Candid/Street photography.

newnorm said:

On another note, I understand photojournalists, photographing conflicts, delivering news to the world. It's a career, life-threatening even when covering wars, but for average Joe, camera hobbyists, what is the purpose of photographing random strangers you found on the street? What story are you going to tell anyway? An uncle went to the market buying groceries, a mother on a bus, etc.

Art?

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Most people think that taking photos of ordinary, everyday things is useless. Except when you see the photos again, years later, and notice that practically everything has changed, and will remember things that you had long forgotten.

Flavil said:

EOS GUY said:

newnorm said:

To answer the OP question, it varies from country to country.

On another note, I understand photojournalists, photographing conflicts, delivering news to the world. It's a career, life-threatening even when covering wars, but for average Joe, camera hobbyists, what is the purpose of photographing random strangers you found on the street? What story are you going to tell anyway? An uncle went to the market buying groceries, a mother on a bus, etc.

Art?

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Yes art,

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The first two are EXCELLENT. Nice pictorial retort to a very ignorant question.

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Well do you feel ok for some strangers to snap a photo of your daughter or wife or etc on the street and then put it on youtube or the internet? It's art, so it must be ok? Those doing that kind of stuff are ignorant IMO.

Sue Anne Rush said:

Thank you for sharing - France is on my bucket list (For now just go to France at Epcot... LOL - my son had the chance to go to France while in school but changed his mind because the group was going to only eat at 'American' restaurants - but we can speak French fine. IMHO.

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I am an American, but went to Europe with friends from college—both from other countries—but we ended up eating at McDonalds and Burger King frequently despite my protests. I also went to EPCOT with them on another trip, and I think they enjoyed that better.

Mark Scott Abeln said:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Country_specific_consent_requirements

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Thanks

Chris192 said:

Are you allowed to take photos of random people in the street? Are you allowed to publish them? (without anyone’s prior consent/knowledge).

There have been various privacy laws passed in the last decades, and various instances of photographers being molested/arrested by police.

So I was wondering, again, what the legal situation is these days around the world.

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I personally always ask, but was told by many street photographers that street photography has to be candid!! Regarding the legality, this article covers many legal issues, although rather general, is a good start:

Unless I were setting out to be noticed, such as wearing a steampunk outfit (very unlikely but not impossible), , I would not like anybody to point a camera at me without asking.

Laws in Switzerland are pretty strict, you need consent to take the picture and to publish the picture (commercial or not).

It's one freedom (taking pictures) against the other (choosing not to have my picture taken), and I tend to favour the latter, too.

Does that include smartphones and collateral (incidental) subjects? I had run in to this a few times. When doing street photography. (using a DSLR) . With the invention of the smart phone and so many folks taking pictures with their family and friends out in public, some questions arise.

Is there someone in the background who is still in focus? Since the are recognizable , did you get their permission before you put that photo on Facebook , Instagram, etc? Or did you take the time to crop or blur them out?

You say accidental, I say maybe they were the intended subject and you just used your friends to cover aiming the phone in their direction.

Hard to hide intent with a 200mm lenses, but very easy with a smart phone or tablet.

I used to have a negative with regards to camera on smartphones, but not anymore. The constant use in public has really muddied the waters with regards to expectation of privacy in a public place.

I am working on an exhibit now, and I will definitely being using releases from the subjects portrayed, but only for those used . Any that never make it off of my studio walls do not require a release, although 5 dollars toward a hot meal is always appreciated.

--
A purist at heart to protect the art

John Spaar said:

Does that include smartphones and collateral (incidental) subjects? I had run in to this a few times. When doing street photography. (using a DSLR) . With the invention of the smart phone and so many folks taking pictures with their family and friends out in public, some questions arise.

Is there someone in the background who is still in focus? Since the are recognizable , did you get their permission before you put that photo on Facebook , Instagram, etc? Or did you take the time to crop or blur them out?

You say accidental, I say maybe they were the intended subject and you just used your friends to cover aiming the phone in their direction.

Hard to hide intent with a 200mm lenses, but very easy with a smart phone or tablet.

I used to have a negative with regards to camera on smartphones, but not anymore. The constant use in public has really muddied the waters with regards to expectation of privacy in a public place.

I am working on an exhibit now, and I will definitely being using releases from the subjects portrayed, but only for those used . Any that never make it off of my studio walls do not require a release, although 5 dollars toward a hot meal is always appreciated.

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No, you don't need consent from a person that makes an accidental appearance in the background and has nothing to do with the purpose of the photography.

So in case of conflict a judge would have to decide about the purpose of your picture.

You also don't need consent when taking pictures of a crowd (e.g. at a sport event), even if individuals are recognisable.

I wonder how famous street photographers...like Vivian Maier and others get away with it. I am pretty sure whoever owns those photos made ton of money off it.

newnorm said:

Well do you feel ok for some strangers to snap a photo of your daughter or wife or etc on the street and then put it on youtube or the internet? It's art, so it must be ok? Those doing that kind of stuff are ignorant IMO.

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My wife and my daughter were each photographed during athletic events as the focus of the photo and appeared in magazines. In each case I didn't know about it and was surprised when flipping through the magazines in a grocery store.

What you are allowed to do and what others think you allowed to do are two different things. Sometimes what you are doing is different what others think you are doing. I often take my camera with me as I do my daily walk around my neighborhood. Sometimes take a shot of a flower or a bird. Once, I was stopped by police and questioned. They asked for my id and ran it through the system. Someone had called complaining that I was taking photos of their children in their house through a window. The police questioned me in front of my neighborhood and by a busy road. I was no longer a guy taking a walk. I was now a suspect. Regardless of any laws, there may be uexpected consequences for taking pictures.

