Dallas

[Dallas]

I am wondering about submitting photos with children in them. The Lanimer festival in Lanark has a procession on the Thursday which is made up mainly of children in colourful costumes. Unusually for Alamy, I seem to have Lanimers all to myself. So far, I have mainly uploaded photos of the adult participants but would like to include some of the children too.  However, I have read that some children belong to families who have been re-housed to get them away from violent family members who may spot their child and come looking for them or their mother, and that we should bear this in mind when uploading pictures with children in them. Or the children may be 'in care' and photos not permitted. I have no way of knowing who these are. Should I avoid pictures with children, or would it be reasonable to suppose these children's carers would have taken this into account? So far, there are no restrictions on taking photographs that I know of & no-one has stopped me.

[Starsphinx]

2 hours ago, Dallas said:

I am wondering about submitting photos with children in them. The Lanimer festival in Lanark has a procession on the Thursday which is made up mainly of children in colourful costumes. Unusually for Alamy, I seem to have Lanimers all to myself. So far, I have mainly uploaded photos of the adult participants but would like to include some of the children too.  However, I have read that some children belong to families who have been re-housed to get them away from violent family members who may spot their child and come looking for them or their mother, and that we should bear this in mind when uploading pictures with children in them. Or the children may be 'in care' and photos not permitted. I have no way of knowing who these are. Should I avoid pictures with children, or would it be reasonable to suppose these children's carers would have taken this into account? So far, there are no restrictions on taking photographs that I know of & no-one has stopped me.

There is a difference between ethical and legal restrictions.  As far as I know the USA is the same as the UK on no legal restrictions for taking photographs of public places and the people in them except in limited incidences where restrictions are made clear.

That leaves the ethical considerations.  If there is a child being kept away from a violent family member would a shot of them at a public event be of any real assistance in tracking them down?  If a child is subject to care proceedings such that photographs are not allowed would they be taking part in a public festival in the first place?  You have to remember for every pro making these considerations there are a hundred ordinary people taking photos with their phones and immediately uploading them to social media.

I run into similar considerations shooting youth football (soccer if you are in the US) and the way it generally works is when I am shooting a "closed" game - that is one taking place on private property (school or sports club) with access limited to staff and family any shots I take of a child where there are legal considerations are never published.  I always ask those in charge of teams if they are happy for me to shoot and if there is anything I need to know (generally I am there at the invitation of one team anyway) and the most I have every been asked is not to publish anything of number whatever - I will take a clear face shot for my own reference and then make sure nothing is made public including that child.  On the other hand at "open" games where anyone can watch (possibly for a charge), there are no restrictions and I believe where there are concerns about a child they do not play in these games (and yes that is another way the monster adults screw over and hurt the children)

Your best bet is probably to contact the organizers and see what if any restrictions they have in place - and where possible try and get consent from adults in charge of children.  I am not sure how said festival works but if children are in groups say by school or club or whatever you might be able to get hold of an adult and say are you cool if I shoot your group I will send you a copy of the photo.  If it is individual children with parents it can be a bit more involved especially if you are trying to catch the children being natural and not posing for the camera - on the very rare occasion I do street photography and see a child being cute I tend to identify the parent, take the shot, and immediately approach the adult show them what I have done and make sure they are OK with it.  Generally, the response is they want a copy - some ask what is being done with it and I explain I freelance stock/news making it clear what can and cannot be done under editorial rules.  Then go with what they say.

[Dallas]

Thank you for that. Good idea about speaking to the adult in charge of each group - the children are in groups, usually school ones. 

[spacecadet]

Bear in mind that if you ask the question the answer will almost certainly be no. There is no expectation of privacy as a public procession, of course, and no proper grounds on which your photographs can be objected to. As long as you don't draw attention to yourself (maybe use the RX rather than the D5) what is the problem. The chances of a child being identified from a stock image posted after the fact must be pretty tiny.

Let the user of the images have the ethical qualms- in law you're not even the publisher.

 

On 29/03/2019 at 14:40, Starsphinx said:

 As far as I know the USA is the same as the UK

 

Lanark is in Scotland.

 

 

Edited April 2, 2019 by spacecadet

[Starsphinx]

55 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Bear in mind that if you ask the question the answer will almost certainly be no. There is no expectation of privacy as a public procession, of course, and no proper grounds on which your photographs can be objected to. As long as you don't draw attention to yourself (maybe use the RX rather than the D5) what is the problem. The chances of a child being identified from a stock image posted after the fact must be pretty tiny.

Let the user of the images have the ethical qualms- in law you're not even the publisher.

 

 

Lanark is in Scotland.

 

 

Apologies I got mixed up with the name of the poster.