I have a strategy for recording things that I want to do. It works. I’m reminded of everything.
Eventually.
Sometimes I’ll just write a note in my diary, which means at the very latest I’ll see it at the end of December when I look back through the year. Post-its are pretty good as I’ve taken to buying bright green and orange ones and I leave them where they overlap pages so they’ll stick out of the pile on my desk. When I’m feeling especially technical I’ll record an audio memo on my phone or take a quick snapshot with the phone’s built-in camera. Taking pictures is very useful when I’m in a bookshop and see a book that I want to look for on Amazon later. The audio memos and photos are automatically synchronised with my Mac when I plug the phone in. It’s very high-tech and tremendously efficient. Providing I remember to look into the sync folder.
I rarely look into the sync folder.
When I see web sites that I want to spend more time looking at later I’ll drag the link onto my desktop. This is perfect because having more than five icons on my desktop sends me into an Obsessive Compulsive panic I end up going back to those pages pretty soon so that I can bin the icon. Sometimes I’ll stick a note into the Google Notebook application for reviewing later and I found this morning that although it might take some time to reappear, it will come back to me eventually.
This unnecessarily long introduction was by way of explaining that I first saw an article discussing Model releases in May 2007 and copied the link into my Google Notebook for immediate inclusion into my blog. And so here we are, stretching the definition of the word “immediate”.
Model releases are a tricky thing although I know that my travel images will have a greater potential market if they are accompanied by a release from the people I’ve photographed. I’ve never carried Model Release forms with me when I’ve photographed overseas although I have when on assignment in the UK. Perhaps it’s because I know that it will often be difficult for me to give an adequate explanation of what the implications of signing the form are to my subjects and I don’t want to feel that I’ve taken advantage. However, that’s a pretty weak argument if you’re taking photos anyway. I think having a local guide who can communicate effectively will help and I know that I really ought to at least carry Model Release forms with me in future.
Having said that, the piece in the article that resonated most strongly with me and which seems to fit most closely with my own approach is this discussion with Victor Englebert.
When I asked Englebert how to cope with the fact that I sometimes feel like I owe my subjects something in return for their time-and for making it possible to earn a living as a photographer-his advice was simple: “Just be nice, and they won’t expect anything from you.” He added that it is important to “avoid giving anything in return for the pictures you take except for a smile, a handshake or a hug, and your gratitude, otherwise it will soon become a terrible burden. If your subject is poor and has been good to you, give him or her some money, and be done with it. But don’t overdo it, or soon no one will be allowed to take pictures of anyone without paying first, as is happening in many African countries.”
The subject of whether or not to try to get model releases signed is a tricky one and, like most things, depends on the individual photographer’s approach and especially perhaps to the style of photography. Images with a very obvious editorial feel might rarely be suitable for more commercial work anyway so perhaps the added burden of trying to get model releases is not worth the effort. I’m going to go with the “play it by ear” school of model releases in future and will ask for signatures when I can be confident that my subject understands what they’re being asked to sign and why.
I’ve copied the article to my own site (click the read more link) in case it’s ever removed from the MacTribe web site as it’s a valuable piece and well worth returning to. In about a year’s time probably. However, do please visit the MacTribe site to read the article in full.
