"Looking to Heaven"©David A. Ziser
Here is an image I made in the magnificent St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England right before I discovered this building, too, is copyrighted - still surprising to me. Anyway, the church itself is almost beyond words as you stand there and try to take it all in. I made this image not just to show the beauty of the ceiling's architecture, but mostly because of the play of all the lines seen in the architecture of this magnificent ceiling. The dancing of the arches, lines, and rich colors do indeed sing praises to on-high in this image and this beautiful location. Camera specs; Canon 40D fitted with 10-22mm lens at 12mm, F 4.5 @ 1/50 second, ISO 1600. Enjoy! -David
Since you've mentioned it a couple of times now I thought I'd explain...
ReplyDeleteThe cathedral isn't copyright, but it is private property. By entering you enter into a contract (noted on the signs at the entrances) which stipulates certain rules, including no photography.
The reason is that these buildings are hellish expensive to maintain. Photographic post-cards, books and prints are a significant source of revenue from visitors which helps pay for this maintenance, as are sales of images for use in books and publications.
Allowing anyone to take photographs inside the cathedral (creating their own copyrght images every time) could significantly compromise their revenues in this are.
Technically, you are in breach of a freely entered into contract (even if you failed to understand it) by publishing this image, and they could almost certainly successfully sue you for damages. You are not in breach of copyright law, but you are certainly in breach of contract.
Whether they would bother is another question!
Nearly all premises in the UK that use these rules (and there are many!) will issue a photography permit. The fee for personal use is usually very reasonable, but it gets pretty expensive for photographers who will publish or resell images.
I have no relationship with St Pauls, I just looked into this myself recently...
Ian
Thanks Ian,
ReplyDeleteAfter being in France last year and having liberal access to the their wonderful cathedrals - photographically at least - it was quite a surprise to to encounter such photographic limitations in one of the historical centers of the world. A very rare experience in my many travels - too bad, I think, for the occasional tourist who would like to capture the occasional snap on their digital camera. I saw nobody buying picking up many postcards in the gift shop. I've rather spend my money on the choral or organ recitals recorded in the beautiful locations - which I do. Anyway, I letting the matter rest at this point. -David
Thanks Ian,
ReplyDeleteAfter being in France last year and having liberal access to the their wonderful cathedrals - photographically at least - it was quite a surprise to to encounter such photographic limitations in one of the historical centers of the world. A very rare experience in my many travels - too bad, I think, for the occasional tourist who would like to capture the occasional snap on their digital camera. I saw nobody buying picking up many postcards in the gift shop. I've rather spend my money on the choral or organ recitals recorded in the beautiful locations - which I do. Anyway, I letting the matter rest at this point. -David
David,
ReplyDeleteDid you take the long hike up the stairs to the top of the cathedral? I did that once and regretted the loss of energy as I moseyed around London for the rest of the afternoon (not that it wasn't worth it).
Anyhow, which brand of lens (the 10-22mm) did you use for that shot?
-Miles
Hi Dave. I'm jumping ahead here, but please find out what kind of card we are going to need to shoot video on 5d mark II that is fast enough to shoot 12 min.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Steve
Salisbury cathedral is quite enlightened in this respect. It allows anyone to take photographs. They even allowed it during rehearsals for a concert to be given the same evening. Not sure about commercial use of photographs though.
ReplyDeleteDavid
ReplyDeleteI am utterly surprised at the Copyright/contract, required for various buildings in and around London, I understand the Historic significance and I enjoyed a lot of the old Architecture even when growing up in Wales.
I understand the importance of drumming up the revenue for the costly repairs. Surely a door fee would suffice for this, I wouldn't have a problem paying 5 to 10 quid (pound) to enter these buildings. Some revenue is better than trying to rely on sales of postcards etc.
Ian
Do you know if this issue relates to just the inside of these buildings? as I have some images of the Gargoyles on the exterior walls from Westminster abbey from my trip April 2007.
Anyway David keep up the great blog I enjoy reading it immensely.
sounds like you and LaDawn had a great trip to the UK, On Your Next trip make sure you check out the beautiful Welsh and Scottish countrysides.
all the best
Allan