Legality of an upcomming photoshoot.

Shootar401 · Sep 28, 2012

Long story short. I have a friend who's husband is deployed to Afghanistan and she came to me with the idea of a army styled nude photo shoot as a present for him. I'm also an Army vet so I have an idea of what is good to go or not, and I think I'm in the clear. She wants to pose in a set of army BDU's (the older camo pattern) with no patches, no name tapes, and no insignia, etc. There is nothing in the shoot that "says" US military. She will be in various stages of undress posing with a rifle and a knife in a make shift command center. Nobody will see the photos except for the three of us and there might be a few selects I use in my portfolio.

I don't see any reasons why this would be an issue, but I wanted to hear some other views. I suppose I could call JAG at the nearest post, but I know from my experience they are very closed minded and its easier from them to say F-off than to listen.

lxdude · Sep 28, 2012

I can't see how there's any problem. It's not illegal to own a US military uniform. You can do anything you want. When a movie is made with actors wearing US uniforms in it, they don't need permission.

tkamiya · Sep 28, 2012

If you are concerned about legality of something, opinions of photographers really doesn't matter.... If you are concerned enough to even post this, I would suggest getting it writing from someone with actual knowledge and authority. I would also be concerned something like military uniforms, people sometimes have strong opinions and so as nude body. It can start a firestorm even if it perfectly legal. All it takes is someone to start a blog post or something and get enough people upset over it. Next thing you know, you may be a target of all kind of threats. Just my personal opinion of course....

BrianShaw · Sep 28, 2012

To the best of my knowledge, without insignias a pair of BDUs is not a uniform. There is no representation that she is a member of the US Armed Forces. Since these are for private consumption and not public display or other commercial use... I don't see any reasons why this would be an issue.

But just to be sure, post them here first and we'll let you know if they are OK.

BrianShaw · Sep 28, 2012

p.s. I have actual knowledge but no authority.

ROL · Sep 28, 2012

Well, my lips are sealed, providing you post the images back here for inspection.

Prof_Pixel · Sep 28, 2012

>husband is deployed to Afghanistan<

A word of warning; there is presently an Army BG in trouble because he possessed pornography and alcohol in Afghanistan. The 'community standards' in Afghanistan are a lot different than in the US, so I would suggest keeping whatever you shoot 'soft'.

br549 · Sep 28, 2012

The BG in trouble had a bit more going on than porn and alcohol.

Dead Link Removed

(I'm not sure how to post a link, hope it works)

Prof_Pixel · Sep 28, 2012

br549 said:
The BG in trouble had a bit more going on than porn and alcohol.

Dead Link Removed

(I'm not sure how to post a link, hope it works)

I realized that, but porn WAS an issue in that theatre of operation - thus my warning.

tkamiya · Sep 28, 2012

For public outrage factor, one has to look no further than the recent breast feeding mom in uniform incident. These days, nothing much remains private and stays out of public's view. People also tends to and likes to take strong position without much thought or knowledge. Things get out of hands so easily.

From your description, nothing will clearly identify the branch or the nationality of the setup. But the implication by setup seems rather clear. More I think about it, I am thinking it's not such a good idea.

MattKing · Sep 28, 2012

Ironically, there would probably be no legal issues if the wife posed wearing only an army issued firearm :confused:.

winger · Sep 28, 2012

As the wife of an Army Colonel recently back from there - BAD IDEA. I asked him to be sure and he said no nude photos are allowed in Afghanistan. Period. He said he couldn't count the times guys got written up for it and it was a bad idea. They never stay just between husband and wife either.

nothing will clearly identify the branch

I can almost guarantee that a member of the military can identify the print of the camo and say exactly which branch wore them. What they're currently wearing in Afghanistan right now is called multicam and it closely resembles the camo of the old BDUs. Not similar at all to the much hated ACUs with the digital pattern with no black.

Prof_Pixel · Sep 28, 2012

winger said:
As the wife of an Army Colonel recently back from there - BAD IDEA. I asked him to be sure and he said no nude photos are allowed in Afghanistan. Period. He said he couldn't count the times guys got written up for it and it was a bad idea. They never stay just between husband and wife either.

Thanks for verifying the issue, that was my understanding.

Worker 11811 · Sep 29, 2012

It is my understanding that anything that is payed for with taxpayer money is public domain provided you don't pretend to represent the agency in question, that you give credit where credit is due and you do not use that image in a way that defames the agency in question.

In other words, you can use a picture of the space shuttle or a picture of Neil Armstron standing on the moon but you have to credit NASA and you can't do anything that defames NASA or Neil Armstrong.

So, in line with my understanding, I would say Army uniforms are fair game provided you don't pretend you or your model/subject are actually in the army.

As to the other issues. Let me tell you this:

A guy was sitting in a bar and a shady character walks up to him and asks, "Hey, buddy, do you have any naked pictures of your wife?"
The guy says, "No! Of course not!"
The hustler answers, "Do you want to buy some?"

benjiboy · Sep 29, 2012

winger said:
As the wife of an Army Colonel recently back from there - BAD IDEA. I asked him to be sure and he said no nude photos are allowed in Afghanistan. Period. He said he couldn't count the times guys got written up for it and it was a bad idea. They never stay just between husband and wife either.

