Is selling photos considered outside work?

[kajiryuu]

Technically selling photos isn't 'outside work' in my opinion. It is selling personal property.

Copywrite basically states that any work you create is the property of the creator unless given up with permission.

This means these photos are your things. Selling your football, bicycle or other possession does not breach contract or visa laws. Photography is a hobby. You are taking photos in your free time and taking them for yourself, even if you hope to sell them afterwards. You are not employed by an agency, so you aren't technically working.

I personally think that if anyone even raised an eyebrow about it, you easily have enough loopholes that it wouldn't even be an issue. I mean if they even consider it work, which they won't, it isn't work that is taking place on your Japanese visa since you are not employed in the "outside work" within Japan.

That's my 2 cents. But really, don't worry about it. Just take Word's advice. No taking and of course selling pictures of students.

Oh, and congrats on being able to sell some of your prints! That's great! Although I'm a bit unsure about Getty.

[lly]

If you don't want to sell your photos at Getty, there are other stock photo sites out there, like:

www.dreamstime.com
www.shutterstock.com
www.istockphoto.com

My friend has accounts in all three above, and had received payment from them before too. And often one has to accumulate at least USD100 in one's account before one can request for payment (and it's not that easy to reach that amount, unless one has a large portfolio and/or has images that the masses really need and don't mind paying for), so imo it'd be okay to go ahead with it and not be too concerned about reporting it in and etc. (I'm not a JET though, so I wouldn't know anything about the contact details...)

All the best in selling =)

BTW, to sell pictures of people, one would need them to sign model releases. If, let's say, one takes a picture of a student, and both the student and the parent/guardian agree to sign the model release, and goes ahead with to upload it for selling, would one get into trouble with the BoE and etc?

[teabot]

BTW, to sell pictures of people, one would need them to sign model releases. If, let's say, one takes a picture of a student, and both the student and the parent/guardian agree to sign the model release, and goes ahead with to upload it for selling, would one get into trouble with the BoE and etc?

i'm not 100% but i think you'd need a release if you were to even publish the photo, provided it's not taken in a public place. (though it's possible laws regarding this sort of thing vary from country to country.) if a hypothetical photo is taken at school or a school event, it's not in a public area, so a release would be required. i would guess that if both the student and the parent signed the release the BOE wouldn't have much to say.

i think the case is more that the BOE as the entity representing the student and the student's family gets pissed off as hell when ALTs stupidly (and likely illegally) upload/otherwise publish students' photos without permission. therein lies the issue: a lot of people don't know how photography ethics work/that there is such a thing in ethics when taking pictures.

[oval_97]

Technically selling photos isn't 'outside work' in my opinion. It is selling personal property.

Well, although we shorthand it here as "outside work", our contract (and it parrots the broader law governing public employees), states that we should not "become involved in any enterprise of business from which the JET receives remuneration, other than that of the City". There was recently a case near me where a government employee was selling a few things via online auction, not a huge "enterprise", something like $1000 a year, but he was fired for it.

It doesn't detract from your duties, and no-one is likely to ever discover it, but know that it's technically against your contract and keep it on the DL.

[Namisuke]

Technically selling photos isn't 'outside work' in my opinion. It is selling personal property.

Copywrite basically states that any work you create is the property of the creator unless given up with permission.

This means these photos are your things. Selling your football, bicycle or other possession does not breach contract or visa laws. Photography is a hobby. You are taking photos in your free time and taking them for yourself, even if you hope to sell them afterwards. You are not employed by an agency, so you aren't technically working.

I disagree with this since he has to fill out a tax form. You could likely get in trouble if caught, so be prepared for the outcomes if you are, or just work on your portfolio without selling images (my personal advice).

[LunaMoth]

Technically selling photos isn't 'outside work' in my opinion. It is selling personal property.

Copywrite basically states that any work you create is the property of the creator unless given up with permission.

