ASMP Member Code of Ethics

The ASMP Member Code of Ethics provides professional guidelines for members as they deal with colleagues, subjects and clients. The Code describes the responsibilities of working photographers to their profession as well as to the individuals they work for and with.

Responsibility to Colleagues and the Profession:

1. Maintain a high quality of service and a reputation for honesty and fairness.
2. Oppose censorship and protect the copyrights and moral rights of other creators.
3. Foster fair competition based on professional qualification and merit.
4. Never deliberately exaggerate one’s qualifications, nor misrepresent the authorship of work presented in  self-promotion.
5. Never engage in malicious or deliberately inaccurate criticism of the reputation or work of another photographer.
6. Never offer or accept bribes, kickbacks or other improper inducements.
7. Never conspire with others to fix prices, organize in illegal boycotts, or engage in other unfair competitive practices.
8. Donate time for the betterment of the profession and to advise other photographers.
Responsibility to Subjects:
1. Respect the privacy and property rights of one’s subjects.
2. Never use deceit in obtaining model or property releases.

Responsibility to Subjects:

1. Respect the privacy and property rights of one’s subjects.
2. Never use deceit in obtaining model or property releases.

Responsibility to Clients:

1. Conduct oneself in a professional manner and represent a client’s best interests within the limits of one’s professional responsibilities.
2. Protect a client’s confidential information. Assistants should likewise maintain confidentiality of the photographer’s proprietary information.
3. Accurately represent to clients the existence of model and property releases for photographs.
4. Stipulate a fair and reasonable value for lost or damaged photographs.
5. Use written contracts and delivery memos with a client, stock agency or assignment representative.
6. Give due consideration to the client’s interests before licensing subsequent uses.
7. Do not manipulate images for use in a journalistic context in a manner that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.