Photo Submission Guidelines

These guidelines help contributors submit photographs that fit Places We Remember. They work with the Terms of Use. Formal copyright or photograph-rights concerns are handled through the public Copyright Concerns process at /rights, not through ordinary photo reporting alone.

1. What belongs here

Submit photographs that help people understand a real place connected to community history or memory—buildings, streetscapes, landscapes, signs, interiors where appropriate, and similar visual records of the place.

Avoid unrelated personal albums, decorative stock imagery with no place connection, or uploads meant only to promote an unrelated product or service.

2. Right to submit

Only submit a photograph if you have a lawful basis to do so. Examples include:

• you created the photograph;
• you have permission from the rights holder;
• the photograph is in the public domain; or
• you otherwise have a lawful basis to submit it.

That lawful basis must permit Places We Remember to make the uses described in the Terms of Use, including public display and Places We Remember promotional and marketing use where applicable.

If rights are uncertain, do not upload until you have a reasonable basis. “I found it online” is not enough by itself.

Public-domain material may be submitted when it is truly public domain. Uploading public-domain material does not mean you personally own the copyright.

3. Archival and third-party photographs

Institutional, archival, newspaper, museum, or family-collection photographs can be valuable when you have a lawful basis and can provide honest context.

• Credit the photographer, collection, or institution when known.
• Do not imply the project endorses or partners with an institution unless that is true.
• Do not upload material you know is restricted from online display.

4. Attribution and context

Useful attribution helps readers and moderators. Fields such as caption, photographer name, source/collection, credit/context, and date notes are encouraged when known. They are not all strictly required by the database for every upload, but incomplete or misleading attribution weakens a submission.

Good practice:

• write a clear caption tied to the place;
• name the photographer when known;
• identify a source collection or archive when relevant;
• add credit/context that would help a stranger understand the image; and
• include approximate dates when known.

Your public contributor attribution (for example, display name) may also appear with published photographs according to product rules.

5. Privacy and people in photographs

Be careful with photographs that focus on identifiable private individuals, private spaces, or sensitive situations. Do not upload imagery that exploits or humiliates people. When appropriate, obtain permission. When in doubt, choose another image.

These guidelines are practical product guidance, not legal advice about publicity or privacy law.

6. Inappropriate or unlawful imagery

Do not submit photographs that are unlawful, sexually exploitative, graphic in a way that is not justified by documenting the place, or otherwise prohibited by the Terms or Community Guidelines.

7. What happens after upload

Submitted photographs go through technical processing and moderation workflows before public appearance.

• The Service may create resized public derivatives (such as gallery images).
• Public derivatives for published photographs are served publicly.
• Private original and full-resolution processing copies are not shown on public place pages.
• Moderators may accept, decline, delay, hide, archive, or remove photographs.

8. Reporting vs formal rights concerns

On public place pages, photographs may offer two different actions:

Important:

• An ordinary report does not automatically hide or remove a photograph.
• A formal rights submission does not automatically remove a photograph.
• Administrator action is separate from submission of a report or claim.

9. Possible removal

Photographs may be removed from public view through moderation or rights-handling workflows. When a photograph is removed, public derivatives may be deleted asynchronously. Private processing copies may still be retained under current technical behavior for operational, moderation, audit, or dispute-handling needs. See the Privacy Policy and Terms for related disclosures.

10. Related documents

• Terms of Use — ownership/license, moderation, and service rules
• Privacy Policy — how photograph and account data are handled
• Community Guidelines — participation expectations
• /rights — formal photograph-rights concern form and instructions

Questions: support@placesweremember.com