Sad Day Indeed had to sell my P3P

[Ohary]

Is photography a hobby or do you earn any money doing it?

 

[PhotoGuyAaron]

Is photography a hobby or do you earn any money doing it?

I earn money doing stock photography and fine art shows. I wanted to sell phantom work to realtors....the Inshurance for the work I do is minimal compared drone work.

 

[Ohary]

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. I'd be more concerned about your personal liability if you crashed into something.
I have doubts the FAA or the government coming after you to make an example of.
I'm using my drones to take aerial photos and maps for my projects. If they want to take me to court, I say bring it! I pay their salaries afterall.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Only some of what you read on forums is true and this is misinformation.
Read this article FAA Says Media Can Use Drone Photos From Citizen Journalists, Not Professionals
and its source material.
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/pol_adjudication/agc200/interpretations/data/interps/2015/Williams-AFS-80 - (2015) legal interpretation.pdf
The FAA's chief counsel says ....

the news media cannot use drones to gather news images nor can professional photographers in the business of taking and selling photos use drones without FAA permission. However, hobby photographers using drones could: “If the individual’s [sic] takes the pictures or videos or gathers other information as part of a hobby or recreational activity, then a later decision to sell some or all of those pictures, videos or other information” would not change the character of the operation and “no FAA authorization for that operation would be required.”​

This highlights how ridiculous their stand on commercial photography is.
You can legally fly and photograph ... unless you want to sell photos .. which would make the flying illegal??
This has nothing to do with aviation safety and is a restriction on trade.

The FAA/CAA/CASA have no business saying who can and cannot sell photographs and should stick to matters concerning aviation safety.
Safe flying is safe flying and has nothing to do with whether you sell photos or not.

So it basically boils down to your intent at the time of flight and image or video capturing. You can legally collect an exhaustive hobbyist collection of photos and video that you later decide to sell, tomorrow, or even after it becomes illegal to even operate a drone, where their value would be the greatest! Shoot away for fun, and retire on the fruits of your hobby! What a country!

 

[Meta4]

So it basically boils down to your intent at the time of flight and image or video capturing. You can legally collect an exhaustive hobbyist collection of photos and video that you later decide to sell, tomorrow, or even after it becomes illegal to even operate a drone, where their value would be the greatest! Shoot away for fun, and retire on the fruits of your hobby! What a country!

Perhaps .. but I wouldn't presume to know if the FAA would agree.
They have said this for newsworthy items sold to the media - so if commonsense was allowed to prevail, you would expect it to extend to other topics.
Again it highlights the ridiculous and artificial situation where it is completely legal to fly and photograph - unless you sell the images.
Whether it's illegal or not should depend on what you do in the air - not what commercial arrangements you make on the ground.
I can't think of any other analogous situation where a government body prohibits selling photos that have been legally taken.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Perhaps .. but I wouldn't presume to know if the FAA would agree.
They have said this for newsworthy items sold to the media - so if commonsense was allowed to prevail, you would expect it to extend to other topics.
Again it highlights the ridiculous and artificial situation where it is completely legal to fly and photograph - unless you sell the images.
Whether it's illegal or not should depend on what you do in the air - not what commercial arrangements you make on the ground.
I can't think of any other analogous situation where a government body prohibits selling photos that have been legally taken.

I do it for fun. The fact that it does have a legal potential financial upside, after I have a decent portfolio of "commercial" quality images and video, is just icing on the cake. Besides, by then, shooting commercially may be much less difficult, even if much more restrictive in how it may be conducted, and I will have "grandfathered" imagery even the Pro's won't be allowed to shoot! Worst case scenario, the content can always be pedaled to the media, if it is unique enough and related to current news stories, even if it isn't of commercial quality.