Recently I have been getting lots of inquiries about images that I have on my blog and if they are for sale. The easy answer would be that everything is for sale, so I thought I could set up my own stock image library. Then as I was working out what I could put up and what not, it suddenly started to occur to me, what is really mine to sell.
Image taken from the street and I could sell this.
I know that I own the copyright on my images, but where is that line on what I can take and what I can sell. I know that if you take photos in any of the parklands in Victoria that are looked after by Parks Victoria then they won’t let you sell the photos. You can’t make money from their parks unless you pay them a lot more money. I don’t know if I agree with this or not, it seems a bit strange when the parks are owned by us, and we pay for the up keep of them. However, I can also understand it as well.
So if Parks Victoria have these rules what about other places.
If I pay my admission fee to get into Rippon Lea and take lots of photos, can I put those photos on my website and sell them? I would have to say no, I couldn’t. If you want to go there and take photos to sell, then you need to pay more money and pay the commercial photography rate to own the images and then you can do what you like with them.
I have never really thought about this before, it is my image, why can’t I sell it. So now I have to rethink all my images and what can I sell for my stock library.
If images are taken in what is referred to as public land then you own them and you can sell them. Images taken in the street are usually considered yours. Most of us know this. If you photograph a building from the street, then that image is yours, and I wouldn’t have any trouble selling it.
Image taken on a public path, so I can sell this image.
If I enter the building and take photos, then that is a whole new thing. We shouldn’t confuse being allowed to take photos with being allowed to also sell them. Public buildings are very different and the same rules don’t apply, at least that is the case in Australia. There are many buildings, that while they are considered public buildings, have restrictions on what you can and can’t do in them. Photography may be allowed, but you might not be allowed to sell them.
Public Building, but photography is really restricted, I don’t think I would be able to sell this image.
When you want to sell your photos, you are entering the world of commercial photography and you may need to start paying commercial rates so you can so you can do what you like with the images. This is where I am right now, and trying to work it all out.
I might be wrong here, but there are questions and I need to find the answers. I don’t want to get into trouble, or get sued for selling images that I don’t have the rights to sell. I need to start asking questions and finding out what I am allowed to sell and what I aren’t allowed to sell.