Is selling photos considered outside work?

[fiori]

One of my hobbies is taking photos and since being in Japan I have a amassed a few half decent shots, which I hope to sell/use in my portfolio when I go back to the uk. I am a regular Flickr user and received an invitation to submit about 20 of my shots to Getty images who deal in selling licenses to photos and a few other things. If my photos are sold then I would receive some royalties (albeit small) however I think it's a good opportunity for both experience and exposure. The thing is, I was wondering if this would be considered outside work and grounds for breaking my contract. I wouldn't be working for Getty image, rather I would just be selling some photos via them, so it's nothing compared to the many teachers on jet who earn quite a bit through extra lessons.

I understand that ESID and all that but I was curious to see if anyone had done this in the past. I only ask because if I sign up I am required to give information about where I pay income tax and some other earning questions, so there is a chance that someone up the ladder may get wind of it (probably not but you never know) I will ask my supervisor if it's acceptable but rather than risk getting a flat out no I thought its best to see what others think.

[teabot]

i don't have experience with this, but i'd hazard a guess that its ok. i think the main issue that prohibits outside work is your visa, which dictacts the type of job you can hold in Japan and for how many hours you can work. besides the fact that what you're asking about is more or less free-lance work and what you'll be earning will fluctuate and generally be low, it's not income based in Japan. ofc IANAL, so you should check your contract and ask a supervisor, but I'm pretty sure you hould be good to go.

[Siyris]

My gut reaction is that it would be okay, but at the same time, it's not something I would want to mess with -- the problem with earning outside income is three-fold. There's the visa issue, as teabot said, then there's the contractual issue (a lot of contracts have a clause in them that prohibits outside income), and then there's the (possibly biggest) issue of being a government employee. That is where I think you would be most likely to run into trouble. JETs work as employees of the Japanese government, and so we are held to the same standards as public servants. Which gets messy where outside income is concerned....

I understand your reluctance to do so, but this is really a question for your supervisor, and possibly your PA.

[word]

I would happily do it and just not mention it to anyone...

UNLESS SOME OF THE PHOTOS ARE OF YOUR SCHOOL OR STUDENTS. If that's the case, do not frakking do this under any circumstances whatsoever. You may be subject to severe legal penalties under Japanese law (not that they necessarily would go all legal on you or anything, but you could get in some srs trouble, and it would not reflect well upon you or your school).

[teabot]

I would happily do it and just not mention it to anyone...

UNLESS SOME OF THE PHOTOS ARE OF YOUR SCHOOL OR STUDENTS. If that's the case, do not frakking do this under any circumstances whatsoever. You may be subject to severe legal penalties under Japanese law (not that they necessarily would go all legal on you or anything, but you could get in some srs trouble, and it would not reflect well upon you or your school).

word.

[AVN]

I would happily do it and just not mention it to anyone...

UNLESS SOME OF THE PHOTOS ARE OF YOUR SCHOOL OR STUDENTS. If that's the case, do not frakking do this under any circumstances whatsoever. You may be subject to severe legal penalties under Japanese law (not that they necessarily would go all legal on you or anything, but you could get in some srs trouble, and it would not reflect well upon you or your school).

word.

YES

Man I'm not even comfortable putting pics of my students on my facebook.

[KeroKero]

YES

Man I'm not even comfortable putting pics of my students on my facebook.

Good lol, because that is still a source of publication.

[AVN]

YES

Man I'm not even comfortable putting pics of my students on my facebook.

Good lol, because that is still a source of publication.

Oh but many a JET will argue that because they have their privacy settings on it's perfectly okay to do so. I have many JETs on my facebook who regularly post pictures of their students.

[teabot]

YES

Man I'm not even comfortable putting pics of my students on my facebook.

Good lol, because that is still a source of publication.

Oh but many a JET will argue that because they have their privacy settings on it's perfectly okay to do so. I have many JETs on my facebook who regularly post pictures of their students.

THE INTERNET: HOW DOES IT WORK?


my coworkers don't post pics because we were explicitly cautioned about it, but i've seen other JET friends do so occasionally. i've heard some story about a JET getting in trouble (i can't remember exactly... i don't think fired, but maybe not getting recontracted?) when someone at/associated with the school found a blog where the ATL was saying something negative about a student. (i don't think the student was directly named, but the ALT wasn't carefully enough in anonymizing the situation...)

[Musashi]

I would happily do it and just not mention it to anyone...

UNLESS SOME OF THE PHOTOS ARE OF YOUR SCHOOL OR STUDENTS. If that's the case, do not frakking do this under any circumstances whatsoever. You may be subject to severe legal penalties under Japanese law (not that they necessarily would go all legal on you or anything, but you could get in some srs trouble, and it would not reflect well upon you or your school).

What he said!!

YES

Man I'm not even comfortable putting pics of my students on my facebook.

Good lol, because that is still a source of publication.

Oh but many a JET will argue that because they have their privacy settings on it's perfectly okay to do so. I have many JETs on my facebook who regularly post pictures of their students.

Meh, I don't think that it's too serious. They should just be ready to pay the consequences if another ALT rats them out. :s

[EhimeDave]

Just to answer the original question. According to the basic contract most BOEs use - which you may not have - check it - you can take on whatever outside work you want as long as you get permission from your board of education.

Selling art would be considered outside work.

Anyway - if the amount of money you get from this work is ridiculously small - like less than $100 a month - I wouldn't even mention it.

[Gizmotech]

I look at it like this:
a) Is it interfering in your work?
b) Is the money ever seeing Japanese territorial waters?

If the answer is no to both questions then does it really matter?
Just keep shut on the whole thing.

[irishjoe]

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.

[NYC2011]

I am a regular Flickr user and received an invitation to submit about 20 of my shots to Getty images who deal in selling licenses to photos and a few other things.

I think Getty must be looking for images of Japan right now, because I recently recieved an invitation to license several of my Flickr photos as well.

[Jennaiii]

Plenty of the JETs I know have made art books etc and that hasn't been a problem, but I wouldn't go around broadcasting it.

And posting pictures on fb of your students is not worth the shoot storm that would occur if you got found out. Just don't do it.