Photographing kids in a youth club... legal issues?

[dolfinack]

I'm thinking of taking some snaps of the kids to spice up the walls of an under 18s centre I volunteer at.

What I was thinking... would this be a good idea? Wouldn't want to get my ass trailed off to court by some parent for you-know-what. I would of course only keep the photos to fix them up in post and print. Then they'd all be handed over to the club manager and deleted from my comp.

Don't know much about release forms, some of these wee nippers are only 5 or so.

Any advice??

Cheers

[BillsBayou]

...some of these wee nippers are only 5 or so...

Nope. I'm out.

Given that the photos are being used to promote a facility, you would want a model release on every one of the children in the photo. You would retain all ownership of the photos. This keeps the legal ownership of the photos in your possession so that no one else could use the children's photos for any other purpose. The center would have license to use the photos for display purposes only. They would not have the ability to print flyers, web pages, or use them in any other media known or created in the future. The center would receive a document from you for each individual photo (with a copy of the photo itself on the form) stating their right to display the photos only. Your contact information would be included. Given the restrictions on use of the children's likenesses, you may need to do the shoot as a staged photo session.

[dolfinack]

Cheers for that. Thats pretty much what I was thinking. Too much hassle :(

[Woolburr]

Before you throw in the towel....you might want to see if there are any parents that would be interested in allowing their children to participate. Since you are talking about images that are only going to be displayed in the center...it might not be near as much hassle as you suspect.

[BillsBayou]

Before you throw in the towel....you might want to see if there are any parents that would be interested in allowing their children to participate. Since you are talking about images that are only going to be displayed in the center...it might not be near as much hassle as you suspect.

I wouldn't do it without a model release.

Oh, how about a photo contest?!?! Have the parents submit photos of their children playing there. Construct the rules of the contest to state that the winning pictures will be displayed at the center. That's about it. So long as the photos are submitted with the parents signature on the contest form, the center will be in the clear. The photos should be submitted digitally at no less than 4-megapixels in size or an 8x10 photo (or Irish equivalent of 8-inch by 10-inch photos ;) ).

[Woolburr]

I wouldn't do it without a model release.



At no point did I suggest doing anything without a release. I suggested asking if there were parents willing to let their children participate. We also need to bear in mind that the OP lives in Northern Ireland and not the US, so any legal advice that might apply to us has absolutely no bearing on him at all.

I would also suspect that the facility would be aware of any regulations that they might have to comply with and could handle the necessary releases should they even be necessary.