Photography, like many areas, is covered by a number of laws to protect the public, the client and even the photographer !
Some acts of Parliament, such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAW or HSW), Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) are relevant to photographers.
Basically the Health and Safety at Work Act stipulates that we are responsible for all those working for us, on our property or on location. I have identified some key areas below:
Health and Safety – Studio
Environment
On previous courses when working in the college photographic studio which is kept clear of any obstructions, we had a clear and safe working environment, which is very important because, once the lights are out and we have only the modelling lights from the flash units to see by, any cables or props left lying around could cause an accident.
Other studios might not be so well organised, so care to ensure that both you and others (assistants, models, clients,) have a safe environment in which to work.
Electricity
Although the voltages for many lights may be lower, especially for portable lighting, you must always check that the cables are in good condition and have firm connections (to the equipment and to the mains power supply) and that nothing is overloading any sockets.
Any use of liquids, for inclusion within any photographs, must be controlled to prevent any liquid coming close to any electrical appliances, or being spilt on the floor, causing a slipping accident.
Cables
If the lighting is fitted to a series of tracks which are fixed to the ceiling, this reduces the number of cables that are near the ground, and any slack in the cables from these lights is taken up to prevent any tripping over accidents. If the lights, and any other electrical equipment, are on the floor then care must be taken to prevent trips or catching the cables and causing anything to fall on anyone in the studio, or igniting anything that could result in a fire.
Heat
Because of the use of flash units, which generate a lot of heat, these must only handled before any photography started, using the light from the modelling light to ascertain the lighting. Also nothing inflammable should be placed any where near any lighting equipment. It is important with so much lighting equipment that can be triggered wirelessly that any unused equipment is switched off, both for safety and causing unwanted lighting.
Steve, who changed any fittings, prior to the start of the shoot, was careful not to catch any lighting tubes, which are very fragile whilst changing the fittings.
Health and Safety – Location
All the above health and safety precautions should be taken, in addition to those below:
Exposure
It is important that all the photographer’s team are suitably dressed for the location, with provisions for the weather changing. This is not so much an issue when a vehicle is near by, where towels and warm clothing should be carried. Even space rescue blankets, which are silver reflective sheets which can reflect body heat back to the casualty or user) should be carried.
Communications
When on location, it is important to maintain communications with someone, at the office, studio, a friend or family, etc, so that if anything was to happen the emergency services could be contacted. Care should be taken when using mobile telephones which can loose their signal very easily. With walkie talkie handsets, it is important that the team stay within range of each other and have meeting locations set up so that in case of emergency the team can all meet in one location.
Terrain
It is important that the team are aware of the terrain and take precautions near to cliffs, and rivers. Ideally, a route should be mapped out before hand, and stuck to, avoiding any dangerous areas.
The team leader should maintain knowledge of their actual position, either via map or GPS, which in the case of an emergency can save vital time in the tem being located quickly. Accurate and up to date maps should be carried which cover the location.
First Aid
Ideally, one of the team would be trained in first aid, but at the very least a well stocked first aid kit should always be carried.
Post Production
Although you might feel that here you are safe, you must still take precautions.
Chemicals
Because we are all using digital cameras, most of the chemicals involved with photography, in particular the processing and development of the finished photographs, have been removed, but some others still are in use.
All chemicals should be in clearly marked bottles which are kept in a safe storage area.
Chemical Data sheets should be kept available detailing what is in the chemical, it’s effect on people and how to deal with it if it is spilt or comes into contact with someone.
Visual Display Equipment
With the increase use of computers in the work place the Visual Display Regulations were brought in to ensure that people were using computers in the safest environment possible. Below is a video showing how you should sit at a computer:
Basically you should adopt a sitting position like the one below:
Where the eyes are in line with the top of the computer’s monitor, the arms are at about 90 degrees to the body, with the wrists straight and your feet should be flat on the ground.
In addition to sitting properly it is important that you take regular breaks away from the computer, even if it is only looking at something else, so that your eyes can focus on something further away than the distance from the monitor. It is important to note that many people do not blink whilst at a computer screen, hence the feeling of tired and dry eyes !
I know the above is difficult, especially whilst working on that image for your final selection, or the winning image for the Burton Photographic Society, but failure to keep to these actions will cause you problems later on.
Other areas of Law
Children
Photographing children, especially in a public place, can be a minefield and simply it is better to photograph the children, at home, with the parents consent, even better with the parents being there !
