Question for Amateur Photographers

[Tuffcookie]

Our local, small town (weekly) newspaper is advertising an amateur photography contest. A prize, to be announced later, will be given, along with the winning photo being published in the paper at the end of August.
I was all set to enter until I read that you give up the rights to your photo! Would you enter on this basis?
It would have to be a pretty good prize for me to give up my rights. I mean, what is to keep them from making money from my photo if it wins?

TC

 

[ukcatfan]

If it is something that you think you can sell in the future, then I would not.

Kevin

 

[photo_chick]

Is it giving them the right to reprit it whenver they want, or giving them exclusive rights to use the photo?

I would give the rights to reprint it, I would not give them exclusive rights to use it.

 

[Groucho]

You can always go out and take a few photos specifically for the contest...

Or take two photos that are almost identical and enter one and keep the other for yourself.

 

[jann1033]

just wondering how much money they would make from your photo...unless you think they would use it for a calender or something? just thinking in an amateur contest it's probably not really likely the photos would be magazine print quality or anything like that since most amateurs don't have that kind of equipment. and if you sell your photos( or anyone does i mean not the personal you) they aren't amateurs so guess i'm not really seeing the problem of giving up rights to it in this case..unless it's a photo of Bigfoot or some paparazzi type $$$$ deal

 

[Geoff_M]

I was all set to enter until I read that you give up the rights to your photo! Would you enter on this basis?

"Rights grabs" are becoming more and more of a problem, even for professional photographers. More and more publications are no longer content with only requiring you give them a unlimited license to reproduce your work and now demand you surrender all rights to and ownership of the image. There was even another very popular Disney-related website that used to "rights grab" when you submitted a photo to their "photo-of-the-week" contest, but I now see it's been changed to a unlimited license grant.

While there many be few of us that'll get rich off of photography, as a principle, I don't give away the rights to my images unless someone's paying me to do so. I won't give my rights away for the thrill of seeing my work picked as the "photo of the week" or on the chance that I might win a prize. (Most times the "grab" takes place with the submission and not merely as a condition of winning a prize.)