Paul, thanks for posting this.
The main problem I’ve seen over the years is that there’s no consistency in the interpretation and enforcement of filming rules. Someone from a park office hunts around targeting photographers, insisting they have to pay for a $200 permit, when their idea of “commercial” videography conflicts with the official description on a park website. A photographer who created a YouTube video for fun makes the mistake of posting it on a website where photo prints are sold, and suddenly the video serves a commercial purpose. Folks who call the park office for clarification about these rules are told they’d better buy a permit “or else,” even if they are just taking selfie videos for a social media feed (because that counts as “using a model”). In other cases, rangers stop visitors to inquire about commercial filming because their interpretation of said term is different from that of park headquarters, much less the officially-worded rules. So many different people in charge, and none of them can agree on what requires a permit and what doesn’t.
This is a win for creators, but I somehow don’t see the headache that accompanies inconsistencies in rule enforcement going away any time soon.
Max
Max…exactly. Your comment outlines the issue(s) that no doubt have arisen in the past and will arise again in the future.
I can truthfully say I’ve never been stopped or even asked about a photo permit. I do a lot of National Park work too. My work has always been with tripod mounted MF & LF gear so it was always more than someone seen with just a PS or iPhone tourist taking snapshots. However, admittedly I’m strictly a remote area sunrise & sunset photog rarely even seeing others around to ask about permits.
I have seen many workshops and movie crews over the years in the field. I assume most of them would not take the chance and just pay the fees. Even outside the NP areas I’ve encountered commercial work that was permitted.
Twice in the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine I’ve encountered commercial work and they were paying big time. One was a Volkswagen commercial and the other was the first Ironman movie. Both had teams of CHP doing traffic control.