Contract Law
This might sound a little heavy for photographers, but it is an important area for any business.
- You should always try to get the requirements from the client in writing, as this can save a lot of hassle later on if the client changed their mind.
- The cost of the assignment must be agreed before work starts, with provision for any necessary expenses.
- It is important to estimate the time required to fulfil the assignment so that any other work that needs to be done afterwards is not held up by you. Some companies may enforce a delay penalty clause if this is the case.
- It is important to remember that the last terms of contract accepted are those that would be enforceable in a court of law.
- Payment terms should be agreed prior to any work being started and documented. Here a little homework on finding out the companies normal payment terms can be useful as to argue the case if necessary.
Copyright
It is important to respect the copyright of other people, as failure to do so can lead to prosecution in a court of law, having college work removed from your portfolio, disqualification in competitions and exhibitions – this list is almost endless, but the effect on you and your reputation can be devastating !
When uploading images to the internet, a copyright notice on the web site will not always stop people from trying to grab your images. Some common methods to try to stop people from stealing your work are:
- Disabling the right click button action on a page with includes your images. This is a simple matter of using some JavaScript code on the website.
- Watermarking images, both digitally (which would only be seen in the top of the screen when editing the images) or physically or destructively (where an image is overlaid over your photograph, usually with a message (eg copyright) to deter someone from simply copying your image and claiming that they took the photograph.
- Using flash albums, so the person trying to steal the image cannot simply click and steal the image directly.
One example, that I heard of recently, was the copyright infringement case Latimer v. Roaring Toyz, et al. The case has been reported by various photo industry publications and blogs since it involved a claim of copyright infringement brought by a photographer against several high-profile defendants. Today, the case, which has all the trappings of a morality play, represents a cautionary tale for any photographer who fails to use written agreements or who doesn’t understand that a photographer’s conduct can create a license (aptly named an implied license). Above all, the case is a lesson in the importance of maintaining realistic expectations in business and litigation.
The background of the case is relatively straightforward. In January 2006, Kawasaki Motors Corp. U.S.A. engaged Sarasota, Florida-based Roaring Toyz (www.RoaringToyz.com) to customize two ZX-14 motorcycles as part of its introduction of the new model motorcycle. The customized motorcycles were to be displayed together with standard production models during Daytona Bike Week. Although Roaring Toyz did the custom work, it commissioned Ryan Hathaway, an independent artist, to create custom artwork that ultimately appeared on the motorcycles. By late February 2006, Roaring Toyz had nearly finished the customization of the two motorcycles. At about the same time, Kawasaki was completing preparations for the ZX-14 World Press Introduction, which was scheduled to take place in Las Vegas during the last few days of the month.
Kawasaki requested photographs of the customized motorcycles, and the Roaring Toyz marketing director, using a point-and-shoot digital camera, created and sent the requested photographs. After seeing the marketing director’s photographs, Kawasaki decided that they wanted better quality photographs of the customized motorcycles so that they could include them in the media kit distributed at the World Press Introduction.
While Roaring Toyz had relationships with a number of photographers in the motorcycle industry, it was trying to promote Todd Latimer, a photographer in Safety Harbor, Fla., who was friendly with some of the people at Roaring Toyz (previously, Latimer had worked as a glamour photographer, but a variety of factors prompted him to look for new subject matter; Roaring Toyz used its contacts in the motorcycle industry to help Latimer receive magazine assignments, including an assignment from 2 Wheel Tuner, to cover the customization of the ZX-14 motorcycles). Roaring Toyz called Latimer and requested that he photograph the customized motorcycles so that Kawasaki could include the images in its media kit. Latimer drove to the Roaring Toyz shop for a photo shoot that started late in the evening and went through to the very early hours of the next morning so that images could be sent to Kawasaki the next day, the deadline for the press kit.
After completing the shoot in the very early hours of the morning, Latimer demanded that Roaring Toyz pay him $800, which was paid (Latimer later claimed that the $800 related to something other than the overnight shoot). Later that morning, Latimer e-mailed photographs of the customized motorcycles to the Roaring Toyz marketing director, who forwarded the images to Kawasaki. In a follow-up e-mail, Latimer asked the marketing director to convey to Kawasaki that Latimer also would like a photo credit, if possible. Kawasaki included five of Latimer’s photographs in the media kit together with 110 other images of standard production models.
