Photography, People

Update! Rules: No People in Photos

Submissions that feature people other than yourself

This publication, Six Word Photo Story Challenge, will no longer accept submissions with photographs of people UNLESS the photo is of yourself and it is indicated in the photo credit that the picture is of YOU — which was either been taken by yourself (selfie) or taken by someone else. You must credit the name of the person who took the photo of you. The photo of yourself must also connect to the six-word story in some way.

Please visit the submission guidelines for any updates before you submit a story.

The reason behind the “no people in photos rule”

The reason for this is I need to prevent any possible violations of privacy and people’s rights in connection with publishing people in photographs in this publication. The rules, policies, copyrights, and laws regarding this fall into a grey area and varies for each country, so I’d rather play it safe than sorry!

With “street photography” or photos taken in “public places,” — some countries allow this and other countries forbid it. I’m not an expert on this and can’t make the call with each photo as this is an international publication. As well, there is no way I can confirm whether permission was granted by the people featured in the photographs or what country the photos were taken with every submission.

The only exception to this rule will be my own photographs (as editor of my own publication, Six Word Photo Story Challenge) that may feature the people I know in my own life — who I have received permission to publish their photos.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

UPDATE, Jan 12, 2023: I wanted to let writers know that there is always the option to self-publish your story if you’re responding to one of our monthly challenges, and your photo includes other people, OR if you just prefer to self-publish it for whatever reason.

You also have the option to publish your story in other publications when responding to a challenge, as long as those publications accept this format of six word photo stories, and you read and follow their submission guidelines.

As well, many other publications on Medium accept photos with other people included. Some ask the writers for a photo release or an email indicating that the people in the photo granted permission to use/publish the photo. Some publications don’t ask for any permission, or have a blanket rule that implies that permission has been granted for all photos submitted to their publication.

For this publication, I do NOT allow people in photos (other than the writers themselves), mainly because of the extra time it would take me to review and respond to the validity of the photo releases and emails.

Playing it safe, rather then risk people seeing a photo of themselves published in this publication, that somehow slipped in without their permission, triggering surprise, a negative (or even positive) reaction, or breaking some country rule, and then causing them to reach out to the writer and/or publication for publishing it because permission wasn’t granted or overlooked.

In my opinion, self-publishing people photos may be the best option because the writers themselves can take full responsibility of their own photography, get and store the necessary permission from all parties in the photo, should they need to confirm that permission was granted, and abide by whatever people/street photography rules of the country the photo was taken. This also poses no risk or liability to this publication.

Note: I’m the creator and owner of this pub, but I’m far from being an expert when it comes to the rules and or copyright of publishing photography. I suggest you to seek professional advice and/or use your own judgement for the photos you choose to self-publish or decide to publish elsewhere.

Please see Medium’s complete rules here. Below is screenshot of their Privacy and Reputation section.

Previous stories with people in the photographs

Any previous stories that had people in the photographs will be removed from this publication. I’m crushed about this as I love seeing photography that captures people in a beautiful, reflective, thoughtful way. My sincere apologies to those writers — I loved the photographs and stories — and I thank you for the time and effort you put into creating them. The existing claps and comments will not disappear from when the stories were originally posted in this publication if those stories remain on Medium.

— Mary Chang Story Writer, Editor of Six Word Photo Story Challenge publication

If you’d like to be added as a writer and submit to this publication, please read and follow the submission guidelines.