[sqrrl]

I personally tend to avoid being photographed, if there is a tourist photographing a landmark or suchlike I'll ignore them or look the other way and keep going (I live in a tourist destination, so that happens about daily), On the other hand if someone is obviously tracking me I'll ask them to stop.

Being in public isn't an agreement to let people photograph you, and definitely not an agreement to let them 'use' a photograph. I had an experience a few years back where a tv news crew was doing a section on some contentious sub-culture or other and they panned with me for about 5 seconds while doing a voice-over that implied I was part of that group (it was about legal party drugs before they were banned - a thing I have definitely never done) - that made it onto the 6pm news (I didn't even know, I was told by friends and family after it screened). I wound up having words with the tv station and got an apology and they paid me money to drop it (disguised as a talent fee), they also agreed to sanction the footage so that it could not be re-screened. I accepted that on the grounds that doing anything further would attract more attention. The film crew got a ballocking over it also. That experience has definitely coloured my view of being filmed by strangers.

One funny moment for me was being bailed up by teenage girls who decided I had taken their picture - having grown up in a pretty rough and ready place I just gave it back - it wasn't super serious, they hassled me, I responded by hassling them back (funny, not aggressive). This went back and forth with a few really funny one-liners until one of them spotted that my camera had no LCD, they had never seen a film camera before. The net result was them demanding that I take their picture.

Incidentally I have suffered from social anxiety and panic attacks - both are really horrible and debilitating to experience, and you guys who struggle with it have my full sympathy. For me the answer was to tackle it head-on, but I'm very aware that that isn't the answer for many people, All I can say is that if you can keep getting out there and don't become a recluse it does get better eventually (even if it is just learning coping strategies). It's a good thing to try and focus on things that go well for you in this scenario and just treat the awkward and uncomfortable stuff as experiments that didn't quite work out.

[normhead]

If what I shoot is for commercial use, I get a model release. Simple as that.

ALGONQUIN TREKS & Images

We have model releases from every person, on the web site, and they include famous sports personalities and CEOs of major corporations. The only person that ever turned me down was a female lawyer, who claimed my model release was too general.

Maybe she was planning to go skinny dipping, I don't know.

But for personal use, I generally don't even ask, unless I need the person to pose. A TV station should have known better.

Being in public isn't an agreement to let people photograph you

I beg to differ, if you're standing in front of what I'm photographing, I don't have the right to ask you to leave, And you don't have the right task me to delete the image, as long as it's for personal use.

It's my understanding that in a place like this I am under no obligation to get a model release, unless two things occur. One, the person is recognizable and the images is of commercial value because of their likeness and, I use their image commercially. If i was to put together a book and sell it, it might be different, but probably not unless they could show having people recognize them influenced their decisions to buy the book. If it was a best seller however, I'd send them signed copy if they asked. In your case it could be argued that a reasonable person would assume you are a drug user. What most of us do is very different from that. These people are tourists being tourists.

But for shots like this.... I ask. I don't have to, but I do, just to avoid needless nasty confrontations.

[sqrrl]

I beg to differ, if you're standing in front of what I'm photographing, I don't have the right to ask you to leave, And you don't have the right task me to delete the image, as long as it's for personal use.

What I said was;
"Being in public isn't an agreement to let people photograph YOU."

You are allowed to say no, to turn your head, to put your hand up in front of your face, etc.

I've done enough public, promotional, and street photography that I can see instantly whether someone is ok with having their picture taken, Body language, and suchlike almost instantly says OK or no. I tend to take a photo then ask - if they want me to I'll apologise and delete the photo on the spot, it's just polite. Often people will ask you to email it to them.

In your case it could be argued that a reasonable person would assume you are a drug user. What most of us do is very different from that.

That's just straight out rude! But in answer to your barely veiled snipe.

