Model Release for church publication

[jairy hunter]

Sorry if this has been dealt with before--can't find anything, please

direct me if necessary!

 

Do photogs generally get model releases for "people" (church members)

photos for use in church publications (i.e. web, brochure, quarterly

magazine, slide shows)?

 

Logically we should probably get releases, but is advertisement for a

church which is not physically selling anything considered the same

as advertisement for a product? I mean the church isn't making money

from their image.

 

Someone mentioned that they don't want their picture floating all

over the place (i.e. internet), but I suppose if someone didn't like

the way they were represented we could be sued. But I doubt that

would get anywhere--we could just remove the offending picture(s).

 

It just seems like a lot of time and energy for a volunteer like me

to have to put up with if the high school sunday school class wants

to have a slide show from their mission trip or whatever.

 

Thanks,

J.

[art_haykin]

When it comes to litigation, putatively religious people are no different from anyone else. I arrange a meeting with the senior pastor and a good attorney.

[Jerry_]

If everyone is a church member, just pass out a simple one-sheet "permission" slip to use the image in the church's directory. As far as advertising use __ the prior note for the advice of a lawyer works.

[craig_gillette]

If you put out a call for volunteers for use in shots for advertising for the church, you could probably assume it was OK to use them. If you just randomly grab shots from events and use them, then you may find people who didn't want them used that way. Making asumptions when kids are involved is riskier if the parents weren't actively involved.

 

I suppose there is an arguable gray area between "Church Events" being a journalistic report of events or an "advertisement" showing what a new "customer" might expect. (You'd really need a totally unhappy and angry person to push that issue.)

 

You are right in that getting releases might be a real pain and that it's "low risk." But it isn't "no risk" and even if you don't have signed releases, it might be well to at least ask before use about anyone not wanting their picture used.

 

I'd agree that you should also involve the leaders of the church in the decision process. They ultimately control the purse-strings and may also know of any quirks or foibles that you may not be aware of in use of certain people's images. They may also be supportive of the use of releases.