Ethical Challenge 242.314

[acparsons]

I took some photos as a festival. I would like to submit one of the photos, containing 2 people that posed for the photo, to the city contest. Photos will be used to promote tourism for the city. Should I permission in writing from the people that posed or just submit it?

 

[Overread]

Note - if you want legal advice on this consult a lawyer - or in this case perhaps also the competition organisers (as one would hope they are aware of the legalities for advertising). The legal stance for this will vary from country to country.
Furthermore there is often a divide between editorial and commercial/advertising.

Ergo a newspaper might take the photo, print and publish it without any need to have the permission of those photographed; whilst a company/council looking to use the photo for advertising and promotional purposes might well require not just the photographers permission, but that of those in the photo as well.


Morality varies person to person somewhat and can also depend on your point of view on a situation. I would say find out the legal position first and foremost and the very specific way in which the photo is intended to be used.

If it were me and the photo were just going into a general gallery of photos from the event I'd not consider it a moral problem; however if the photo is going to be centre stage of an advertising campaign then I would most certainly want to seek those who were photographed to get their permission first.

 

[smoke665]

Very good advice given above. To add to, while the "Reasonable Expectation of Privacy" is voided by being on a city street, and assuming they weren't posing in a manner that would be "highly offensive" you would likely be okay. However, that doesn't mean you might not still be sued (at least in this country). Having been in the position of defendant on occasion, I can tell you it's imperative to have all your documentation correct.