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What does the law say?

danlindberg

Well-known member
Concerning street photography and publication. As with most street, there are going to be people you do not know in the frame. When there is a group of people I suppose there never will be a problem, but what does the law say when one or two persons are singled out and are cleary the "subject" in the image?
I have seen numerous images with, for instance, a homeless sleeping up against the wall, a banker eating a sandwich on a bench, a cyclist crossing the street, a mother walking with her crying 5 year old, a policeman waving the traffic etc etc etc

I am sure you see where I am going with this! How do I know what I can publish when persons are very cleary portraid in an image and then published without them knowing, because it is ofcourse impossible to run around and ask everyone or have agreements on paper at hand!

I could point at several images even in our own "imagethread" here where this question could be asked. What happens if one of these "subject persons" sees a published image here or elsewhere and freaks? Lawyers up and gives the M9 shooter hell? What can happen?
 

m_driscoll

New member
dan:

Here's an interesting link that seems to be a thoughtful discussion of this topic. http://www.photosecrets.com/photography-law.html

I think, the keys are public place, expectation of privacy, and how the photo is published, or used. As i understand it, you can photograph the banker eating lunch in a public place, and you can use the image, as long as it's not used commercially, or in a slanderous manner.

If it's posted here, you maintain the copyright on the image as a work of art, it's not being used for commercial profit, and it's not slanderous. Similarly, I think that if you use the image in a book of photos, then it's art, and you can do that (freedom of speech). However, you can't sell the image to a stock agency, or use it in advertising without the banker's release.

Obviously more complicated then this, but, i don't think we're in much danger. Paparazzi are protected by the 1st amendment.

Thanks for bringing this up. It's pretty relevant, if you're street shooting. Cheers, Matt

http://mdriscoll.zenfolio.com
 
Concerning street photography and publication. As with most street, there are going to be people you do not know in the frame.

...... What happens if one of these "subject persons" sees a published image here or elsewhere and freaks? Lawyers up and gives the M9 shooter hell? What can happen?
Laws obviously differ between countries. Dan, unless I mix you up with another guy, you´re in Sweden. If so, you might read this article from Fotosidan (it´s written in Swedish and concerns Swedish law, so my apologies to the rest of the world...:rolleyes:)
 

danlindberg

Well-known member
Thanks Matt for your thoughts and the link!

Per, Differences between countries is ofcourse fundamental but I thought that maybe a general consensus could be applied. I shoot 50/50 between Sweden and Spain since I travel back and forth. Thanks a lot for the fotosidan.se link. I will read it carefully.
 
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