Historic England - a gripe

I took a some good aerial shots, including a very high res photo-mosaiced 'survey', of the whole of the RAF Barham former nuclear bomb store a couple of years ago. As Historic England/English Heritage had been so instrumental about 20 years ago in surveying and listing the site (one of the first Cold War sites they took an interest in) I thought that my shots would add something unique to the historic record for the site. So I asked if they would like to have copies to add to their archive.

Their answer was (I summarise multiple email exchanges) "Sure - but only if you hand over the copyright and all commercial exploitation rights to us - and by the way, if you want to use the images after that, you have to come back to us and ask for permission!"

Well, NO photographer I know (and I know a lot) is ever going to agree to terms like those.

I appreciate that having two classes of image in their collection - stuff we own and stuff we don't - instead of just one may add a little complexity to their management of historic records, but come on guys, surely not that much!? What is your primary role HE - to record stuff for the nation? ... or to make a few quid on the side selling image reproduction rights? This attitude just proves why we need organisations like ARG.

Paul,

I'm not sure I ever sent these images - what email address should I send them to?


Alan

Alan - my experience is that no only do you have to apply for permission to use the material you might have given Historic England archives, but they will also charge you for the privilege!