Cover Girl

[ornoth]

So yesterday evening I mosey on down to the New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University (NESAD) for the first session of my penultimate graphic design class. Incidentally, it’s a class with a female instructor and twelve female students—most of whom I know from previous classes—and me.

I walked in and before I could even sit down, Ellen is giving me shit about presumably being on the cover of some NESAD brochure. I express my disbelief in typically eloquent fashion, but follow up on her challenge to go check it out.

In a couple of the literature racks around the building I find a white 5.5 x 8.5" brochure—NESAD’s continuing ed fall 2004 course catalog— and, yes, I’m right there on the cover.

I’m there in full skinhead glory, wearing my green Toasters tee shirt, jaw hanging open, cutting a mat for a print in Ken Martin’s spring photography class. Clearly, it was one of the shots he took while we were working. Goof.

Amusingly, the image is repeated on page 12, the “Administrators” page, but it’s been mirrored, so that I’m facing left instead of right. Like no one is gonna notice that? Amateurs…

But I must say, it’s pretty amusing to think that they’d choose my image to sell the school, even to continuing ed students. But, hey: I made the cover! Makes me wonder about whether I should have pursued that modeling career I looked into ten years ago…

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

They published your image without getting a release form?

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

Oya. Release forms are a bit of an outdated holdover from an earlier age. My understanding of today's legalities is that a photographer is free to take and use your picture "if you are in a public place, acting in a public manner". Release forms are used more as a photographer's tool to cultivate a positive attitude toward photographers than for any real legal reason.

Now, one could probably argue that school isn't a public place, but that's tenuous enough. And in reality the photographer has in no way injured or deprived me of anything, so from a legal standpoint there's very little basis for me to challenge the use, and very little point in doing so anyways.

At least that's my understanding.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I understand all that -- but a classroom which is closed unless you pay for isn't really a public place. (shrug) If it were me, I'd probably send a courteous note to the school suggesting that they should have at least asked, first. Not threatening, just educational. For them.