Travels With a Camera – Peak Images

Another day, and a u-turn on rights grabbing T&Cs… life is definitely improving!

I’ve recently joined a few direct protests on unfair use of images by organisations and corporations. This isn’t normally something that I’ve got too involved in, but perhaps coming back from somewhere as wonderful as Antarctica has thrown things into perspective a bit. This isn’t a bandwagon, it’s my livelihood at stake!

But I’ve just heard that Great British Life (published by Archant Magazines) have listened to us professional photographers and done the right thing. They recently sent out a request for photographers to “share their best photos”, which had some unfriendly rights-grabbing T&Cs attached. I’ve now heard via Chris Barton, owner of Photographers Direct (one of the agencies I market my images through) that they have listened to us (many British professional photographers with support from The British Institute of Professional Photography, Copyright Action and Pro Imaging’s Bill of Rights) and changed their T&Cs.

Now I’m no lawyer, but the new set seem to be very reasonable now, with the rights gained on any image submitted for a competition seeming to be limited to use in connection with the just the competition. Specifically they say

You will retain copyright and if we wish to use your photograph for any other purpose Archant will ask your permission and obtain your consent before doing so. Any commercial opportunities that arise following the publication of the submitted photograph will be notified to You, and You will be free to negotiate terms independently.

This is great news, and it’s also really great to hear of a company (which provides so many opportunities for professional photographers to make a living through its publishing business) not just listening to us, but also acting on our concerns with alacrity. Well done Archant and Great British Life!