Monday, September 29, 2008
Hawaiian Surfing Dog
This dog in an original member of The Beach Boys, Canine Chapter.
On our last morning on Kauai before flying home later that day, I got up early with plans to drive to a nearby botanical garden and get some shots of the beautiful Hawaiian flowers and fauna. Much of Jurassic Park (as well as dozens of other movies) were filmed on Kauai and at least one of the scenes was filmed in the botanical garden just down the road from our hotel.
In slow motion, it seamed like, I got my photo backpack together, grabbed the tripod, and made sure to pull all the memory cards out of my laptop from the night before and then slogged down my tired body down to the rental car one last time to get some parting shots only to find... that the car wouldn't start! The battery was dead. So while I felt blessed that I was finding this out a few hours before we had to get to the airport on time, I was still very worried about getting the whole mess straightened out, whether we would have to exchange rental cars, etc. The rental car company was great though. I have to give Budget credit. They sent someone out fast to jump start it and all was good.
While the Budget guy was jumping the car battery the Pug dog that you see here ran right past me like he owned the whole beach. He knew exactly where he was going! (No swimsuit either. Very confident in his dog-inity!) Then I noticed the girl with the surfboard go by and shortly thereafter saw the dog get ON the surfboard!
After everything with the car was straightened out, I had to make a choice. Should I continue on to the garden and get photos that any photographer with a tripod and macro lens could capture, or take a shot at the surfing duo and hope I might get a model release?
I had to give it a shot. I put on my Nikon 70-200 VR lens, walked down to the beach, and started shooting. As it turns out, a lady came up to me on the beach asking about my lens and she turned out to be a professional photographer from California. A bit later she asked me to take shots of her son and daughter who had been taking surfing lessons. I didn't mind and she was more than willing to sign model releases for me in exchange for prints. (I also provide models with the images online where they're able to order prints at cost with no markup on my part.)
I was able to get some great shots of them. I might post a blog of those pics in the future. I started focusing mostly on the two kids but every now and then tried to get shots of the girl and dog. She had not gotten out of the water though, so I had given up at that point on getting a model release from her. It wasn't until I started walking back to the hotel to start packing my bags that I noticed she was paddling on her surfboard in the same direction and about to get out of the water.
I waited for her to shower off and then I approached her about signing a release for me. I admit that even though I've shot plenty of people before whom I've only just met and gotten releases from them, most of the time, in fact nearly all time, I ask beforehand! It's a bit intimidating to approach a beautiful woman in a bikini who you have been photographing from a distance and explain yourself! Luckily though, she didn't mind at all, and she even mentioned she had been wanting prints of her and her dog. (Sorry, I don't remember the doggie's name.)
In hindsight, I would have taken hundreds of pictures of the two of them surfing and really wish that I had done so. As I started editing the pictures I found I had a lot fewer shots than I thought, especially ones without other surfers in the frame. I suppose the lesson learned from this experience was to never assume you might not get a model release. Shoot like crazy and hope for the best.
By the way, the doggie was a surfing animal! (pun intentional) Every now and then she would go out in the water without him and he (or she) would pace back and forth on the shore watching her every move! Waiting to go again! The waves would come in and he would run toward the ocean as the waves receded and then run away when the next wave crashed on the beach!
Woman surfing together with Pug dog on surfboard on Kiahuna Beach, Kauai, Hawaii, USA.
On our last morning on Kauai before flying home later that day, I got up early with plans to drive to a nearby botanical garden and get some shots of the beautiful Hawaiian flowers and fauna. Much of Jurassic Park (as well as dozens of other movies) were filmed on Kauai and at least one of the scenes was filmed in the botanical garden just down the road from our hotel.
In slow motion, it seamed like, I got my photo backpack together, grabbed the tripod, and made sure to pull all the memory cards out of my laptop from the night before and then slogged down my tired body down to the rental car one last time to get some parting shots only to find... that the car wouldn't start! The battery was dead. So while I felt blessed that I was finding this out a few hours before we had to get to the airport on time, I was still very worried about getting the whole mess straightened out, whether we would have to exchange rental cars, etc. The rental car company was great though. I have to give Budget credit. They sent someone out fast to jump start it and all was good.
While the Budget guy was jumping the car battery the Pug dog that you see here ran right past me like he owned the whole beach. He knew exactly where he was going! (No swimsuit either. Very confident in his dog-inity!) Then I noticed the girl with the surfboard go by and shortly thereafter saw the dog get ON the surfboard!
After everything with the car was straightened out, I had to make a choice. Should I continue on to the garden and get photos that any photographer with a tripod and macro lens could capture, or take a shot at the surfing duo and hope I might get a model release?
I had to give it a shot. I put on my Nikon 70-200 VR lens, walked down to the beach, and started shooting. As it turns out, a lady came up to me on the beach asking about my lens and she turned out to be a professional photographer from California. A bit later she asked me to take shots of her son and daughter who had been taking surfing lessons. I didn't mind and she was more than willing to sign model releases for me in exchange for prints. (I also provide models with the images online where they're able to order prints at cost with no markup on my part.)