By the way, I was cleared and have continued taking photos while doing my daily walk.

Chris192 said:

I once tried asking someone (sitting on the edge of a fountain) before taking a picture. They asked why. I said something like “because you look like a model”. She laughed and said “ok”.

But then she started posing (unconsciously) and the naturalness, the beauty and the spontaneous artistic moment were lost :-(

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I just wait until they leave...lol

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-M

It is simple. When we raise the camera, if the people (one or more) in front of the lens will show uneasiness in their face, put down the camera. We have to respect anyone in the frame of their willingness to be pictured. IMHO it should be one of the basic ethic of a shooter/photographer. Legal or not is actually less importance.

If you will travel extensively worldwide, it would be nearly impossible to know the law everywhere. Some places the general public will love to be photo, some would like to have money in return, some might never like to be photo... Look at their face 99% you could know it.

You are saying this because you like photography and know its historical background. The hard truth is the general public don't know what photography is and who famous photographers are.

Sue Anne Rush said:

Hello...

Yes with my iPhone - I take candid/Street photography and then I ask the person if I may take their photograph - usually they feel so honored that I do so. IMHO.

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Nothing wrong with posed shots... but to me, the whole idea of "street photography" is candid shots. Some of my very favorite photographers worked this way, but it is controversial and I kind of understand why... though I kind of hate to admit that to myself. As much as I dig this type of photography, I don't do much of it, but I have and have gotten some of my favorite images that way. There's just a certain vibe that you can get when people are being themselves and are posing for the camera.

In the US, it is legal to photograph in public, though I'm not sure what the laws are regarding showing or selling images with folks who were photographed unaware. You might actually need to get some kind of model release, but that seems like it might be an impossible requirement. Imagine saying to someone "I've just snuck a photo of you, can I now get your permission to use it in any way that I see fit?" I don't know how the great street photographers handled this sort of thing..?

Sue Anne Rush said:

Chris192 said:

Are you allowed to take photos of random people in the street? Are you allowed to publish them? (without anyone’s prior consent/knowledge).

There have been various privacy laws passed in the last decades, and various instances of photographers being molested/arrested by police.

So I was wondering, again, what the legal situation is these days around the world.

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Laws will vary by country, perhaps even within a country. In the United States the two main sources of "law" that can apply is the Constitution, specifically the First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

With very few exceptions, journalistic or expressive activity is unrestricted in criminal law.


When it comes to privacy, (some of which is also covered in the reference) it's mostly civil law and can have somewhat greater variation, state to state. There are several actionable torts in the "invasion of privacy" category. These include intrusion upon seclusion, misappropriation of name or likeness, excessive publication of private facts and false light. There may be some related criminal laws, too. It's worth familiarizing yourself with what these torts are.

Other countries could well have substantially different laws so what applies in one place may not in others.

Chris192 said:

Are you allowed to take photos of random people in the street? Are you allowed to publish them? (without anyone’s prior consent/knowledge).

There have been various privacy laws passed in the last decades, and various instances of photographers being molested/arrested by police.

So I was wondering, again, what the legal situation is these days around the world.

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Candid photography usually involves a portrait style photograph of someone in a public space taken without their knowledge or consent. In other words, the person in the image is the main subject, and not incidental to the scene.

Ethically, I find this type of photography questionable. It's a bit like voyeurism.

Street photography is a genre in which the individuals are simply part of the wider scene, and not the main subject. They maybe recognisable but their appearance in the scene is incidental, not deliberate.

In countries where shooting people without permission is restricted, this is sometimes an important distinction. For instance, a shot taken on a street containing a number of people is not necessarily considered to infringe privacy laws, whereas if they were very prominent in the scene and clearly the subject, it would be.

In most of my street scenes, individuals are seldom prominent, or even recognisable. Where this is not the case, I normally ask permission to take the image, but would not sell it or use it commercially.

Chris192 said:

Are you allowed to take photos of random people in the street? Are you allowed to publish them? (without anyone’s prior consent/knowledge).

There have been various privacy laws passed in the last decades, and various instances of photographers being molested/arrested by police.

So I was wondering, again, what the legal situation is these days around the world.

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If you didn’t have the right to photograph people on the street where would the outside broadcast come from and those shots of fighting outside the doors of court house’s come from. In Oz and most democratic countries you have the right to shoot in the street and onto private property from the street but not aloud to enter and shoot on private property with out permission. We had a incident some years back where bikies were photographing police and they couldn’t do a lot about it.. so there you go,

Iamme non said:

Chris192 said:

Are you allowed to take photos of random people in the street? Are you allowed to publish them? (without anyone’s prior consent/knowledge).

There have been various privacy laws passed in the last decades, and various instances of photographers being molested/arrested by police.

So I was wondering, again, what the legal situation is these days around the world.

Click to expand...

If you didn’t have the right to photograph people on the street where would the outside broadcast come from and those shots of fighting outside the doors of court house’s come from. In Oz and most democratic countries you have the right to shoot in the street and onto private property from the street but not aloud to enter and shoot on private property with out permission. We had a incident some years back where bikies were photographing police and they couldn’t do a lot about it.. so there you go,

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Journalists and news reporting is generally excluded from these laws if images are deemed to be 'in the public interest'.

That's hard to argue in the case of an individual street photographer.