Terry Beck captures photographs of children at bat, running bases or waiting patiently in the outfield.
   The Sherwood resident doesn’t see anything wrong with taking photographs of children and selling them on his Central Arkansas Photography Web site.
   But Sherwood park officials have for a year now declined to let Beck take photos in the city’s parks because they say they are uncomfortable with him displaying children’s photographs online.
   “Ten years from now, we may all be doing business like that. But right now, people are uncomfortable with doing this, putting photos on the Internet,” Sherwood Park Director Sonny Janssen said.
   Sherwood requires a user permit to sell food, hats or other merchandise in the city’s parks. The city’s Parks and Recreation Committee and the Optimist Club rejected Beck’s application in May, saying displaying children’s photos online is not in their best interest.
   “That’s a terrible reason to stop me from doing this,” said Beck, who learned about the user permit when he was told on July 4, 2005, to stop taking photos of a baseball tournament.
   He hasn’t been back to test the waters.
   Beck is part of a growing trend of photographers taking unsolicited photographs and posting on Web sites to sell online. At least two other companies operate similarly in central Arkansas, and no one has told Angie Ellis of Maumelle that she couldn’t shoot photographs in public parks.
   The situation also is news to members of Professional Photographers of America, who say the popularity of selling photos online has skyrocketed in the past five years.
   Arkansas Municipal League President Don Zimmerman said he is not aware of any Arkansas cities preventing people from taking photographs in public parks. He did not want to comment on the situation without further legal research.
   A message left for the Optimist Club, which runs the sports complex, wasn’t returned and no one answered other telephone calls to the club.
   Beck and his business partner were surprised when their application for a business permit was turned down.
   Beck travels to Little Rock, Maumelle and Cabot to shoot sporting events. He said he hasn’t been told to stop anywhere else.
   “I am sure I have the right to take these kids’ pictures,” Beck said, adding that he sold several photographs from the Sherwood event last year to parents at the game.
   After taking pictures at a game, Beck or his partner uploads the images onto his Web site. Although the company’s name is displayed on the pictures, the action and people in each photo are still visible. People can order multiple photos at various prices or a single 4x6 photograph for less than $5, Beck said. There’s no password required to look at the pictures on the Web site.
   City officials see things differently. It would be one thing if Beck was taking photographs as a hobby or selling photo packages to parents at the park, Janssen said, but online, anyone can buy the photographs, including pedophiles. The city has a responsibility to protect children, he said.
   Beck will be asked to leave the park if he is seen taking photographs again, Janssen said in an interview last week.
   Sherwood City Attorney Steve Cobb stands by the committee’s decision. The Optimist Club and the Parks and Recreation Committee followed their established procedures, he said.
   The city has no ordinance prohibiting someone from taking photos in city parks, but Cobb said he thinks the city can regulate people who come to city property for business.
   “It’s something we might need to look at,” Cobb said.
   Ellis, owner of Maumelle Sports, an online action sports photography company, took photos Sunday of sporting events at Sherwood parks, including a softball tournament at the sports complex.
   “Nobody said a word,” she said Monday. She was unaware of Beck’s history at the park when she shot the games.
   “It’s not against the law to put photos online. Anybody’s able to take photos over the fence,” Ellis said.
   Ellis, her husband and other photographers employed by the company regularly step onto area ball fields without any problem.
   Like Beck, Ellis said she hands out business cards, inviting parents to visit the Web site to buy photographs. Parents often request through the Web site that photographers show up at events, she said.
   Commercial photographers shouldn’t be treated any differently than parents snapping photographs unless the photographers are requiring special access to the field, said Stephen Morris, manager of government affairs for Professional Photographers of America.
   Prohibiting sports photography in public parks isn’t something Al Hopper, the organization’s director of membership, has heard of before.
   Photographers should respect parents’ wishes if they say they don’t want their child’s photograph taken, he and Morris said in a telephone interview last week. But that’s not a fight for the city to undertake, Morris said.
   Hopper recommends online sites use passwords to ensure only people who were handed a business card at a game could access the images. Passwords could reduce concerns about access, he said.
   A task force set up to address online crimes against children is more concerned about people posting personal information on such online social networks as Facebook, said Steve Frazier, a FBI special agent. The local office of the bureau has partnered with the Little Rock Police Department, the Arkansas State Police and other state agencies to address online child pornography and exploitation.
   Photographers often conduct business online and that’s not an area the FBI investigates, he said.
   Frazier couldn’t comment on Beck’s specific situation, but said he was unaware of any cases in Arkansas where a child was abducted after a photographer put images of the child online.
   On Monday, Beck said he was hopeful he could reach a compromise with the city after an alderman relayed a message to him that he could take photos if he received a user’s permit and parental permission. The alderman did not return a phone message left for him at home Monday.
   Janssen, who is out of his office this week, did not return a message left at his home.

This story was published Wednesday, July 05, 2006

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