Would you give up rights to your photos?

[Angelo]

I have been asked to photograph a charity event. They have asked that I photograph under the following conditions:

"Because of privacy issues at ...[Event] (and all [associates of the non profit organizations]), they have a requirement that they “own all photos”. Thus, any photos taken at the [event] must become the property of the [Event] “if campers are in the picture”. Pictures of non-camper guests and of inanimate objects i.e. buildings, lakes, pathways, etc., do not apply. I know that you copyright all of your photos. Is it a problem to not copyright them and to give them to the [organization having the event]?"

I really have no problem with request since it is for a very large charity and I would not use the images unless I received the permission of the individuals in the photos and their rightful guardian.

What are your feelings of such a request.

[bryanlindsey]

If you have no problem, then it's not a problem.

If a CUSTOMER wants ownership (copyright) of photos, not just a release, it'll cost 'em!

You are ABSOLUTELY SURE that you will NEVER want to use these photos for ANYTHING?

[Mindy H]

What they are really wanting is to make sure that you do not use those images anywhere not necessarily to actually own the copyright. They don't want the responsibility if those people show up on a web site somewhere that they shouldn't be. Lots of commercial contracts will ask for something like this for similar reasons. If you are worried about releasing all rights, just modify the contract to suit both parties. I've never had a commercial client that wouldn't allow me to still own copyright as long as I waived all rights of displaying the images anywhere.

[Outlaw]

I agree entirely with Bryan, if it's not a problem for you, it's not a problem at all.

So long as you are comfortable with your compensation and have no particular reason to want to hold on to the images then there's nothing wrong with it at all. Sounds like everyone's happy.

[robert t]

Had a similar issue, but gave them a limited license to do just about anything but sell the images. They needed them for fund raising and new articles. I still have ownership. They were concerned about the images getting stolen and me holding them accountable. I told them that I would take on the thief and not them.