Photography

Overview

Photography in LRP is a compromise: on the one hand are the rights of attendees who do not wish to be photographed coupled with the impact on immersion for all players by the photographer's presence. On the other hand many players wish to enjoy a photographic record of their character and the events they attended and photographs can help to publicise, promote and improve a game. These guidelines are intended to set a balance between these compromises which we feel is appropriate for Profound Decisions events.

Rules for Photographers

These rules apply to all photographers, players and crew at our events. Charlotte Moss is in charge of crew photography at our events. Please use photography@profounddecisions.co.uk for all enquiries about photography at our events.

Minimizing the Damage to Immersion

• Wear costume whenever you are in an IC area
• No flash photography on the IC field
• Avoid standing in player's line of sight when shooting
• If possible cover your camera to make it as unobtrusive as possible
• Do not stage shots with players on the IC field

Everyone who is taking photographs at events needs to take all possible steps to minimize the damage to immersion that their OOC presence causes. In line with the normal PD event rules, you must wear costume when you are in the IC area. In addition you should try to cover your camera if possible. Flash photography isn't permitted in the IC areas, nor is staging shots with players. If you need to use a flash or stage a shot then please do so from the OOC field.

The most important thing is to try and remain "outside the focus" of the game. If a verbal clash is occurring, then you should not be between the participants and other players; if a battle is occurring then you should be well away from the lines of combatants. This will limit the range of photographs that you can take at the event, but is a compromise that we require all photographers to make to ensure that you avoid being in the line of sight of players who are trying to roleplay while you are taking photographs.

Take-down Requests

• All photographers must take reasonable steps to respect player's privacy
• You must take down any photograph that you are asked to remove by a subject in the photo

Not all participants at an LRP event are fortunate enough to be unconcerned about images of themselves dressed in costume appearing on the internet. Given the size of the game it is impossible to maintain an effective list of individuals who do not wish to be photographed, but all photographers should take reasonable steps to try to avoid photographing players they know do not wish images of them live-roleplaying to be made public.

In particular photographers must remove any image that they have published, if they are requested to do so by a participant who is identifiable in the photograph, as quickly as practical. Any photographers who do not remove photographs when requested will have their right to attend future PD events permanently revoked.

Filming

• We do not allow filming in the IC area by anyone who isn't a player or member of crew
• Players filming should follow the spirit of the photography rules and strive to avoid breaking immersion

TV production outfits, whether commercial, student or hobby based - are not permitted to film in our IC area during time-in under any circumstances. All requests for permission to film live-roleplaying at our events will be refused.

Existing players who wish to film sections of the event may do so, but must follow the spirit of the rules for photography and do everything possible to avoid damaging other player's immersion. This includes using the smallest available equipment, avoiding being in people's line of sight and taking all reasonable steps to disguise the equipment.

Our crew photographers may film sections of the event for promotional or instructional purposes. We will endeavour to abide by the spirit of these rules as far as is practical.

Character Portraits

• All characters need to be photographed at GOD

We take photographs of characters for use in the game system. This includes allowing NPCs to more effectively locate characters they should know, allowing players to use ritual magic to identify characters and more rarely allowing us to identify players. Our photographers take these character portraits at GOD at set hours. Please look out for the times and come to GOD when you have all your costume and make-up on so you can be photographed. We will not use these photographs for any publicity purposes without your explicit permission.

Player Photographers

• All photographers attending the event must purchase a ticket
• There are limited slots available for photographing battles and skirmishes
• Photographing a battle is not an acceptable alternative to monstering

Everyone who has purchased a ticket to attend the event is welcome to take photographs in the main IC area if they wish to do so, provided that they follow the rules for photographers at our events. We no longer offer free tickets to photographers to attend our events without playing, in exchange for copies of their photographs, due to the sheer number of photographers attending the events.

To strive to keep battles and skirmishes as immersive as possible, we have chosen to limit the number of slots available to photographers. These slots will be managed by our crew photography team and will be allocated to them by default. If you wish to photograph a battle or skirmish then please email our photography team to let them know.

Crew Photographers

• There are two crew photographers at our events
• Our crew photography department allocates photography slots for battles and skirmishes

Charlie Moss and Beth Dooner attend our events as part of our crew to take photographs. Their goal is to produce photographs of the event to help promote and improve the game. We do not require any further crew photographers at this time.

If you wish to take photographs on a battle or skirmish then you must email the crew photographers to see if a slot is free.

Battle and Skirmish Photography

• Slots to photograph the battles and skirmishes are allocated by our crew photographers
• Slots will be allocated by preference to those photographers who provide good quality photographs for use by us
• Photographing a battle is not an alternative to monstering

We have chosen to limit the number of slots available for players taking to the battlefield to take photographs in an attempt to ensure that the battles and skirmishes remain as immersive as possible. If you wish to take photographs on the battlefield then please email us to request access.

Two slots will be used on most battles by our crew photographers - if they are not photographing a battle or skirmish then additional slots will become free. Priority for player requests will be given to photographers who provide us with good quality photographs that we can use to promote and improve the game. If you don't make the effort to send hi-resolution copies of your photographs to PD then you will automatically remain behind any request from other photographers. Technical specifications will be sent to photographers when they are timetabled to photograph.

Photographing a battle is not considered an alternative to monstering. If players wish to fight in a battle as their character they will still need to monster a battle as well.