Rules on street photography

[revenater]

Thank you all for your response. I would not being using them for commercial use. I am only wanting the practice. the most they would get used for would be my wall or a contest. my home town is 6 hours away and so alot of it would be memories also. Everyone was very helpful. Thank you again. Hopefully I will get some great ones to show off.

 

[deeky]

Case study for the sake of discussion - the popparazzi are EVERYWHERE. They take pictures/video to sell. Pretty sure they don't ever get releases from the stars/wannabe's that they shoot. If the subjects do sign a release, they are crazy for willingly allowing that to be put out there. But it's definitely not an advertisement for any product (except maybe indirectly for AA, Narcanon, etc.) If there was grounds for prevention of the sale of those photos/videos, pretty sure some of Hollywood would have stood on it by now.

 

[brett_93_ex]

I take a lot of candid pictures of people all the time. I printed out generic business cards to give out if anyone asked about it, and always send them the pics if they want. Being still new to photography, I will always send pics if they request it. I have done a few family portraits at the beach or mountains on the fly this way. Still don't consider myself good enough to accept money though.

 

[unpopular]

I prefer it when people ask me to take their picture. I had this father and son pair of thugs holler at me last fathers day, we chatted a bit and drank a "well before lunch" beer. Then totally unexpected they asked if I could take their photo. I wasn't really prepared, all I had was my popup flash and a manual focus Tessar. But I think it turned out OK, not anything award winning:

A few days later I had it printed, put it in a cheap frame and with some cultural awkwardness figuring out what unit they were in (nobody seemed to have ever seen the guy), had it delivered by a neighbor to the father ("uhm. well. if you do see this guy around, can you give him this?").

A few weeks later I ran into the kid. He seemed so grateful to have the picture, it really made my day

 

[Village Idiot]

what is the rule or law when it come to shooting shots on city streets? There is a festival in my home town this weekend and I am wanting to take some shots but I was unsure about photographing strangers without permission. The festival is on the city streets and city square am I safe to photograph people?

If a cop tells you to stop then stop. Same goes if someone says stop or they will kick your ass. Other then that your pretty much good when in public. Try to look friendly and smile. Dont be sneaky looking. Just be honest about what you are doing and you wont creep people out.

If a cop tells you to stop, they could just be ignorant of the law and if someone threatens to kick your ass for legally taking a photo of them in public, it could be a good opportunity to sue the crap out of them if they actually do. There are many, many, many stories of polices, security guards, and other people acting in official capacities telling people that are legally photographing in public that they need to stop because they're doing something illegal. A lot of law enforcement and private security are just as ignorant of the laws regarding photographing things in public as there appear to be in this thread.

Just because a cop tells you to do something doesn't mean that you have to do it. Telling someone to stop taking photos of another person while both are in public space is just as bad as a cop telling to you punch someone walking by in the face and then threatening to arrest you if you don't comply. The first instance weakens your rights while the second has you assaulting someone. My point with the hyperbole? An officer is not always right.

Should you question the officer? It depends, are you the type of person that will stand up and confront someone that is telling you what you're doing is wrong when you know it's right? Can you afford to spend the night in jail and defend yourself in court?

There's even cases of cops in certain states using wire tapping laws to arrest citizens for filming them doing their duty in public. Most of these have been thrown out and I've even seen one where the DA told the police department to stop harassing people for taking photos and filming them in public. The chief in that situation said that his officers would continue on their present course of violating the people's rights. And as much as people want to complain about the litigous society we live in, at some point there's only one way to make the people that are in authority and that are supposed to be protecting our rights to listen. Unfortunately in some places it has gone from serve and protect to generate revenue and harass.

 

[Village Idiot]

Case study for the sake of discussion - the popparazzi are EVERYWHERE. They take pictures/video to sell. Pretty sure they don't ever get releases from the stars/wannabe's that they shoot. If the subjects do sign a release, they are crazy for willingly allowing that to be put out there. But it's definitely not an advertisement for any product (except maybe indirectly for AA, Narcanon, etc.) If there was grounds for prevention of the sale of those photos/videos, pretty sure some of Hollywood would have stood on it by now.

