Page 7 - Cape-Camera-September-2025

Cape Camera September 2025

Above: Photographer Simphiwe Mahlabi and Lazarus Serobe, DALRO MD.
Photo: Trudi du Toit.
Left: Festival of Photography Director Heidi Erdmann with Lazarus Serobe.
Photo: Nicol du Toit.
Who owns your photographs?

'The Importance of Copyright' and how DALRO can assist photographers to protect their

rights, was discussed as part of the Cape Town Festival of Photography during September.
Who owns the copyright to a photo? photos surprisingly appear on the He also recommends that you set
should elicit a simple answer to a cover of an internationally pub- your copyright details in the Exif
simple question. After all, South Af- lished book. data to prove you own an image.
rican law says that copyright resides This happened to Simphiwe Mahl- • Scenario #3: You ask a waiter to
with the author (in law, photogra- abi, a freelance photographer who take a picture of you and friends,
phers are referred to as authors) for is usually paid per photo published. using your camera. Or, a friend
life and 50 years after death. Even though all his photos are water- borrows your camera to take
In other words, when someone buys marked and the copyright holder in- prize-winning images. Who holds
one of your prints, you remain the dicated, he was not asked permission the copyright of the images?
author and copyright holder and the for the use of his photo on a book cov- A camera is merely a tool, and a tool
buyer does not have the right to re- er. In addition, the photo was altered cannot be a copyright holder, ex-
use your photo without permission. to delete the watermark and copy- plains Lazarus. The author (yes, that
There are exceptions, explained La- right symbol. waiter!) is the copyright holder —
zarus Serobe, MD of the Dramatic, This was settled amicably, he ex- unless you can prove that you com-
Artistic and Literary Rights Organi- plained, when DALRO negotiated missioned the image, which makes
sation (DALRO), in a talk during the compensation on his behalf with the you the copyright holder. And your
Cape Town Festival of Photography author and publisher. friend? Rather delete his images
last month. • Scenario #2: A bride whose wed- once they are downloaded, to avoid
When you are commissioned to take ding you photographed becomes any mistakes.
specific photos, copyright belongs to famous (or infamous) and some- On their website DALRO explains
whoever paid for, or commissioned, one sells your wedding photos that it grants copyright users permis-
the shoot. Unless the contract you to publications worldwide. Or, al- sion to reproduce work while ensuring
signed specifies otherwise, for ex- ternatively, your images are pub- that copyright holders are remunerat-
ample, that you only grant single use lished in wedding magazines and ed by the copyright users reproducing
rights for a specific feature. When en- on websites, without your permis- their works.
tering competitions, check the rules sion or compensation. It is therefore the go-to organisation
about image usage carefully. This is why a clear contract, specify- for publishers seeking permission to
Sometimes the lines become blurred. ing the usage terms, is so important use images and for photographers
seeking compensation for unauthor-
Consider the following scenarios: for any commissioned photoshoot. ized use of their images. They only
• Scenario #1: You supply free pho- Lazarus recommends that you carry charge photographers (20%) once
tos to artists you photographed pre-prepared contracts and release compensation had been agreed. For
during an event to use on their so- forms in your camera bag to use publishers the golden rule is to ask
cial media pages ... and one of the whenever needed. first, recommends Lazarus.

Cape Town Photographic Society 7