When I decided to exhibit my photos from the Dutchess County Fair, I didn’t have a single model release. I’d been photographing the fair for ten years. I never would have made that mistake shooting professionally, but because I was shooting the fair for fun, it never crossed my mind. I was lucky and was able to find and get permission from everyone. Many of the kids had grown and had children of their own!
Learn a lesson from me. Always get a release. It makes life much easier. Technically, you need to compensate people for modeling. I’ve found that people are happy to be paid with a nice print of the photo they’ve posed in. Also, write a description on the release form of the photo, so you won’t have any trouble identifying what it’s for years later.
For detailed information on when you need releases and sample release forms go to the American Society of Media Photographers web site.
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I was just researching the topic, and found out that even though you don't have to get the release form everytime, it's recommended that you do so.
ReplyDeleteApparently the issue is being discussed in court these days :
http://fotoshoot.com/Features/ModelReleaseForm
but to be on the safe side, you should get a release no matter what