I was able to get some great shots of them. I might post a blog of those pics in the future. I started focusing mostly on the two kids but every now and then tried to get shots of the girl and dog. She had not gotten out of the water though, so I had given up at that point on getting a model release from her. It wasn't until I started walking back to the hotel to start packing my bags that I noticed she was paddling on her surfboard in the same direction and about to get out of the water.
I waited for her to shower off and then I approached her about signing a release for me. I admit that even though I've shot plenty of people before whom I've only just met and gotten releases from them, most of the time, in fact nearly all time, I ask beforehand! It's a bit intimidating to approach a beautiful woman in a bikini who you have been photographing from a distance and explain yourself! Luckily though, she didn't mind at all, and she even mentioned she had been wanting prints of her and her dog. (Sorry, I don't remember the doggie's name.)
In hindsight, I would have taken hundreds of pictures of the two of them surfing and really wish that I had done so. As I started editing the pictures I found I had a lot fewer shots than I thought, especially ones without other surfers in the frame. I suppose the lesson learned from this experience was to never assume you might not get a model release. Shoot like crazy and hope for the best.
By the way, the doggie was a surfing animal! (pun intentional) Every now and then she would go out in the water without him and he (or she) would pace back and forth on the shore watching her every move! Waiting to go again! The waves would come in and he would run toward the ocean as the waves receded and then run away when the next wave crashed on the beach!
Labels: dogs, Hawaii, surfing, travel photography
posted by Terry Smith Images at
10:15 PM
Return to terrysmithimages.com - stock photography and illustration
3 Comments:
Ok, I am confused (which doesn't take much). I did a video for a wedding in August. They are wanting to purchase the raw footage (plus the edited footage I worked on). I want to maintain the rights to that footage. You were talking about a model release form in this post. A model release is wher I am giving the person the right to do what they want with that image or video but I retain all rights for it. Is that correct? I have heard model release form or consent form, but in the end the form contains my signature for it. I am mixing up to different types of forms?
Well, you did get a few that capture the dog and surfer. Love it.
Yeah, you're confusing a few things. :) A model release (or property release) is what stock photographers require in order to be able to license a photo of someone (or something) for commercial use such as in an advertisement. Most editorial uses, such as a pic to illustrate a magazine article, don't require model releases, but it's always a good idea to get them when you can.
Regarding the rights to your video, that relates to copyright and licensing. You own the copyright to your video by default, and you don't ever want to transfer that copyright. Now, while you may technically own the copyright that does not mean anything if you can't prove it in court. That is where registering all of your art with the U.S. Copyright Office comes in. I register all of my photography and illustrations and could win a lawsuit based on that if I had to.
Now, video is something I don't do myself but all the principles are the same. If you don't plan to market the footage as stock video then you shouldn't need model releases from anyone, which is good because otherwise you would need releases from EVERYONE at the weeding! Likewise, you probably don't need to register your copyright of the video although it's never a bad idea.
I would think the DVD you give them would be similar to a wedding photographer supplying prints. They pay you for the service of filming the wedding and pay you for the physical disc(s). You should clearly mark on the DVDs that they are copyrighted by you and are for "personal use only". If for whatever reason someone wants to use the wedding footage in an advertisement, then you would sell them a license with very specific usage terms, territories, etc.
Since so many just copy DVDs like crazy, you might want to adopt a model of charging plenty of money up front to shoot, edit, and deliver a high-quality DVD and then allow them to make as many copies as they want. It's free marketing for you after all. Put opening and closing credits on the video with your contact info, and you might have all of their friends calling you soon. Some would object to this model because it's similar to royalty-free photography, but in this case I think that if you charge plenty of money up front to make a profit then it's good business for you. After all, unlike stock photography it's not like you're going to turn around and resell their wedding video to someone else! I have pictures that I've licensed over and over again, but a wedding video is pretty much a one shot deal.
I know of professional wedding photographers who produce a nicely-edited DVD of the wedding pictures and then ASK their clients to make as many copies as they want and pass them around. It's very cheap marketing for them after all.
Anyway, I hope all of this helps and hasn't made you more confused! :)
No it hasn't confused me further. I believe when I am doing a family/child session, I will have them fill out a model release form. At a wedding, I think it would be best to say something in the contract. But I am not going to get everybody to sign a model release form. Though, I am selling DVDs and CDs at a good price and will probably change it in 2009 :). Right now I have two prices for CD's. A low price for just putting pictures on the web (ie Facebook, MySpace, blog, etc). They are not printable. Then I offer a CD that allows them to go print the images where ever they choose. But I believe I need to give them a form that gives my permission for that lab to print the images. Walmart, Walgreens, and some online places will not print professional images without a consent/permission form from the photographer.
Thanks for sharing. I didn't realize you had replied back in the comment. :/
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home