Question about photographing in public...

[acejka]

I googled this last night and I can't really find anything that looks like I can count on it being legit info, and I'm not sure who to turn to for a solid answer, so maybe you folks can help me out or direct me in the right direction about who to confim with.


So there was a thread last night about a child being photographed in disney and the photographer showed the photos to the parent, some parents responded back that they would be outraged, demand the photos to be deleted, etc.

My previous knowledge through high school photography classes was that if you are in public you can be photographed by someone without your permission and you can't do anything about it, unless is was a place where you expect privacy in public-a dressing room, bathroom etc and you can't shoot into someone's house.

Does anyone know if the above is still true? It's been almost 10 years since I graduated. Can a parent legally do anything if say you are at disney and see their kid smelling a flower and its the perfect shot and you use (not for sale) but in your portfolio? If they approach you, do you have to delete it? In the case of the incident I read about last night it sounds like a scammer so I am not talking directly about that incident.

Would I just called the non-emergency police number or some sort of lawyer to get a solid answer?

Anyone know?? THanks!!

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

I think if you are in public you are fair game.

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

I think if you were to use that image to make money, anyone you are photographing would be entitiled.

 

[eduk8r26]

I think the problem in this case was the photographer approached the parent for the express purpose of getting her e-mail address to use as a scam, if it's the same post I read.

 

[Anewman]

Does anyone know if the above is still true? It's been almost 10 years since I graduated. Can a parent legally do anything if say you are at disney and see their kid smelling a flower and its the perfect shot and you use (not for sale) but in your portfolio? If they approach you, do you have to delete it? In the case of the incident I read about last night it sounds like a scammer so I am not talking directly about that incident.

Would I just called the non-emergency police number or some sort of lawyer to get a solid answer?

Anyone know?? THanks!!

Disney can set policy on their property, they tend to set policy to point where it keeps the most number of guests happy.

Any public place that is on PRIVATE PROPERTY has the right to set their own policy. But violation of that policy usually only results in ejection and not prosecution even if someone objects to you possibly having their picture.

Commercial is a whole other discussion, sale and profit from someones likeness always requires a release form-Public property or not.

 

[photo_chick]

It usually needs to be a true public space like a city or state park, or city street. Not a privately owned park like Disney. And normally you cannot be infringing on someones right to privacy, though there are always exceptions to that.

If I were to get a shot of someone on a city street and wanted to sell it as a fine art print I could in many places, but I can't use it as stock because while it is legal to do so in some places most stock companies won't buy it. Though if you sell it as an editorial shot that's a whole other discussion that requires no release in most places.

Check with the state privacy laws for the specifics because it varies. You should be able to find them online. But even then, if you're unsure of what you can and cannot do check with a lawyer who specializes in that area because you're better off safe than sued.