Copyright Issues - Using Someone Else's Photo to Paint & Enter Into a Show or Sell

Today in the watercolor society meeting a talk was begun about copyright and what is infringement/stealing and what isn't. I had one artist tell me that anything that is not from a photograph I took with my own two hands and camera cannot be painted and sold or put in a show. I can paint it - but it can't go in a show or be sold. I said, are you telling me that the photos my husband takes are off limits? She said yes, they are.

What do you think?

I told Jerry this and he says, no. If they are his and he has given me permission to paint them and do what I want with them, I can paint them, sell them, put them in shows. But...is that true?

Does it depend on the rules of the organization? Are Ohio Watercolor Society rules more stringent than our local club shows? And are the American Watercolor Society rules even more stringent?

I tell you, there were a lot of head shakings and shufflings when this was being talked about. Do you think artists who are showing their work, doing workshops, selling their paintings are all taking their own photos? If they aren't, are they breaking the rules?

For more info go to:

http://www.whatiscopyright.org

Let me know what you think - how this makes you feel? Have you, like me, been painting works that are from photos taken by your spouse, sibling, mother, father, best friend? Did you think it was okay because they gave you permission to paint from their photo?

Here is what I found on whatiscopyright.org:

What if I take someone else's writings, text, HTML or graphic image and change it around to suit my needs? I own the "new" version, right?
If you did any of that with the original owner's permission, and according to his/her terms and conditions then you own the "new" version. If not you may be committing copyright infringement and/or plagiarism.

So, according to this, if Jerry gives me permission to paint and sell/show that painting, I can do it without having committed copyright infringement or plagiarism of any kind. But that's not what the woman at the watercolor society said. She said even with permission, I could not enter it in a show or sell it. So where was she getting her information?

Well, probably from the Ohio Watercolor Society show requirements, which state:

Original Work Only. No copies of anyone else's photos, drawings or paintings will be accepted. No class work. The decision with respect to creativity shall be solely the judgment of the exhibition committee and the final juror. Each submitting artist irrevocably accepts their decision as final and binding upon him or her.

So, I can't enter a photo taken by Jerry and painted by me in the OWS. That's true.

What about the American Watercolor Society? What are their rules? They state:

Original work only is accepted. No collage, pastels, class work, copies, digital images or prints; original work only.

Hmmm...doesn't say anything about not using a photograph that was taken by my husband and, with his full permission, painted by me and entered. Does it? Doesn't it make "original work only" a bit ambiguous and open for discussion? Not as direct as the OWS at all.

So be honest - how many of you painters have painted something from a friend's photo or a spouse's photo and then have put it in a show or sold it? I'll bet the number is large. Also, what about those artists who paint portraits? Do you think they get permission slips from every person they secretly photographed in a crowd and then painted? I guess this is just blowing my mind and I'm looking at my work and wondering - how much of it can I call "mine?"