More photographers can work inside US National Parks without expensive permits, thanks to new law

Photographers working in Grand Tetons National Park photographing a barn and mountains.

Small commercial photography and videography projects inside the US National Parks, including wedding photography, will no longer require permits and fees if they meet a list of requirements, thanks to a new law. President Joe Biden signed the EXPLORE Act, which includes the FILM Act, on January 06, which drastically changes the National Park Services permit requirements for commercial photography and filmmaking.

Under previous law, all photography and videography projects inside national parks that were commercial in nature required a permit. The FILM Act, however, replaces those restrictions with what the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) calls “common-sense rules that determine the need for a permit based primarily on impact upon the land and its visitors.”