This may have been asked before

[zombiemann]

I am new here, but I do know how to search forums. I tried searching but didn't come up with any results that actually pertained to my question. If I missed something please be patient. Now on to my actual question:

Th city I live in is spending a great deal of money revitalizing the downtown area. We're talking several streets completely redone, including building exteriors etc. I would really love to capture this transformation. With it being downtown there is pretty much not a time of day when there aren't cars parked all over the place. As a photographer, who could potentially be publishing these photographs, do I have any responsibility to obscure identifiable markings such as license plates? Oddly enough foot traffic isn't much of a problem, and people are relatively easy for me to work around. I know generally speaking if it is in public it is "fair game" for lack of a better term, but I want to hear what others have to say

Thanks in advance for any input

 

[tirediron]

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on television, and I don't live in the USA; these things vary by region and country. BUT, if I were you, I wouldn't worry about obscuring license plates, etc.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

You don't have to obscure plates. The only people who obscure plates are people who take pictures of their own cars.

 

[KmH]

Since the plates are visible as the cars sit there, or go down the road, or are parked in the owners driveway, how could there be any need to obscure them in a photo?

 

[zombiemann]

Since the plates are visible as the cars sit there, or go down the road, or are parked in the owners driveway, how could there be any need to obscure them in a photo?

You never know in this lawsuit happy society we live in

 

[Derrel]

A private citizen in a PUBLIC location has NO RIGHT to privacy, NOR does he have any EXPECTATION of privacy--and that point has been held up by many US court decisions. This concept and framework of public portrayal of people and places is part of the concept of living in the free society that we have here in the United States. You ought to feel free to shoot,shoot,shoot.

 

[480sparky]

A private citizen in a PUBLIC location has NO RIGHT to privacy, NOR does he have any EXPECTATION of privacy--and that point has been held up by many US court decisions. This concept and framework of public portrayal of people and places is part of the concept of living in the free society that we have here in the United States. You ought to feel free to shoot,shoot,shoot.

That won't prevent lawsuits, however.

That said, I sell a great deal of images taken in the middle of public street on my website. Being able to see and read a license plate, or having Joe Sixpack and Suzy Homemaker on the sidewalk in my images, bothers me not one bit.

 

[KmH]

...

There is nothing more uncommon than common sense. - anon.