Some months later, Latimer opened a copy of Cycle World magazine, published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Inc. (a subsidiary of the world’s largest magazine publisher) and discovered that it included two of his images from the overnight shoot together with an article discussing the new motorcycle. A Cycle World representative received Kawasaki’s media kit at the World Press Introduction. At about the same time, a number of other magazines published articles about the new motorcycles, including 2 Wheel Tuner, which published photographs from the assignment they had given Latimer.
Around the time he discovered his images published in Cycle World, Latimer registered the copyright for the images from the overnight shoot. However, the images were registered too late to take advantage of the three-month grace period following first publication.
Eventually, Latimer found a law firm willing to pursue the case, and they sued Kawasaki, Hachette, Roaring Toyz and the Roaring Toyz owner for copyright infringement. Although not entitled to recover attorney’s fees or statutory damages, Latimer sought an award of each defendant’s profits.
As with any morality play, there are lessons to be taken away from the case. For starters, the case underscores the importance of using agreements. Even when time is short and there’s no time for a formal contract, any sort of letter agreement or e-mail confirming the terms of an agreement are better than nothing and may be sufficient to avoid having a court determine after the fact that a license was granted by implication. Likewise, transmitting a clear set of restrictions or limitations when transmitting the images may help limit the scope of any implied license.
As important as it is to use agreements and document relationships, and to understand the consequences of delivering images to someone in the absence of any documentation, it’s far more important to maintain realistic expectations. Had the case been evaluated from the point of view of what would have been reasonable based upon the actual use and prevailing law, a reasonable settlement might have been possible very early in the action.
As Jonathan Harr pointed out in his book A Civil Action, certain types of cases are riskier than others, and when certain types of cases go to trial, a “plaintiff can expect to lose, on average, two times out of three.” So why does anyone do it? They don’t. “Like most people, plaintiffs’ lawyers don’t like to take chances with their own money,” writes Harr. “They either settle or drop the vast majority of cases before trial.”
The expression "Caveat emptor", or buyer beware (which I heard about in a business law module of a previous course) seems appropriate or better still photographers beware.
Even using elements from other people in your work can cause serious problems, if in doubt – don’t !
Data Protection
The Data Protection Act (DPA) came in two parts, the 1984 act covered computer based information and the 1998 act covered printed information.
For the photographer, it is important to maintain their database of clients, models, contracts, invoices, etc in accordance with this act.
Key areas of the acts are:
- Data may only be used for the specific purposes for which it was collected.
- Data must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the individual whom it is about, unless there is legislation or other overriding legitimate reason to share the information (for example, the prevention or detection of crime). It is an offence for Other Parties to obtain this personal data without authorisation.
- Individuals have a right of access to the information held about them, subject to certain exceptions (for example, information held for the prevention or detection of crime).
- Personal information may be kept for no longer than is necessary and must be kept up to date.
- Personal information may not be sent outside the European Economic Area unless the individual whom it is about has consented or adequate protection is in place, for example by the use of a prescribed form of contract to govern the transmission of the data.
- Subject to some exceptions for organisations that only do very simple processing, and for domestic use, all entities that process personal information must register with the Information Commissioner's Office.
- Those holding personal information are required to have adequate security measures in place. Those include technical measures (such as firewalls, password protected databases, etc) and organisational measures (such as staff training).
- People / companies have the right to have factually incorrect information corrected (note: this does not extend to matters of opinion)
Release Forms
These forms are available via download, but do check the wording very carefully, and can cover:
- Model Release forms
- Property Release forms
- Minor Release forms
With these forms the photographer can state for what use the photographs are to be used, and where they are used. The model, property owner or guardian of the minor can then be assured that the images will not be misused in any way.
Below is an example of a basic model release form:
| MODEL RELEASE
Address
|
Invasion of Privacy
One thing whilst taking photographs in the outdoors is that you must take all reasonable precautions to ensure that you do not photograph someone, or something, that does not want to be photographed. If they are on public property then usually they have no argument, unless you are intruding on their privacy, for example like some celebrity photographs who will chase their target !
Obvious precautions include not taking photographs through windows of private property, not taking photographs of people on private property, etc.
Having taken photographs at a number of air displays, which are on private MOD property, I know what I can photograph, and what you cannot. If you are unsure it is best to ask first, rather than try to explain to the military police afterwards !
Trespass
It is important to make sure that whilst out taking photographs you do not enter other people’s property, both premises or land. This would be a violation under civil law and could result in heavy fines !
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