Basejumper.com - archive

http://www.healthfitnessmag.com/october/index.html

scroll to pages 16-17

http://www.healthfitnessmag.com/october/index.html

I did speak with the author by telephone
but at no time did I say I was any kind
of BASE instructor!

He asked me briefly about my parachuting
background and I said I was a skydiving
instructor and he probably confused it.

there are quite a few inaccuracies.

they credit Tracy with Felixes jumps, they have the wrong # for Harrison

The media never gets it right. I do a lot of interviews every year, mostly for Bridge Day, and I would suggest that every base jumper communicate with newspapers and magazines via email (written record) only. That lessens the chances of inaccuracies and making you/us look bad. When you speak with reporters over the phone, they only jot down the interesting/controversial stuff. When you answer their questions via email, you can usually guide the writer in a positive direction since he can only work with what you've given him.

Not a bad article, though. Cya.

soo... did the photographer get paid usage rights for those images, or how did that work out...

i dont even see a photo credit line..

When I emailed the author those pics
there were photographer credits...

As for usage, well you're the pro photo
guy so you know better than me, but I
think I own the rights to both. The one
was shot by my friend Paul Wise and I
got his permission. The BD shot was
bought from Whitewater photography.

I spoke to him about this (crediting me with Felix's jumps)
He did apologize for the misunderstanding. But it was too late into the deal and then Hurricane Gustav evacauted him and we lost contact for a while until a few days ago.
He is very interested in our line of portrayal of the sport, and our legalities concerns. He is definitely on our side because he sees the injustice of the USA toward a sport that is accepted in more places than not elsewhere.
Hope this helps.
Take care,
space

pauls image sounds legit...

the whitewater photo image, you purchased a print for 20 or 25 or whatever... not unlimited reproduction rights for ever and ever..

not trying to dog you, or insinuate you did anything wrong, just trying to make a point...

those images are "selling" that article, and promoting whatever publication that was... the photog deserves a cut. thats all.

I actually asked the WhiterWater Photog guys when I bought my prints from them - the exact quote was "They are yours, you have all the rights to them and can do whatever you want". I just happened to be talking to the guy in charge.
When you buy pics from JasonB, he tells you the same thing except "Feel free to do anything you'd like with the photos except resell them or have them printed in a commercial mag"

A good thing to do, if you're getting paid or not, is always grant the publication "one time use rights" to any photos. There's always the chance someone like Oliver Stone see's the article and decides to make a full blown BASE movie. And if he uses one of the photos, or even a rendering of it, in any way (like the movie poster) you and the original photographer are going to be aced out the 10 grand he'd pay . . .

NickD

I also asked Whitewater Photography about the use of their photos elsewhere and the owner wasn't really concerned with it.

Space is the man.

I wrote the article in question and do apologize for the minor mix-ups, particularly crediting jumps for the wrong person and erroneously calling a skydiving instructor a BASE instructor (the last of which was misconstrued due to editing that was out of my control).

As primarily a reporter, I always try to get the facts right and am sincerely disturbed when I miss a few details, as apparently I did here. However, I'm assuming that I got more right than I got wrong here on the whole. Not all media are out to get everyone. In fact, some of us try to portray issues correctly and objectively. And it's really not such a good idea to insist on written responses because they usually sound stilted, unnatural, and nothing like the person being interviewed.

As for the photo credits, I asked for one-time-only permission to use the pics because I like them, and neither I nor this publication would ever exceed that granted permission. Usually, the editor uses stock photos from an on-line subscription service, but I thought it would be cool to show some actual people in my story.

I got paid less than $200 to write the story as a freelance writer, which is not much considering the time I devoted to it. The magazine is distributed for free (as in no charge whatsoever to readers) and the readership does not extend beyond New Orleans, which doesn't even have a significant BASE community as far as I can tell. The publication makes enough from advertising sales to pay the staff, but trust me, no one's getting rich off this.

So, don't demonize all media, and maybe the media won't demonize all jumpers. You wouldn't want the media making judgments about all base jumpers based on one or two yahoos, so you shouldn't base judgments about all media based on a few lousy reporters.

No we don't want the media doing this. HOWEVER, do a quick search on stories done BY MEDIA about BASE jumpers, and I think you'll see FAR too often, that is excactly what they've done!! So excuse us for shitting on the media, but really,.... what do you expect after the years of bullshit they've printed about us.

I appreciate the way you portrayed the goals of the BCPA, and I think that media coverage of BASE (other than of incidents) is good for the sport.

So thanks

Thomas Leggett, the author, was cool to
deal with and seemed to really want to
get the story right.

As for the photos by White Water photography,
this year when I bought from them included on
my CD was a jpeg copy of their release that
gives me complete ownership of my images.

Whitewater photography pissed me off this year! They missed all the cool stuff I did and I ended up buying 2 pictures for $57 that looked exactly like the ones they took last year. The only reason I bought those was because I had to wait in line for an hour just to see them.

they also appear on their website. (I bet Jason will send an e-mail soon.)

I bypassed their tables this year and have already seen all my exits. I like their system.

The word I heard at their stand was that
photos on sale in print and digital format
were also available online but at a slightly
higher price...

I've only been to Bridge Day twice but both
times they did right by me... some nice good
shots from multiple angles, etc. Of course
the price is a little on the steep side but
really how often will you ever do a BASE
jump with 3 professional photographers
ready and shooting from three angles?!