Responding to the Official LDS Call for Photos

After reading about the Official LDS Call for Photos in Mormon Times (now the faith section of Deseret News) I responded. After all, what use are great photographs of temples, families, and church history sites if no-one sees them? Sure, I can put them on my blog, and I have, but who reads my blog, apart from you?

The Church needs all kinds of photographs — there is a list on their Official LDS Call for Photos Flickr page (submit photographs now through The Vineyard.) Your submitted photographs will be used by the Church and Church members for Church-related purposes. You still retain the copyright of your images though there will be no attribution.

I already had a Flickr account but if you don’t, join Flickr for free and give it your best shots. After uploading six photographs, join the group, Official LDS Call for Photos. Now add your photographs to the Church’s site. You can upload six a day. With a free account I found that my photographs were limited to 1200 pixels wide. The full resolution has been uploaded, you just can’t see it with the free account. You don’t need to because you will be contacted via Flickrmail with instructions to submit your originals to a separate Church site. This may take a few weeks.

Christus in the Oakland Temple Visitors Center

If you have a tough time with rejection the safest route is to submit temple photographs. If there are people or private property in your photographs you will have to deal with model and/or property releases. All recognizable individuals need to sign a model release. Participants under the age of 18 will need a signature from a parent or legal guardian. You do not need a release for LDS Church-owned buildings. Before you share your photographs read the Church’s Flickr site thoroughly.

To date I have submitted 18 photographs and had one rejected, the one with the Christus. It is not a very good photograph to begin with and I guess it depicts a sculpture, which we are specifically told not to submit. However, when you run your own blog you can post as many bad photos as you want. And remember, when it comes to photographs Many are called but few are chosen.

With a limit of 100 MB per month, the 24 photographs uploaded in June have used 69% of my allotment. However, a Pro account ($24.95 a year) allows unlimited uploads.

To give you some idea of what is being accepted, if you don’t want to head over to Flickr, here are my seventeen photographs. You probably have photographs that are just as good or much better. On the Church’s Flickr site they have more than just temples. If you do upload some photos, let me know so that I can check out what a real photographer’s work looks like.