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Photography, video and audio recording at Scout events

When we showcase Scouts, it increases engagement with current members and, more importantly, it helps promote what we do to potential members and donors.

With a few simple guidelines your photography, video and audio (collectively known as digital assets) of Scout activities and events will ensure you protect others while creating content to promote Scouts.

Photography, video and audio is considered personal data (when the individual in it is identifiable) so as with all data, you need to consider how it is managed. Scout members understand the need to share the positive benefits of Scouting to other members and the public.

This guidance breaks down to draw focus in 3 key areas

1.    Informing and gaining permission

2.    Point of capture

3.    Managing digital assets

It’s best to plan in advance before capturing photography, video and audio. The most important element of this guidance is ensuring the individuals are well informed in advance of the capture and have an opportunity to express their wishes. On occasion, individuals or parents will have good reason to request photos, video or audio are not shared.    

It is important to understand what content you have and for what event so you are able to satisfy such requests. You can inform members of your intentions and request their consent at the same time as other data is collected as part of an attendance form for an event or activity. For members under 18 this will need to involve a parent or guardian.

The young person information form helps you to capture consent. The form includes the following statements and consent;

Photographs, video and audio

The following consent options concern photography, video and audio footage of the young person in this form being published via the following: Group internally controlled publications and communication channels, such as online news, email, websites, newsletters, at the Group meeting place, Group social media channels, Group advertising and/or promotional material including press.

Photos, video or audio of the young person in this form will not be used unless you give us your consent below.

Please select:

  • I am happy for photos, video and audio to be published of the young person in this form whilst undertaking Scouting activities across all channels; or
  • I do not want any photos, video or audio to be used.

Additionally other Scout Groups, Districts, Counties/Areas/Regions and UKHQ may request consent independently as part of event registrations or other Scouting activities.

These options should be part of a well-constructed form, guidance on which can be found at GDPR Step 5: Gathering data here.
On occasion it is not practical or even possible to have gained formal consent from every individual who may feature in photography, video and audio. An example situation could be large-scale event where the volume of attendees is high, and the event is spread over a large area. It is a reasonable expectation that photography, video and audio will be captured at an event like this and that the digital assets will have minimal impact on the individuals in question. In these situations, it is important to at least inform individuals of your intentions with regards to photography, video and audio at the point of entry or around the event area, this can be as visual signage or literature handed out around or even before the event.
Informing people of your intention lets them know that you have a legitimate interest to create digital assets and provides the opportunity for people to express their wishes.

When digital assets may be used for a very public purpose, such as  specific marketing or an editorial, an overarching release form will ensure that consent is captured for digital assets of an individual and is the ideal solution for advertising, marketing and media coverage.

A release form is not a legal requirement, as the copyright of an image belongs to the photographer and not the subject, nevertheless, it is considered best practice and is a good way to prove consent for managing personal data. A written log and evidence of consent is preferable but if this isn’t practical, a log of their name, date and what it was for, as a verbal consent is sufficient. In most cases this will be provided directly by the professional capturing the digital assets, however if this is something you are doing locally the template consent form can be used as a guide from here.

Scouting needs publicity and a picture is worth a thousand words. A newspaper photographer attending a Scout event will usually request that the imagery they capture is accompanied by the names of the individuals in the photographs. It is important that consent is obtained by them using a release form in advance in order to avoid any confusion or disappointment. It is acceptable to give full names and age to external media companies its justifiable and appropriate but never provide the full address of the young person. For group photos, ask the media company to use a collective term such as “Cub Scouts from the 6th Anywhere Scout Group”. It can be appropriate to give the location of a Group meeting place (street name etc), however if you give a telephone number make sure the person whose number you are giving out is happy for the number to be published. Photographs taken by press photographers that invades personal privacy are subject to the normal Independent Press Standards Organisation Code of Practice.

When creating content your photographer, video maker or sound recordist should ask for the young person's permission to use their image. This ensures that they are aware of the way the image will be used. This does not need to be a formal permission form, an informal verbal agreement that explains what the photo will be of and how it will be used is sufficient and is in addition to consent already given.

Young people should never be consciously made to feel excluded, therefore some practical examples of managing this include
  • confirm with parents and carers that the young person who cannot have photographs is either aware of this or not.

  • don’t take photograph of an entire group and exclude one person, take photographs in smaller groups so that less attention is drawn to the young person who cannot be in photographs.

  • consider splitting the activity group up into two and the photographer can photograph the group where everyone has given consent across all activities.

If you have a set of members at a large event who have requested that their personal data is not shared through photo, video or audio content then you need to look for a suitable way to remove them from the content you create. You could add a note to an event lanyard, pass or name badge to identify them to content creators or request their photo to help you identify them.

There have been concerns about the risks to children and young people when their images are used online (including on social networking sites and YouTube etc) and in publications by following a few simple guidelines (based upon those suggested by the NSPCC) you will reduce the potential for concern.

- Avoid using both the name and the photograph of a young person in a printed publication, social media or on a website.
- Seek parental permission (see above)
- Only allow photographs to be taken of suitably dressed subjects and in appropriate situations
- Follow Young People First (the Yellow Card) at all times

Capturing, editing and storage

Under the GDPR you need a process that helps you find and delete personal data at a later date. When you capture content, find a way to link your content with an individual. Use a simple name board in front of the lens or record a short message to assist you. Label your content with the activity/event, date and location to help provide a reference. Labelling can be achieved via file metadata or by renaming the file and folders. Store a copy of your permission form with consent paragraph, or your release form (for advertising, marketing or media coverage) in the same place as the related photo, video and audio content. Once you have labelled your consented content, ensure you dispose of any remaining materials. In addition, the following should be used as a guide:
  • Photography, videos and audio of no use should be removed at source or in any copies when not needed.

  • The use of cloud services are ok for storage. Use a reputable provider with guaranteed storage in the UK or EEA

  • You need the ability to add metadata to the imagery or organise them so you can capture, names, event names, dates, consent evidence

  • Password protected (with strong passwords, minimum of 8 characters, with some complexity)

  • Use photographic devices that are under the control of the person who gained the consent and manages the images where possible

Existing content

Undertake an audit of your existing content to ensure it is labelled with event details including a date and location. If you have relevant and existing personal consent for photos, video and audio, store this data alongside relevant content and store your content using the advice above. If anyone requests you to delete content, ask them for details of any events/activities they took part in, and request a photo that will help you identify them, then delete their personal data.

In addition to the guidance given above, in the case of Scout Shows and similar performances the potential copyright implications of recording and copying music and other material should be considered.

The Yellow Card

Read the Yellow Card