I almost never see that mentioned,
but once
the party is 18, their parents signature is no longer binding
upon them.
Get both signatures. It is the smart thing to do.
It is very hard sometimes to locate people after the fact, so
it is best
to try and get the release right then and there. If the parents are nowhere near get contact information then contact them with a copies of the photos in hand.
BTW, giving them one of the prints is legally a "valuable"
consideration
just like money which covers your ass nicely. "Good" consideration is their pride in seeing the photo published which is not as strong a defense if it comes down to that. However, 99.9% of the time just because they signed something for you will prevent them from trying to sue, so consideration is not as important as many legal texts make it out to be.
Years ago I tried using the ASMP long form release. Almost no one would sign such an intimidating document. Nowadays I would use the ASMP form for nudes, paid models, and the like but now use a very simple release printed on 3x5 cards for everything else. Here is the text of
what I use
(the comment about lawful purpose is in there to reasure them that I am not going to explote them in some nasty way):
-------------------------------
PHOTO RELEASE
I ___________________________________ hereby give Tom
Rittenhouse and/or
his assignees permission to use photographs of me and/or my property taken by him for any lawful purpose.
SIGNATURE: _______________________________ DATE:_______________ (Parent or guardian must also sign if under 18 years of age.)
ADDRESS:________________________________________________________
PHONE: ______________________ E-MAIL:__________________________
-----------------------------
Don Sanderson wrote:
Thanks!
Couple of last dumb questions: I like to shoot children, with/without their pets involved. I assume the releases would have to come from the parent/pet owner. Also what does one do in the case of "Drive By" candids? Do you stop and try to find the person to get a release? I always keep a camera ready on the car seat, sometimes it
would be very
difficult to stop and do that.
Don
-----Original Message----- From: graywolf [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2004 7:35 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: OT:Model Release
There are a lot of legal points involved, but it usually comes down to money. If they do not smell money most folks will not bother with legal proceedings. Now a while a magazine is percived as a fount of money, a personal webpage is not. Furthermore, if you are only announcing the photo here on the list you are in effect just showing it to friends.
So, if there is no money involved, nor defamation of character, I would not worry about it. If on the otherhand I was selling the images, to others than who appear in them, I would damn well make sure I had releases.
graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com/graywolf.html
-- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com/graywolf.html
-- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com/graywolf.html
