Hurrah for the RA!

Funny old crowd the RA; they don't notice photography exists for 150 years, then two exhibitions come along within 20 (OK, 22) years of each other!

Maybe we should all turn the tables and bill ourselves as "Photographers using Painting", since it seems to be the only likely way a living British photographer will sneak their work past the guardians of 19th century artistic values.

giveaways

3.4 You agree that any images of your submitted work and any accompanying materials you submit may be used by the RA and Metro Imaging Limited (“Metro”) and other operational and promotional business associates working with the RA in connection with the Competition (the “Associates”), without payment of any fee or royalty, for the production and promotion of this Competition, including displaying the entries on the Competition website, inclusion in a printed publication or promotional flyer and press opportunities. You hereby grant the RA, Metro and the Associates a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty free, irrevocable licence, to use, reproduce, modify, edit, publish and distribute your work for archival, educational, publicity, website, press and signage purposes, including through use of mobile applications and social networking sites; for the duration and subsequent promotion of the competition;

Which being translated (by a board of scholars) means that you are giving this company and its associates in perpituity, your own work for nothing. You do not even get a fee from the Independent for your pictures, or the Metro, and you can only possibly win a joke camera

terms & conditions

I was all set to enter this until peter harrap pointed out the terms & conditions. very disappointing indeed, and embarrassing actually. isn't this something BJP can query with them?

unless those terms are changed i won't be entering, and i won't be the only one.

TWITS - I'M GOING FOR IT !

What short sighted twits !. Already we have photographers complaining about surrendering the rights to their photograph, and refusing to enter for that reason. That's great news, suckers !. Fewer entries means I have more chance of winning. While the rest of you bicker about a paltry payment - I'll have my sights fixed firmly on the greater goal, namely my name appearing everywhere the photograph is used, in The Metro, the Independent, on bill boards, internet sites and even on mobile phones. Let's see you buy a marketing campaign on that scale for a mere £250 first use payment. Mind you, their attitude does explain why so many photographers are out of work. They may be good image makers, but they sure are misery guts - and crap at business

re: crap at business

@Lauren Stephens,

If you're suggesting a "marketing strategy" based on winning competitions and the resulting flood of new commissions from bleary eyed readers of the Metro you may want to rethink exactly who is "crap at business". Good luck, but I'd prefer to base my own marketing on a bit of thought and hard work rather than the roll of a dice that is the tastes of judges in a rights swiping competition.

TWIT NUMBER THREE

And why should those two approaches be antagonistic ?

When it comes to marketing, seize every opportunity you can get.

Why are so many photographers moaners and groaners ? No matter how good life is, all they seem to do is whinge.

Marketing

@ Lauren Stephens who said "When it comes to marketing, seize every opportunity you can get."

- If you knew anything about the professional photography business, you'd know that targeted marketing is what gets results, not a scatter-gun approach and certainly not being in a position to control your own IP. Enter away, Lauren Stephens, you seem convinced you'll reap the rewards anyway but i wish you luck if your picture(s) are reproduced anywhere without byline (there's no obligation to in the Ts and Cs) and you try and enforce your moral rights...you do know what those are I hope?

Working for free pays the mortgage

Hi Lauren, I'm certainly not whinging, I wish you all the best in your endeavour to win this competition.

However, if you are content to give work away to be used for free in perpetuity it will give the impression that you don't place any value your talent.

If you don't value your work you cannot expect anyone else to do so and consequently may be seen as 'free' in exchange for a credit. That will undoubtedly limit your prospects of earning a living from an activity you clearly love.

If you hope to earn enough to pay your mortgage (or rent), and buy the food you need, you must sell your work/talent on a regular basis. Earning a living requires unceasing dedication, hard graft, talent, an understanding of what the market needs, business acumen, and consistently demonstrating you can fulfill your commission as and when required. You will never do that from entering competitions, no matter how prestigious they are.

If you would like to increase your understanding of the importance of your intellectual property rights check out these two websites.

http://artists-bill-of-rights.org
www.creatorsrights.org.uk

Your IP rights are a moral, human, and a legal right. I hope that you will take my advice as offered in a friendly spirit. However, if all you are trying to do is to be a competition prize winner and be noticed I wish you all the best.

It is very disappointing that BJP, who do support photographers rights, should be party to a competition with such terms and conditions, a competition the T&Cs of which does not even respect the moral rights of the entrants. The word 'credit' does not appear anywhere.

I hope now that this has been brought to BJP's notice they will ensure that respectful T&C's are implemented. The T&C's in this contest would not be supported by any creative associations anywhere and are quite shameful.

The BJP want it's rights respected how about others?

It is interesting that the British Journal of Photography expect it's rights to be respected as can be read in their terms and conditions. This seems strangely at odds with the terms and conditions of this competition Lauren seems so eager to support and defend.

I think the posting by Gordon hits the nail on the head. Anyone who thinks that giving away their rights to have the work looked at by exhibition judges, and the outside chance of winning something as a means of gaining a foothold in a financially viable photographic career is living in a make-belief world.

The more photographers support such competitions where they agree to give away their rights in their creativity the fewer the pictures that organisations will need to actually pay for. Seems obvious to me!

Still no comment from BJP?

BJP where are you?
Can't you explain why you're involved with this?

Short sighted competition entrants

Unbelievable that the BJP should support a competition with such rights grabbing terms and conditions.

The entrants must be very short sighted or don't bother to read them.
As others have said, entering this competition is not a form of marketing strategy, it's simply a way of giving the organisers free images to do with as they wish.
They don't need such onerous t&c's to run the comp, they certainly don't need to have rights over all entries, winners or not!

James