This means these photos are your things. Selling your football, bicycle or other possession does not breach contract or visa laws. Photography is a hobby. You are taking photos in your free time and taking them for yourself, even if you hope to sell them afterwards. You are not employed by an agency, so you aren't technically working.

I disagree with this since he has to fill out a tax form. You could likely get in trouble if caught, so be prepared for the outcomes if you are, or just work on your portfolio without selling images (my personal advice).

But, how would submitting a tax form to your home country's revenue service notfiy your Japanese employer of anything?

I personally don't think it's a problem for you to do this. I still get modest income (a comission on sales, $25 every few months) from a design I submitted to a website a few years ago. I see your licensing of pictures to be along the same lines. No one knows and I doubt they would care even if they did.

Totally agree with everyone saying NOT to sell pics of students/people in your community, though.

[fiori]

Thanks for all the replies. At first I was thinking, "well it's just like selling property" but as Namisuke says, if I have to fill in a tax form then it may result in a bit of trouble if someone at the BoE found out about it. I recall reading an article on this forum or ITIL about someone who was making a little bit of cash from playing in a band and as word got around, he/she was in big trouble for it (though I don't believe it resulted in any kind of sacking).

If you don't want to sell your photos at Getty, there are other stock photo sites out there, like:

http://www.dreamstime.com
http://www.shutterstock.com
http://www.istockphoto.com

Thanks for the links, but I believe that all the other websites are micro stock websites, which sell the images for a couple of dollars, which tbh isn't worth losing the rights to my images. Getty is a bit more "upper class" I believe, and images can be sold for much larger amounts, however the amount the photographer receives is only about 20%. I guess though, that it's not so much about the money, but rather it's a nice first step into the photography market and has even got me in talks with a local photographer about doing an exhibition, which sounds fun

Can you pm your flickr account? I'd love to check out your pics!

Another thing to think about is whether you'd want to sell your images to getty.

Here is a link to my flickr page - http://www.flickr.com/people/gaza5002 I am not a professional or even semi-pro by any means, it's just one of my hobbies. Of course, it would be great to have my images hanging on someones wall someday

Anyhow, thanks for all the comments and I guess I will ask my supervisor about it and see what he thinks.

Btw, none of my images are of my students, nor do I have any posted on my facebook. I think I have like 3 photo's of students whist at the speech contest, as I never bring a camera into school (which is probably a good idea after some recent events in my city... )

[Crowbeak]

I accidentally* breached the outside work thing once and my supervisor gave me two reasons why that's a no-go.

One is that as an employee of the Board of Education I am a civil servant in the employ of the town. Civil servants are expected to only perform their jobs and cannot accept money or expensive items as gifts.

Two is taxes. If we get too much money on top of what we're making, we go up a tax bracket and that causes problems for out employer. Even though we are exempt from paying taxes on our salary, the employer is not. And since we are civil servants, that's local tax money going to the federal government because the ALT was careless and took in money they shouldn't have.

*When I say accidentally, I mean I volunteered to do something, not expecting payment, and they gave me 25,000 yen for it... I didn't know how to refuse so I took the money. Luckily, they just told me not to do it again and I got rehired, but don't operate on the assumption that you'll be so lucky if you f*** up like that.

[fiori]

*When I say accidentally, I mean I volunteered to do something, not expecting payment, and they gave me 25,000 yen for it... I didn't know how to refuse so I took the money. Luckily, they just told me not to do it again and I got rehired, but don't operate on the assumption that you'll be so lucky if you f*** up like that.

Surely that money was cash in hand right? So how did your BoE find out about it? Also couldn't that 25,000 yen be considered expenses presuming your volunteering lasted more than 1 day?

[Jennaiii]

If you're volunteering you shouldn't get any money at all, not even "expenses".

