One Game at a Time

So this appears to be it: the last non-conference game for the Terps for awhile. Tonight they faced Holy Cross. The talk in the media room prior to the game was that it was going to be tight due to Holy Cross's large inside players. Julie volunteered to write an article for the DC Sports Box for us. I welcomed the offer because it reduces my workload and she's probably a better writer than I am. Please go take a look at her article over here along with my photos.

There was an article on Slashdot today about the Creative Commons license and how it is inappropriate for photography. The author, Dan Heller, makes some good distinctions between the CC being applied to photography vs other original content. I'm on the fence about it but I'm not very well versed in this matter so I'm not sure that it much matters.

What I did find interesting was Dan Heller's tutorial on model releases. I've had a lot of restless nights thinking about how to publicize my work to attract more interest (and thus get me more work) and how that is at odds with the credential process. Heller points out the distinction between "publishing" and "publicizing" and how you can "publicize" your work on your website and that does not constitute "use" (otherwise known as publishing). This makes a lot of sense to me, and it seems very cut and dry for things like wedding photography.

I'm not sure how that interacts with a credential for a sports game, so I looked at the back of a Maryland credential to see exactly what it says. Sure enough it speaks to any non-editorial "use" of the media is prohibited without consent from the University. Also subtle I think that puts me in the clear for publicizing my work on Flickr under my user account. I'm not 100% sure on this and I'll try to talk with Al about it the next time I see him.

It's difficult operating under such uncertain circumstances. If you approach Maryland for clarification they'll take the safe route and probably just say "no" without understanding you are publicizing (but not publishing) and that could lead to trouble. But if you don't say anything at all it could lead to bigger trouble down the road if somebody ever has an issue with it (like another photographer). And lastly there's the desire to publicize because it gets comments, suggestions, and possibly connections with other photographers who need assistants. Such a sticky place to be in!

If anyone has any thoughts on this photographic limbo please add them to the comments or email me!