Model Release question

[sbug_adam]

lets say i go to my local high school and shoot a sporting event or homecoming or whatever.. and i want to sell my prints to parents of the athletes.. Do i have to have model releases for each athlete? what about people that are in the background? what about issues of having the school mascot or logo or whatever in regards to copyright situations.. someone, please help me out on this. i've been asking several memebers on several forums and no one responds or has a clue..

[Robin Binder]

I was told that at public events that it's open to anyone with a camera- no model release is required with copyright situations. Consider them a celebrity and they are open season.

[sbug_adam]

is it still ok to sell the prints then?

[srwatters]

Read this carefully and you'll find all the answers you need.

http://www.danheller.com/model-release.html

This link was pointed out to me by a stock photography company that I contribute to.

[hhscr]

That is alot of information to take in. Going to have to absorb it in small quantities.

[jeffkohn]

Short answer, no, you don't need a release. If you were selling a large enough volume of any given picture it might cross the line into "commercial use", for instance taking a picture of a single player and turning it into a mass-produced poster sold in retail stores. But outside of that you should be fine. The thing to keep in mind is that "selling for a profit" and "commercial use" are not the same thing from a legal standpoint.

Of course I'm no lawyer, but then again neither is Dan Heller. You might want to check out the Photo Attorney blog or Bert Krages' book to see what an actual lawyer says on some of these issues, the blog is very informative.

[ThePhotoBinder]

I think he wants to just sell them back to the parent of the player only.