I nearly never ask permission to shoot, nor to publish. People in public are
fair game. There is no prohibition whatsoever against shooting them, and the
exceptions for publication would be libel or commercial use. For example, if I
shot Sally Sumptious leaving church and published the photo with the caption
"Sally Sumptions leaving her job at the Jolly Time Whorehouse," that would be
libelous. If I used her image in a print advertisement for Up-Tight & Right
Girdles without her permission and paying her, that could also be trouble.
Think about the alternative. As a working news photographer for several years,
how could I have taken pictures at a sporting event, where dozens, maybe even
hundreds, of spectators are recognizable in the background? Should I have to
scurry through the stands to get a release from each one? Hardly! The same
principle would apply to any public scene: fire, plane crash, traffic accident,
Easter egg hunt, yard sale, political rally, nude sit-in, or folks just walking
down the street, and so on.
There's a myth about the superior rights of working professional journalists.
As a full-time, paid, working photojournalist, my right to photograph whatever
I see in public is not one iota greater than the right of Sally Sumptious, with
her little P&S flash popper, to do the same. If you're in public and you can
see it, you can shoot it (unless you're looking through somebody's bedroom
window).
Different country's laws may vary, but in the U.S. of A., that's pretty much
the rule, even though the transit cops in NY may hassle you for shooting in the
subway. Tell 'em to FO. But be ready to post bail.
And looking back and reflecting on my own TOPE shots, I now realize that,
except for TOPE 1, Self Portraits (naturally), and TOPE 17, Reflections, none
of my own are of people. I'll try to improve the people/non-people ratio with
TOPE 21.
Shoot and smile. If that fails, stare 'em down. If that doesn't work, show
them your gun. If they've got one too, run.
Walt
--
"Anything more than 500 yards from
the car just isn't photogenic." --
Edward Weston
-------------- Original message from Der Eiserne Reiter : --------------
> When I see pictures of people on-line, I do often wonder how many have been
> explicitly asked
> if a picture of them could be published on the internet ...
>
> Roland.
>
> --- Gary Teller wrote:
>
> > Walt wrote:
> >
> > One thing I have noticed over my three or four years here, and from
> > looking at the TOPE gallery, is that it seems like not too many Zuikoholics
> > shoot people. Sure, everybody takes pictures of friends and family, but I
> > see very few photos of alien folk.
> >
>
> =====
> FeRider (R.)
>
>
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|