That's because the publications they shoot for are using the photos for editorial purposes.

 

[deeky]

Case study for the sake of discussion - the popparazzi are EVERYWHERE. They take pictures/video to sell. Pretty sure they don't ever get releases from the stars/wannabe's that they shoot. If the subjects do sign a release, they are crazy for willingly allowing that to be put out there. But it's definitely not an advertisement for any product (except maybe indirectly for AA, Narcanon, etc.) If there was grounds for prevention of the sale of those photos/videos, pretty sure some of Hollywood would have stood on it by now.

That's because the publications they shoot for are using the photos for editorial purposes.

Fair enough. Could you argue that your art street photography is simply editorial comment on society? After all, most photography is an attempt to make some sort of opinion statement.

 

[Village Idiot]

Case study for the sake of discussion - the popparazzi are EVERYWHERE. They take pictures/video to sell. Pretty sure they don't ever get releases from the stars/wannabe's that they shoot. If the subjects do sign a release, they are crazy for willingly allowing that to be put out there. But it's definitely not an advertisement for any product (except maybe indirectly for AA, Narcanon, etc.) If there was grounds for prevention of the sale of those photos/videos, pretty sure some of Hollywood would have stood on it by now.

That's because the publications they shoot for are using the photos for editorial purposes.

Fair enough. Could you argue that your art street photography is simply editorial comment on society? After all, most photography is an attempt to make some sort of opinion statement.

Go back to the first page and find the link to the Nussenzweig v. DiCorcia Wikipedia page.

A judge ruled there is a difference in a photograph being sold commercially vs. being sold as art. In fact, go research street photography a bit more. There's a ton of links out there that can easily be found via Google, with some of them dealing with actual court cases and rulings.

 

[tylerzachary412]

Take pictures of what you like. Don't just run around like a reporter with microphone when Usain Bolt beated World record in Olympic games. Just shoot what you see has a value and keep doing what you like. This rule seems to be acceptable to me. Don't bother people with what you're doing

 

[richardmicah01]

You can take shots anywhere, without any permission.

 

[Village Idiot]

You can take shots anywhere, without any permission.

Excellent advice to be arrested by. Try taking photos on a military installation or on government property like the pentagon. In DC, you're allowed to take photos on the metro since it's public, but not on the pentagon city stop because it's goverment land and they set the rules. You're can take photos in private venues, but if the owner doesn't give you consent, they can have you removed if you don't stop. Taking photos in most concert venues is usually not allowed and is posted on tickets and upfront. They can choose not to even let you in if you have a camera.

 

[jake337]

Rules?

Make sure your on public property and have fun.

 

[unpopular]

And don't put a single FOOT on federal property.

Learned that one the hard way.

 

[deeky]

And don't put a single FOOT on federal property.

Learned that one the hard way.

I took my camera down to the federal courthouse on a Saturday evening with some great light one day in Minneapolis. It's got some pretty cool modern architecture for a courthouse. I didn't even think about it and just started snapping away at the outside of the building. It wasn't long at all and I had a security gaurd headed my way. I explained I was just an amature hack that liked the building, apologized, assured him I would stop, and even offered to show him the pics I had already taken. He was really nice about it. He explained he was required to ask, was fine with what I was doing, and even assured me I could continue shooting the outside of the building. He was more concerned with the teenagers that were skateboarding by the fountain than he was by me.

Sounds like I got lucky. Never thought about the issues of federal property.

 

[unpopular]

For me, it was much closer to 9/11. I was taking some photos of a bank who was a client of the ad agency I was working for. All was fine, until I stepped up onto the federal court house's steps to get a better vantage point. The guard swooped in, brought me inside for questioning, took my ID, who I was and who I was working for.

After an hour and a half, I was let go.