Picture: Disneyland vacation photos; Spring 2011.
This last week, my wife, kids, and I took a five day vacation to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. I’m not a big fan of mega-corporate conglomerates. I also recognize that Disney is fiercely protective of their copyrights and trademarks. I had absolutely no interest in spending a week or more of my time to process and keyword a lot of editorial theme park images that would have little to no commercial value to my business. I decided this would be the first time in my 20+ years of doing photography that I took a trip, but left my camera at home.
Oddly enough, on at least three separate occasions during my visit, including at the “Photo Store” on main street, I heard Disney employees encourage visitors to purchase a disc of professional images, touting the words, “…you’ll own the copyright…” The words resonate in my head. I can assume Disney grants a personal non-commercial Royalty Free license, but I guarantee that Disney does not allow them to ‘own the copyright’. Unfortunately, it seems that the Disney employees find it easier to paint with a broad, glitter-coated rainbow brush telling customers that they’re buying something they’re not getting, rather than try to explain what a ‘personal royalty free use license’ is.
(File under: My wife insisted that we go to Disneyland, so that’s where we went.)
Great photo Gary. Disneyland really exudes light. 😉
No point and shoot for family enjoyment only?
There are currently 3,250 images on Alamy when I searched for Disneyland. 🙂
I enjoy going to Disneyland because it’s a lot of fun but five days is a bit much.
Richard: I know there’s a ton of them on Alamy. I just didn’t want to waste any of my time processing images of that place, and the best way to ensure that was ditch the camera on this trip.
Steve: Nope. Ok, maybe a few, but on my wife’s camera. Stems back to when I was a cook, I hated coming home and cooking or cleaning dishes. Same type of separation between work and family persists. I let her take the family photo ‘snapshots’. I do on occasion take a few, and have even sold a few, but by no means am I ‘working’ my family when we go on a trip. I indeed do work, but I’m more likely to photograph strangers than family.
I hear you Gary. When we have family gatherings for the holidays, everyone expects me to pick up where my uncle and cousin left off before they passed, but just because I sell my photos doesn’t mean that I’m good at or interested in working on family photos. There are a lot of others doing that already so I don’t think they are missing my contributions. If I get a P&S that might change.
Disneyland never looked so good! 😉 Hope you had a great time making fun memories with your family.
I completely understand, but I take a different view. If Disney is going to be part of my life, then I will take pictures to the best of my abilities. Business value has never been the reason why I publish images. I’ve been waiting for the cease and desist letter, which so far has failed to materialize.