I finally figured out a way to get an unobscured view of the Eiffel Tower from the hills in Montmartre. Yesterday evening was relatively clear and I managed to get a few cool shots just after sunset. There was a small group of tourists that jostled me a little as they tried to get similar shots with their cell phones but my monopod and longish telephoto lens (55-250mm) almost certainly helped me to get better shots.
However, it turns out that the night lighting of the Eiffel Tower is covered under a copyright, so please don’t use my shot for commercial purposes. I have a friend who reviews photos of a stock company and she unsurprisingly was well aware of this reality. Copyrights in the European Union, including France, are good for the lifetime of the artist plus 70 years. So, in 1993, the Eiffel Tower entered into the public domain (and a legal replica was later made in Las Vegas).
Here is a link to an article from PetaPixel that explains this whole issue and includes an informative video. The bottom line is that the night lighting was installed in 1985 and is considered an artistic work, covered by a separate copyright law. As many of you know, I spend most of my time photographing wildlife, not buildings, so I have never really thought about problems like this.
In the end, though, I’ve decided to post these photos, because my blog is not a commercial endeavor. If at some time I were to decide to do this professionally, these photos, no matter how much I like them, would not be part of my portfolio.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 