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June 18, 2006
Your Rights As A Photographer
A couple weeks ago when I was on a photo shoot in the middle of Indiana. The assignment was to document the workers at a corporation there. Aside from the remote location, it was a fun project. The people were genuinely friendly, the project went smoothly, and the camera I was using really performed well. The only snag came with a photo I needed to take of an Amish worker. The Amish craftsmanship and work ethic is a source of great pride to the company, and they wanted that to be represented in the photos. Out of respect for their religion, we asked worker after worker if they would mind being in a picture. One by one they all declined. The Amish don’t like to be photographed because it might cause them to be tempted by pride. Some didn’t mind if they were in the background of the photos, but almost none of them were willing to be the focus of the picture. I respected the wishes of these people and didn’t take their photo.
When I was done with the “official” photo shoot I spent a couple evenings driving around and taking pictures of rural Indiana. At one point I was walking by some Amish people and had a great photo opportunity. I hesitated knowing how they would feel about getting their photo taken. Did I really need these people’s permission before I could take their photo? If you have ever found yourself in a similar situation, you are probably wondering what your legal rights are. Here are some important things to keep in mind…
It is amazing the great lengths people go to just to prevent having themselves or their property from being photographed. Whether the effort is good intentioned or not, it is important that people understand their own legal rights as well as the rights of the person holding the camera. It turns out, that the photographer has much more freedom than you might think. There is a great article on usatoday.com that explains the rights of photographers and gives several links to other helpful sites. I recommend you read the entire article there, but here are three things that I found interesting:
1. Almost anything you can see you can photograph.
If you can see it, you can take a picture of it. If you are standing on public property you can photograph anything you like, including private property. It is important to realize that taking a picture is different than publishing a photo, which leads to point number two.
2. As long as you are not invading someone’s privacy, you can publish their photo without permission.
You can take someone’s picture in any public setting and publish it without consequence (even if it portrays the person in a negative way) as long as the photo isn’t “highly offensive to a reasonable person” and “is not of legitimate concern to the public.” You can even publish photos if you took them on private property. While you may be punished for being on private property, there is no legal reason why you can’t publish the photo from prison!
3. As long as you aren’t using someone’s likeness for a purely commercial purpose, you have the right to publish the photo.
You can use your photos of other people without their permission for an artistic or news purpose, but you can’t use them for a commercial purpose (such as an ad). You could sell a photo of a person without their permission, but you couldn’t use the photo in an ad saying the person endorses your product.
All three of these things should make photographers feel pretty confident in there rights to take pictures of almost anything they want. I am not a lawyer, and I am paraphrasing from the USA Today article, so don’t consider this legal advice.
(Originally published on Be A Design Group.)
Posted by Adrian at June 18, 2006 10:41 PM
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Comments
That was nice of you to respect there decision. I don’t find my self in the situation very often since I mostly photograph weddings. I’m surprised the USA today article didn’t mention anything about a model release.
Posted by: photographer in los angeles at June 22, 2006 06:09 PM
Interesting comments! I guess this is how Paparazzi make a living. They always manage to take photos of celebrities sunbathing topless or in other similar situations. They are able to sell the photos to newspapers and magazines and make a fortune, even over the objections of the celebrity.
I admire you putting the feelings of the person before your own profit. But my guess is that if you had taken the photo without asking.
Gene
Posted by: Gene at August 19, 2006 01:59 PM