Camera Talk

Popular Photography reports that the U.S. Forest Service is considering enforcing a rule that will require commercial still and video photographers, including the media, to obtain a $1,500 permit for shooting.

However, the article also says that it isn't clear if the rule will apply to all photographers (pro and amateurs), and violaters face a $1,000 fine.

Apparently, the rule was put in place four years ago, and the Forest Service now wants to more vigorously enforce it.

Read the article here.

Yeah, that's been getting all blown out of proportion. If you want to take a film crew, equipment, roadies, models, and what-have-you into the Wilderness Areas, you will need the $1500 permit. These are places that are restricted to non-commercial usage, and the Forestry Service would like to keep them that way. It has nothing to do with someone in say a National Park like Yosemite, or if you're just taking photos for your own use. But because every idiot with a "smart" phone can post and re-post rumors on the Internet all over the place, the story got all wacked up, and now the Forestry Service is having to do a two-step backward to give the proposal more time to be explained properly.

PF