Well I think I have about had it with Indiana's athletic association. Apparently they have decided to charge photographers $5 for every photo they put online from the state playoffs! are they kidding? Needless to say I won't be posting any from tomorrow nights game. They can't seriously think were getting rich off this, but apparently they DO think that. oh well, the govenor wants to run a toll road through or near my house and the I H S A A wants to take what little the paper pays me so I may just move to another state .... anyone need a sports photographer?

JS

Well I think I have about had it with Indiana's athletic association. Apparently they have decided to charge photographers $5 for every photo they put online from the state playoffs! are they kidding? Needless to say I won't be posting any from tomorrow nights game. They can't seriously think were getting rich off this, but apparently they DO think that. oh well, the govenor wants to run a toll road through or near my house and the I H S A A wants to take what little the paper pays me so I may just move to another state .... anyone need a sports photographer?

JS

Heh, that sucks. I'd disobey them and if they tried to do anything, take them to court & argue that they would talk away your pay you for your work and you need money to live on. If that money gets taken away because they want to charge for your own hard work, time, and money spent on your own equipment, and you aren't going to give them $5 for every picture you take.

You could move to albany ny and you could go to all the high school sports and college events here & teach me stuff :thumbsup:

I've never heard of any thing like that. Indiana is way over regulated. What I want to know is how would they police that. With all the internet sites availabe how would they know if an image from the playoffs were posted or not?

Heh, that sucks. I'd disobey them and if they tried to do anything, take them to court & argue that they would talk away your pay you for your work and you need money to live on. If that money gets taken away because they want to charge for your own hard work, time, and money spent on your own equipment, and you aren't going to give them $5 for every picture you take.

You could move to albany ny and you could go to all the high school sports and college events here & teach me stuff :thumbsup:

hehehehe, yeah, if I could see to get through the snow drifts up there :) I have family up there, never met them though. Coe, Coons, Prosser, Dodge, Mitchell, Merrell (or Merrill gottem both), Roberts, Harrington's and Dickerman's as well as others I can't think of off hand. they are all cousins of one sort or another.
It wasn't long ago I think the Albany paper was looking for a photographer.

JS

this is when a locked photoreflect album comes in very handy....

Since they own the property and allow you to take pictures, they can pretty much do whatever they want. Whether it's a good business decision for them or not is another question. They would probably argue that if you're selling the photos you can just mark them up $5. It does seem pretty cheesy to me. Maybe someone just needs to talk to them about how hard it really is for a photographer to make any money. Or maybe everyone should just boycott. I think high profile people and organizations quickly forget that they rely on photographers to get them there and keep them there. As soon as they make it big and have some power they want a piece of your action and they want to start making rules about how and when photos can be taken. That's why we should all belong to the professional photographers organizations. We have to work as a group to protect our own interests. Alone, we have little or no power. Together we have a tiny bit. Unfortunately, there will always be amateur photographers who are willing to give away their work. That makes it hard to really flex our collective professional muscle.

Just for the sake of full-disclosure. I'm not a member of any photographers association. But I should be :rolleyes:

I am not in the least bit surprised. I have indicated repeatedly that photographers who don't exercise their rights will lose them. You can take photos on private property without permission and the only thing the owner can do is kick you off the property. You can still use those photos in whatever way you see fit.

Another bad mistake for any photographer is NOT diversifying. If you do journalistic photography, sports, scenics, court work, portraits, weddings, commercial work, video and television, then a setback in one area or some new arbitrary rules that are not backed up by any law, will have an absolute minimal effect.

So, hey, realistically, I have little sympathy for photographers who have backed themselves into a corner, that they can't get out of.

Avoid the traps in the first place! :idea: :idea: That is life!

Ronnoco

You can take photos on private property without permission and the only thing the owner can do is kick you off the property. You can still use those photos in whatever way you see fit.

I bet that in order to get a photo pass you have to sign a document agreeing to the team management's terms. That's pretty standard for events that I shoot. So you can do whatever you want. But you've got a contract and you're either going to be banned from shooting future events, and you might get sued for the proceeds of the photo.

Diversification is a good idea. I am constantly frustrated trying to make money for mountain bike photos. I always com back to the reality that there's no real money in it. If I just want to make money I need to stick to high-tech product photos. That's where the money is - at least where I live.

Since they own the property and allow you to take pictures, they can pretty much do whatever they want. Whether it's a good business decision for them or not is another question.

Actually thats one thing I'm wondering about, legal wise, because the I H S A A doesn't own the properties where the games are played, the PUBLIC does as they are at, in most cases public schools. The finals are at the RCA Dome which is owned by the city. All the organization really does is charge the schools to join them and then the schools play by their rules in the games. I never thought about the fact the games are at mostly public venues, other than the few private schools that have fields. The organization only controls (or tries to) after the playoffs start at the sectional level. During the regular season, which is played under their rules as well they have no issues with the photogs.
It also seems odd that they are only "worrying" about those who post photos on line, not those who go around sticking flyers on every car in the parking lot asking you to buy their photos, photo cd's and so on.

JS

Read the league charter. The HSL has to protect thier interests. Its not the little guys who hurt them, but the big guys. MaxPreps, Rivals and the like sell HS sports pics from all over the country and keep a min of 35% of the profits, and they focus on high profile games, esp playoffs.

I would imagine that the schools are exempt from this rule. I also would imagine that if you were the schools photog, you would be exempt too.

hehehehe, yeah, if I could see to get through the snow drifts up there :) I have family up there, never met them though. Coe, Coons, Prosser, Dodge, Mitchell, Merrell (or Merrill gottem both), Roberts, Harrington's and Dickerman's as well as others I can't think of off hand. they are all cousins of one sort or another.
It wasn't long ago I think the Albany paper was looking for a photographer.

JS

TimesUnion!

Read the league charter. The HSL has to protect thier interests. Its not the little guys who hurt them, but the big guys. MaxPreps, Rivals and the like sell HS sports pics from all over the country and keep a min of 35% of the profits, and they focus on high profile games, esp playoffs.

I would imagine that the schools are exempt from this rule. I also would imagine that if you were the schools photog, you would be exempt too.

According to what I have heard school photogs are not exempt here. They forced one school to remove their photos.
these organizations are supposed to be non-profit, however they just do that to avoid paying taxes. The I H S A A is making millions off the playoffs for football & basketball. Who knows what they do with the money, very little goes back to the schools, where it should go. The schools that make the finals get 1/2 the proceeds of the tickets they sell, but they are very limited on the number of tickets they are given by the organization to sell. Everyone else has to buy them from the organization, who keeps the profits.

Time for some changes.

JS