Things get back to your BoE/supervisor pretty readily. You may not mention it but someone SOMEWHERE will mention what the AET/gaijin got up to and it will make its way to trouble too. Either find a way around being paid - like dinner at someone's house, exhange for Japanese lessons, help with something, なんとか　なんとか, or do it for nothing. The trouble is just not worth it - and if someone hands something to you - check with your supervisor and try and find a way to either turn it down or politely return it.

[Siyris]

*When I say accidentally, I mean I volunteered to do something, not expecting payment, and they gave me 25,000 yen for it... I didn't know how to refuse so I took the money. Luckily, they just told me not to do it again and I got rehired, but don't operate on the assumption that you'll be so lucky if you f*** up like that.

If you ever find yourself in this situation again, the way to say no is just that. Simply say, "I'm sorry, I cannot take that, and I could lose my job if you insist. Let's go have dinner together instead!" Nobody will be offended by that answer.

[firefly06]

I have a similar question. I will be coming to Japan as a new JET in August. I just became a thirty-one consultant (think Avon but with bags and organizers) and will have a website set up under my name through them that will let people buy things online and a portion of the profit will go to me. With this website, even if I never talk to someone, they will be buying products from me without me having anything to do with it just because I am the "nearest" consultant. I can keep this site active while I am in Japan and never do anything to work for this money that may or may not appear in my American bank account once a month.

Would keeping my site on and potentially making a little bit of extra money (I highly doubt it would be enough to have to pay taxes at the end of the year) be against my contract? I am conflicted on this especially since the money will never make it into Japan.

[fiori]

Update: So I asked my supervisor about it and although he has no problem with it, his bosses pretty much flat out rejected it. I was told that any government worker is not allowed to receive funds from another source. It's a shame as there are ALT's who do private lessons on the side and are making much more than I would receive through selling photos. I guess if its a cash in hand situation then its a pretty easy to avoid any big issues, but in my case, the fact that I have to agree/sign some tax forms creates a bit of a problem if it is something that strictly goes against my contract oh well I guess I can always sell photos in the future

[AVN]

I have a similar question. I will be coming to Japan as a new JET in August. I just became a thirty-one consultant (think Avon but with bags and organizers) and will have a website set up under my name through them that will let people buy things online and a portion of the profit will go to me. With this website, even if I never talk to someone, they will be buying products from me without me having anything to do with it just because I am the "nearest" consultant. I can keep this site active while I am in Japan and never do anything to work for this money that may or may not appear in my American bank account once a month.

Would keeping my site on and potentially making a little bit of extra money (I highly doubt it would be enough to have to pay taxes at the end of the year) be against my contract? I am conflicted on this especially since the money will never make it into Japan.

I think I can safely say this is out. Not only that but it would greatly complicate your taxes.

[phoenixphreak]

I have a similar question. I will be coming to Japan as a new JET in August. I just became a thirty-one consultant (think Avon but with bags and organizers) and will have a website set up under my name through them that will let people buy things online and a portion of the profit will go to me. With this website, even if I never talk to someone, they will be buying products from me without me having anything to do with it just because I am the "nearest" consultant. I can keep this site active while I am in Japan and never do anything to work for this money that may or may not appear in my American bank account once a month.

Would keeping my site on and potentially making a little bit of extra money (I highly doubt it would be enough to have to pay taxes at the end of the year) be against my contract? I am conflicted on this especially since the money will never make it into Japan.

I think I can safely say this is out. Not only that but it would greatly complicate your taxes.

I don't see how or why that would be out. If you happen to own stocks back in your home country, those are investments you are earning from. If you set up your own business and continue to earn from it, that shouldn't be a problem at all.

If your home-country based income conflicts with your work, your image as a public servant, or clear international law, then don't do it. But if it is something you check on when you are at home at night and the money doesn't affect your life in Japan, it should be completely irrelevant.

That said, we can all give pros and cons on why it may or may not be good. Anecdotes are good. But if the OP really doesn't have to do anything for her thing back home, I would just be quiet about it and not worry.