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Where can I find PUBLIC DOMAIN pictures of a national park with NO copyright laws?

I need to find pictures of Banff National Park (in Alberta, Canada) that are in the PUBLIC DOMAIN (no copyright whatsoever).

These pictures may be used in a logo for a medical conference. I am having great difficulty finding any more than 3 online. Can anyone help me? Thank you in advance!

It’s true that federal government works in the US are not protected by copyright. But in Canada, government works are protected by copyright for 50 years following the end of the calendar year in which they were produced. See Section 12 of the Canadian Copyright Act.

The Parks Canada Agency website makes it clear that copyright is claimed in any park photos. Personal use is permitted, but you must get written permission for public and/or commercial use. Contact info is on this page:
http://www.pc.gc.ca/avis-notice_E.asp

You might consider asking for permission if you find a Park photo you like. The fee might be small … or even nonexistent.

If you don’t want to seek government permission, a Google search should turn up more than three PD photos of Banff National Park.

For example:

Here’s one. There are a couple more of Banff on the site:
http://www.pdphoto.org/PictureDetail.php?mat=pdef&pg=8197

Here’s another:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Moraine_Lake_17092005.jpg

Last but not least, try Flickr. I did a search for photos of Banff National Park that are licensed under the Creative Commons for commercial work, and got over 200 results:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=%22banff+national+park%22&l=comm&ct=0&mt=photos

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 7:17 am and is filed under medical conference. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Where can I find PUBLIC DOMAIN pictures of a national park with NO copyright laws?”

  1. In taking a mini class in copyright, I learned that any govt photograph is paid for by tax money. As such, it is available for the public to use. (At lest here in the USA)
    References :

  2. It’s true that federal government works in the US are not protected by copyright. But in Canada, government works are protected by copyright for 50 years following the end of the calendar year in which they were produced. See Section 12 of the Canadian Copyright Act.

    The Parks Canada Agency website makes it clear that copyright is claimed in any park photos. Personal use is permitted, but you must get written permission for public and/or commercial use. Contact info is on this page:
    http://www.pc.gc.ca/avis-notice_E.asp

    You might consider asking for permission if you find a Park photo you like. The fee might be small … or even nonexistent.

    If you don’t want to seek government permission, a Google search should turn up more than three PD photos of Banff National Park.

    For example:

    Here’s one. There are a couple more of Banff on the site:
    http://www.pdphoto.org/PictureDetail.php?mat=pdef&pg=8197

    Here’s another:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Moraine_Lake_17092005.jpg

    Last but not least, try Flickr. I did a search for photos of Banff National Park that are licensed under the Creative Commons for commercial work, and got over 200 results:
    http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=%22banff+national+park%22&l=comm&ct=0&mt=photos
    References :
    For instructions on how to do an advanced search on Flickr (and other photo sites):
    http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/picture-search.html

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