I was an art student at the time, and was wearing my working clothes which had paint, clay, etc. on them. I was probably just the scruffiest person along that street in that five minutes, or they couldn't find a goth, or a rasta to malign, or perhaps the videographer fancied me and wanted a memento of my awesomeness and the editor decided to use it for no reason apropos, or who the hell knows whatever else. They wouldn't have paid me out and apologised if it could be called reasonable.

[CapitanXeon]

That's why I need one of those Pentax jerseys. Although I wonder how many people know Pentax is a camera.

A few to be optimistic. But yeah, it's kind of better to wear something like "photographer"

[normhead]

That's just straight out rude! But in answer to your barely veiled snipe.

I was saying that essentially by using your image in a spot about drug use, they definitely implied that was the case. You said as much.

they panned with me for about 5 seconds while doing a voice-over that implied I was part of that group (it was about legal party drugs before they were banned -

I'm not sure how repeating back what you said is rude. But whatever. Life is too short. The ignore list is calling me.

[sqrrl]

Works for me, have a nice day

[victormeldrew]

"Being in public isn't an agreement to let people photograph YOU."

You are allowed to say no, to turn your head, to put your hand up in front of your face, etc.

In most countries, there is no need for agreement. Your government, along with shops, bars, and everywhere with CCTV do it pretty much the whole time you are out of your house, consent or not. Public and private are entirely opposite things. So you might as well chill out, do your hair and smile.

[slartibartfast01]

I was saying that essentially by using your image in a spot about drug use, they definitely implied that was the case. You said as much.



I'm not sure how repeating back what you said is rude. But whatever. Life is too short. The ignore list is calling me.

I think he thought you meant that any reasonable person on the street would assume he was a drug user (not TV viewers)

[sqrrl]

Of course the tv viewers thought that. That was the point of the shot at the start of a really lazy piece of 'reportage'. A regular person would not have assumed that, I was scruffy, not high. That was also incidentally in about 2010, so I've overcome the anguish (and I have done my hair in the past 8 years, more than once in fact).

I'm not really stressed about about this particular thread, I've had a lovely day, it's spring here, all the trees are in blossom, and I'm on a break from uni. I also got to watch a really weird scrap metal grabby crane thing for a while, which gave me some ideas about a sketch.

My statement the whole way through is that being in public does not mean that you cannot say no to (or otherwise avoid) having your photo taken (with the obvious exception of banks and government buildings, they get narky about balaclavas and umbrellas indoors reportedly - I haven't tested this, so it's admittedly an assumption, albeit one I'm not willing to test). You can't do much about it if someone has taken your photo, and as for being in a tourist spot, hell, they probably don't want me in their photo either, I'm probably in the background of a lot of tourist photos, That doesn't bother me.

To be honest the only time I've ever seen people get really uptight about a photographer (not just saying no, or telling them to shove off, they got proper angry) was a guy with a long lens who was trying to be sneaky whilst photographing kids in a playground at a park (from the hill overlooking it, he was definitely photographing the people in the playground) - the police got called on that guy by concerned parents. Legal rights or not, I didn't have any sympathy for the guy when the police sequestered him to 'assist' them.

[normhead]

I think he thought you meant that any reasonable person on the street would assume he was a drug user (not TV viewers)

Thanks for that clarification, I pondered it for a while and never figured it out.

[Digitalis]

One rule is don't talk to strangers. When breaking that rule, the next rule is be prepared for an interesting conversation.

As an Australian, I have something to add to that...be prepared for not only an interesting conversation: depending on the volume and verbiage of said conversation, a punch to the face is also likely.

I've been there, I have the titanium plate in my skull...I daresay the person who tries that next time is in for a nasty surprise.

[normhead]

Don't talk to strangers is what parents tell their children. I guess in Autralia it applies to adults as well.
I talk to everyone, and I've never been punched in the mouth.

Well ok, once in the handshake line after a hockey game I was sucker punched, but, that's one of the risks of playing ice hockey. If you can't live with it, don't lace up the skates.

Something about that game can turn normally decent people into aggressive criminals.