Kevin and all-I know where you are coming from and over the years have dealt mostly with a lot of good outfits who understand the value of stills and video to promote their causes. But, I could tell you lots of weirdness along these lines too where folks feel sorta betrayed or an entitlement to my works in some fashion or another. I have seen a lot of it in Trains, and even a little in the Warbirds. I have tons of stories, and will relate one. I know someone who was doing a RR video that was to contain several subjects(different RR's) and he approached one establishment who told him they would like to be in it. So he is given a cab ride, and some pretty free reign on shooting. The producer realizes later he has a good bit of the route in his cab ride, and decides to issue a Cab Ride video on this train, in addition to the segment in the bigger video. Well the tourist line would not have it, and sent him a cease and desist letter, so he pulled it after only selling a handful of them. They said it was okay to be in the bigger video which would give them more exposure, yet they would not sell the program since it promoted the other lines as well, and did not allow the cab ride video. I don't want to mention places or people but I found this unbelievable. I was once involved with a video project, one of the "America By Rail" shows, and we lined up some places to make side trips. One such place wanted us to submit the script ahead of time and have the ability to make changes. Well we decided this was nuts, and skipped them altogether, so nobody wins, except the tourist ops we did include. At one place we went they had one of their members take a photographer up in his airplane to get some shots from the air. They were so pleased that they were included in our show. Most folks have a good attitude but there are others stuck in the dark ages, and many are backwards thinkers.
I could tell more stories but I have rambled enough as it is. I agree with you Kevin and unless I was allowed to do what I wished with images or video, I would not pay to ride those trips. I wonder how many riders on the D&S would be po'd if they were told they couldn't take photos during their ride. Seems two-faced to me!!! We are all tourists if we are out there watching or riding the trains.
Greg
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www.gregschollvideo.com]
