Legal matters with photography in public.
Mar/08/09 03:37 Filed in: Technicalities
A collection of resources about photographers rights
It is very sad to begin with that photo enthusiasts, amateurs or professional photographers that simply want to express their point of view of the world in an artistic way have to worry about such banal matters. But, we live in a society and not in an agglomeration of individuals - or so wee'd like to think or make ourselves believe. Hence there are certain and thoughts and aspects that may concern the uninvolved individual in a complete different way than the photographer and vice versa. So consequently some rules and regulations have been put into place and it's worth it to have at least an overview over the basics.
So let us begin thinking about situations where we ask ourselves whether or not it is questionable to shoot:
Shooting private property
Street photography
Have you ever been kneeling on the street, taking your shot down the road and suddenly somebody, out of the blue, starts yelling at you and complaining that he or she is in your photograph? Well, you have all right to take that image, with or without that person. The public place rule comes into place. As a side note: Has anyone of those complainers ever asked themselves how many secretly security cameras caught their likeness? On the street and in public, you are allowed, against common believe, to take images from (and not exclusively) the following objects: celebrities, crime and fire scenes (careful though), children, police officers, airports, train stations, public utilities and really any sort of infrastructure, like bridges and the means. There is one little exception: they probably chase us away once we start taking images of military facilities...
What exactly is a public place?
A proper public place is any place that can be entered by the public because the public is invited or is made for use by the public. So,of course there are streets and side walks, parks and the means. But also lobbies of office buildings, the subway and even the mall are considered being public places, since the public is invited to enter. The general rule is, that you are allowed to take photographs there. Unless, it is noted otherwise. And when you look around, almost every office building lobby will post a big "no photo" sign.
Photographing in the malls
This is a heavily discussed subject on the web. A lot of malls surprisingly don't have photography guidelines in place. From what I have seen, there are no rules posted alongside the normal mall rules, neither did I find anything on the malls home pages. If worst comes to worst, the mall security personal can ask you to stop photographing and leave the mall. They can not however take your camera or film or even ask you to delete your images. If you run into this situation, you should insist on having a proper law enforcement officer on the site (which by the way is not allowed to do this either). It is your decision to argue to the bitter end or simply to be polite. Whatever you do, don't give your camera away...
Photographing in the Subway
I essentially learned that it is a good thing to know and to be confident about those rules. While shooting on the Boston T, I have been a few times asked by officials what I am doing after spending quite some time at a single location. Explaining them in a brief manner always cleared the situation: I mean no harm, I know my rights, I know yours, so do you, leave me alone. Good. But again, it comes down to being respectful and polite. That will always carry us far.
You can find here the regulations of the MBTA about photography in the Boston T system. I always have a copy on me when shooting down there, which I did not need so far.
Abandoned buildings - or Trespassing
A lot of us like abandoned buildings and places. Such locations are just popular amongst photographers. Why is that? This old brick building, sitting quietly in the fog of the early morning hours has a eery fascination: it is waiting to be explored. Rooms full of stories to be told and to be listened to.... fascinating. Fact is, that all those buildings or locations are usually owned by somebody and fenced off somehow. Which means, once you enter, you are trespassing. The consequences of being arrested while trespassing? In Massachusetts they are 30 days in jail and/or a $100 fine. Is that reasonable for a good shot? Well, you better answer that question for yourself. As a little side not here: once you start cracking open fences and doors and breaking windows in order to get in, you are not trespassing anymore. You are breaching in. So, essentially, when you are not caught while trespassing the old building is only part of the whole
picture
Once you publish
that image with details about the location where it
has been taken, it can be used as proof against you
that you actually entered that building - this is of
course only the case if the right person with the
right mindset finds that image, starts the process
and uses it against you. Granted, an unlikely
scenario, but in the ages of the internet and online
publishing this possibility is most certainly not out
of reach ("man hat schon Pferde kotzen sehen")
Final thoughts
Photographers tend to venture off the beaten paths. That is a good thing. This enables us to provide society with views and expressions of an ordinary world in a way that is foreign to them. Leaving the beaten paths however can bring us quickly in questionable situations, as discussed above. Knowing our rights and our limits is a quintessence to our work. And, although in the U.S. we live in a society which is driven by laws and regulations (I am still dreaming about the "it's the law" towel for everybody) it comes down to your very own wit and most of all, politeness. Do you really want to promote the image of the guy sitting at the front stairs of his or her house that ended up yelling at you and calling the police, no matter how expressive the image actually is? Do you really want to publish that shot of that street scene where one of the "contenders" ended up swearing at you? Do you really still feel that image? Be thoughtful about what you are doing, be polite and respectful and listen to your common sense. That's anyhow how I tend to address any sticky situation...
Enjoy shooting out there.
Some resources about photographers rights:
photos and the law
provides you with information about photographers rights and intellectual property.
the legality of urban exploration
explains some issues about privacy and trespassing.
the photographers right
document gives an overview about our rights in some not so uncommon situations.
A column and its followup about photographers rights in USA today.
A case study about photographers rights.
Disclaimer
I am not a lawyer. I am no legal advice, nor should or can you refer to this article in case you are in confrontation with the law. In fact, this article is a collection of resources found on the internet and my very own thoughts about those in regards to the matters discussed above. I am not suggesting any illegal activities or promote such behavior.