Marid Gras Photos (and photography restrictions in Trinidad)

[Wilmark]

Hi Mardi Gras is a big thing in Trinidad and Tobago - where I am from I have posted some highlights in this gallery:

http://www.wilmark.johnatty.com/c2k13

In Trinidad Mondays are quiet and most of the masqueraders dont come out in their full gear. Trinidadians like to think that they have what is most likely one of the most popular Carnivals in the world (it definitely is the biggest in the Caribbean). However there is a new challenge on the landscape for photographers - it is the biggest photography event in Trinidad and the government has copyrighted the entire event even making it risky to put carnival photos on Facebook, they want all photographers to pay a royalty fee of over 10,000TT$ (6.30 TT$ = 1.00 US$) for a 2 year license. Most of the photographic community has raised an alarm that it will destroy the art form and international interest in Trinidad Carnival. Personally I believe it is very shortsighted and I dont know of any situation similar to it anywhere in the world (where photos of a public event or art are seen as valuable and automatically assumes a copyright infringement of the artwork) . I have linked a few press/blog articles on this:

http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,173304.html
http://lyndersaydigital.com/brain/pix_files/axis_of_copyright.html
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/Pain_for_Carnival_picture-takers-189935931.html

[Menace]

Vey short sighted approach to gathering revenue 

[Wilmark]

The move is being hotly discussed, by all concerned including the general public and participants in the festival. I suspect that they will retract this at some point.

[tron]

Very silly. People will go to Rio instead...

[Wilmark]

Unfortunately to my eye - more and more there are less 'true' foreigners participating in Trinidad Carnival. It is to a large extent patronized by locals and returning 'locals' who have expatriated themselves in foreign urban areas of the world - Florida, New York, Toronto, London etc., and make an effort to visit Trinidad once every two years to visit family/friends, childhood places and take in Carnival at the same time. (Niki Minaj is an example of one such person who came back to film one her recent videos (pound the alarm) in TT with a familiar carnival setting.