<< Can foreigners avail themselves of this protection or is it restricted to US citizens? >>
Oh, by the way, I am a US citizen and live in the US, but the agency is
British. Also, Sipa is interested in seeing my color stuff (the portfolio I showed
them was black and white). Should I wait until I hear back from Sipa and some
of the other agencies I wrote to? I hate to wait too long since I already have
someone that wants to syndicate it.
Well, that's part of the game of getting paid a fair price and keeping your copyright.
I think I recall that Sipa is now a property of Getty, one of the big two "stock" houses that attempt to force their artists to sign off on their copyright, so I'd be real careful and try to get as fully aware of what's involved as possible. See EP.
As for hurrying, I'd look for the best deal since this material will be timely for a few dozen years the way things have gone in Haiti since the Kennedy administration.
The best way to prepare your submission for registration depends on the format that your material is in. If it's slides, it's easiest to lay them out on a light table, put print film in your camera and shoot the light table's worth of slides. Get the print film processed and get dupes - file one set of dupes for your personal reference and submit the other set with your application and your $30.
If it's digital, burn CDs of everything you shot, the original RAW's will do fine, but I think you'll have to print out contact sheets. Photoshop creates them under File>batch. Submit the CDs and the contact sheets for reference. Keep your originals in case someone tries to pretend that the images are theirs. You have the EXIF info in the original capture, which no one else can possibly have.
If you submit digital files, you must FedEx them or have them hand carried. The US anthrax scare has resulted in all mail going to the government in DC being irradiated, which destroys CDs. Melts them, I understand.
For negs, ask Tina Manley how she does it. She's on the list. You may have quite a package of prints for the copyright office there, but Wally Wal*Mart can make that pretty cheap. Shipping will be a bear, however. Contact sheets might fly. check the EP site for instructions.
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Emily L. Ferguson
mailto:elf@xxxxxxxx 508-563-6822
New England landscapes, wooden boats and races, press photography http://www.vsu.cape.com/~elf/