I can almost guarantee that a member of the military can identify the print of the camo and say exactly which branch wore them. What they're currently wearing in Afghanistan right now is called multicam and it closely resembles the camo of the old BDUs. Not similar at all to the much hated ACUs with the digital pattern with no black.

Speaking as Marine veteran, although not as an exhalted rank as Bethe's husband, I agree entirely with her view on this matter especially since the soldier in question is serving in a Muslim country where many women don't even show their face, I served in Iraq many years ago and know how offensive this would be to the people in Afghanistan if the pictures leaked out, and embarresing for the U.S Government and military who are trying to "win hearts and minds" in the country.
However innocuous this soldiers wife intentions are I strongly suggest she doesn't go ahead with this idea because it's ill advised and could bring down a shower of s**t on her husbands head that could seriously effect his military career that I doubt he would thank her for.

BrianShaw · Sep 29, 2012

DOD provides extensive training to our deployed troops (as do the othr allie, I assume) on what constiutes prohibited items . While the warnings are very valid because they are a serious issue, taking that one step back and suggesting the photos are problematic is a leap of logic I grapple with. Why not ban girlie magazines and all booze in general -- they can be smuggled as contraband too.

jp498 · Sep 29, 2012

Shootar401 said:
Nobody will see the photos except for the three of us.

Not likely!

Sirius Glass · Sep 29, 2012

For all the reasons listed above including having nude photographs in a Muslim country which has some residents with strong options in these matters, I would strongly advise that the concept, which in a small group would be amusing but potentially could turn in a bad way if the group got larger, should not be undertaken.

That said, for ultimate vetting of this concept by a highly qualified self appointed expert in these matters please sent the photographs to me with a self addressed return envelope with return postage for my not so humble opinion. I promise not to show the photographs to more than a few hundred self proclaimed experts in this matter for no extra charge.

BradS · Sep 29, 2012

Shootar401 said:
Nobody will see the photos except for the three of us.....

wishful thinking at best.

Shootar401 · Sep 29, 2012

BradS said:
wishful thinking at best.

I know her husband and is a higher ranking officer and I can say with 100% certainty that whatever photos she sends will only be seen by him.

And a little off the subject.... I've been deployed 4 times to Iraq. I can't count the number of times we've had muslim men come up to us begging for a copy of Maxim, FHM, playboy or anything that showed skin. When we gave it to them they smiled and were genuinely happy and excited. That being said we were always "warned" about possible dangers by random notes passed to our interpreter from these people.

We are going to go ahead and shoot this week.

Prof_Pixel · Sep 29, 2012

Shootar401 said:
I know her husband and is a higher ranking officer and I can say with 100% certainty that whatever photos she sends will only be seen by him.

"higher ranking office" - all the more reason to be VERY careful.

(BTW, I'm a retired AF O-6, and getting such pictures that might be career ending is a risk I wouldn't wanted to have taken.)

M.A.Longmore · Sep 29, 2012

Shootar401 said:
We are going to go ahead and shoot this week.

.
OK; Terrific !

Ron
.

BradS · Sep 29, 2012

Shootar401 said:
I know her husband and is a higher ranking officer and I can say with 100% certainty that whatever photos she sends will only be seen by him.

And a little off the subject.... I've been deployed 4 times to Iraq. I can't count the number of times we've had muslim men come up to us begging for a copy of Maxim, FHM, playboy or anything that showed skin. When we gave it to them they smiled and were genuinely happy and excited. That being said we were always "warned" about possible dangers by random notes passed to our interpreter from these people.

I always tell my sons that the difference between a bank robber and an honest man is that the bank robber think he can get away with it.

If you think that you can get away with something that you KNOW is wrong...then...well, you draw your own conclusion.

Shootar401 said:
We are going to go ahead and shoot this week.

I can only assume that after reading all of the advice given here, you're going ahead because either one or both of you want to put the man's military career and standing at risk.

Legal or not, it seems a very dishonorable thing to do. Doesn't make me proud.

lxdude · Sep 29, 2012

Why not just send the pictures to his smartphone, or better yet, create a private picture hosting account?

benjiboy · Sep 29, 2012

Shootar401 said:
I know her husband and is a higher ranking officer and I can say with 100% certainty that whatever photos she sends will only be seen by him.

And a little off the subject.... I've been deployed 4 times to Iraq. I can't count the number of times we've had muslim men come up to us begging for a copy of Maxim, FHM, playboy or anything that showed skin. When we gave it to them they smiled and were genuinely happy and excited. That being said we were always "warned" about possible dangers by random notes passed to our interpreter from these people.

We are going to go ahead and shoot this week.

You had already made your mind up to shoot these pictures before you asked the question, why are you wasting the members of this forums time ?

Legality of an upcomming photoshoot.

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