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Original Post : 25th July 2018

Edit : 26th July 2018:

I own a website which aims to give details about various photo sets which are posted on sites like DeviantArt, Flickr, Twitter, etc.

I gather the details of the sets by conducting a short interview with the original uploader of the set, which is sometimes the model, and sometimes the photographer.

I'm UK Based, but can potentially interview people globally!

So far, I have been fortunate enough to interview both the models and the photgraphers, so when I publish the interview along with several images, both people who are involved are able to give authorisation.

However, this is time consuming, and as there is often a language barrier, I don't always hear back from the second person.

As I'm speaking to the uploader of the content first, it would be my assumption that getting their permission to use the images would be sufficient, but as I said, this is just an assumption.

Does anyone know the correct way to go about this? If the uploader of the set is a model, does that mean they have the authority to grant permission for me to use them ( for reference purposes ), or do I still need to get the photographers permission. And Vice Versa.

Thanks.

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  • There is no point asking legal questions if you don't say where you're based. At the very least we need to know the country; if it's the US then it's also a good idea to say which state. – Peter Taylor Jul 26 '18 at 13:44
  • UK based, but I'm conducting interviews for people across the world. – W.H. Jul 26 '18 at 16:23
  • If you're UK based and doing photographer/models may I suggest using instagram and a site called PurplePort (no affiliation), the non agency model/photographer work has all pretty much moved between them now (moving more towards Instagram), and models/photographers tend to be good with crediting each other. – Crazy Dino Jul 26 '18 at 22:08
  • Thanks for the suggestion @CrazyDino. I'll certainly take a look at those two sites – W.H. Jul 27 '18 at 6:55
  • That's why I asked it again as a new Question. I'm setting this for deletion – W.H. Jul 27 '18 at 12:43
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So who exactly do I have to get permisssion from to use photos froma shoot

Simply, the person who owns the rights to the image(s) under question.

The vast majority of the time, and absent contractual language otherwise, the photographer is the rights holder.

And in general, to determine who owns rights to individual photos, it's easiest to start with the photographer. Because photographers are the creators of the art, and because most countries' copyright laws assign basic copyright to the creators of art, your typical professional photographer is more knowledgeable about photographic copyrights (at least, their own copyrights), than the subjects of art (i.e., the models).

When it comes to commercial shoots, it is not uncommon for the rights of the photos to be assigned to the client. Additional publishing rights might be solely assigned to the client, or shared between the photographer and client. These rights would be spelled out in the contract between photographer and client. At any rate, the photographer would know what rights they have assigned or conceded.

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  • I was afraid of this. I'm finding that in a lot of cases, I'm doing the interview with the photographer, and then getting the model(s) involved. But in some cases, I find a shoot posted by models to sites like DeviantArt, facebook and twitter, I'm able to quickly do an interview, but find it near impossible to get in contact with the photographer as they have limited presence on social media, and hardly pick up on emails. This is probably due to the language barrier, where I am UK based and they are not. It's annoying because I have the things formatted but can't get authorisation. Any advice? – W.H. Jul 25 '18 at 17:54
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    Any advice? Persistence? It's about all I can offer. I applaud you going through the effort of making sure you're getting the right permissions. Most people, and a surprisingly large number of organizations, don't bother (or only make the most trivial attempts to obtain rights). Unfortunately, as you're finding, to do something like this correctly, means having to do more work, and possibly even not running with some interviews (and therefore having to find additional artists and models), because you can't obtain the rights. Again, good on you for going about this the right way – scottbb♦ Jul 25 '18 at 18:00
  • Thanks. I appreciate your words of praise. However, as I'm running this site as, what I consider to be a promotional tool for all involved in the shoots, I can't help but feel like I end up letting those who have taken the time to answer my questions down in the long run. I guess as you say, persistance is the key, and maybe I'll have to make sure I check with the photographer before proceeding, even if that means forfeiting the chance to feature a great peice of work. – W.H. Jul 25 '18 at 18:10
  • Depending on where you are, you may also need permission from the model(s), since a photo of someone is personal information. – psmears Jul 25 '18 at 20:44

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