Legalities on photographing cars

photoGT

New member
Hi all,

New to the forum and hoping some of you clever guys can educate me a bit. Im from Cape Town, South Africa and recently moved to Dubai. I am an avid motorsport photographer for the last couple of years. Since coming to Dubai I have started selling some of my work at a local arts and crafts market and have been asked some interesting questions by some of the public which I have personally never encountered before in SA.

The questions seem to be mainly around the copyright of selling images of motorsport cars with different sponsors names on, or even the actual drivers name on and also cars that have been at car club shows. Its been asked if I had permission to take photos of their vehicles.

Can I sell images like this to the public or do I have to get permission even though the drivers faces are not visible? Thanks in advance for any advice regarding this issue.
 

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SteveH

Senior Member
I think this could be quite a complex subject, and taking local legal advice could be the way forward if you want to be 100% sure as the correct answer will be different in each country! The motor racing event will be on a track, which is privately owned, and often the land owner / event organiser will have a say in wether you can sell images you have taken on their land and at their event - Have you asked the event organiser if you can sell the images?
 
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photoGT

New member
Thanks for reply Steve,

No I have never asked permission to sell images as it never crossed my mind that there would be legalities behind it. Most of my photos were taken back in SA from over the last 10 years or so. Most of the cars have even been stripped, repainted or written off. But now Im in two minds about new images I take and have to start looking at taking the images in ways that the owned car cant be that recognised, however this is virtually impossible. Strangely enough I cant find any article till date on the net that refers to this.
 

SteveH

Senior Member
In the first instance, I would contact the track owner and event organisers - It may be that you purchase a "Press pass" type license or something. As for individual teams and cars / drivers, I would imagine they will be bound by the terms and conditions of entering the race.

I know that in the UK, to sell images taken on private property, you must have the permission of the land owner so I would start there.
 

SteveH

Senior Member
I wouldn't have thought so, after all events are posted to Flickr, Facebook etc. all the time - This is where the line between non-profit and commercial photography come in. Again, as it is different in each country, I would just email the track's publicity dept., and just casually ask.
 

stmv

Senior Member
the crazy world of copyright protection, its like the Eiffel tower, where it is illegal to sell an image of it, very protected,
so,, really comes to place and what rights has been set up. could drive you crazy, like say for example the freedom
tower? usually public buildings are fine, public places, etc, but,, in today's world, you might never know.
 

photoGT

New member
Just really sux though as I love photographing cars/motorsport as I love the challenge of the motion and the actual sport itself (so it never feels like work). Oh well, will have to find something else to do with the over 4000 images I got stored lol.
 

SteveH

Senior Member
Well if you ask, they may well say you can sell, if they get a xx% cut of the sales, or just say you can sell regardless - It costs nothing to ask!
 

crashton

Senior Member
To tell the truth I have never heard of anyone having issues selling race car photography. That being said I have no clue about the way anything is in Dubai.

Love your pan shot, sweet!
 

photoGT

New member
Thanks Chuck,

The funny thing though is that most of the people that have enquired are the expats staying here ie. Brits and USA guys. The locals dont really seem to care as the images of older cars are quite unique to them due to most of the cars here being middle to upper level vehicles. The problem is that most of the guys racing here are the expats thus my concern.

Re: the pan shot. I have so many and critical of every one. Its almost an obsession now to just keep perfecting it and waiting for that one really wow shot. I must admit though that I bough a new D7000 a year back and found it much more challenging than my old D50 work horse. But just a learning curve and will get back on top of my game soon. lol
 
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