So this
past week has been really slow because I have had to deal with the nightmare of
every photographer: photo permissions. I spent way too much time calling and
emailing mall directors about getting permission to photograph their
properties. Photographers follow a culture that believes in free access to
photograph anything located in a place that the public has access to. Since I do
not have many good field updates, let me educate you on the photographer's code
One of
the best things about living in the United States is that you have the legal
right to photograph anything and anyone situated on public property (minus
sensitive government buildings). If you see a person on the street, whom you
want to photograph, then you can go right ahead. That person could get very
angry and insist on not being photographed, but there is nothing that he could
do aside from leave. No permission needed in this case, unless you want more of
a posed shot.
The one
exception to the above rule is with photographs destined for advertisements.
The official interpretation of the first amendment believes that it is a
violation of free speech for someone to photograph a person without that
person's permission and use it to endorse a product. That rule is pretty easy
to follow. In addition, you can still sell your photo for your own artistic
work, or you can sell it to an editorial entity. Photographs, in these cases,
are your artistic works.
Photographing
on private property is a different matter. You still have the legal right to
photograph anything on private property that is in plain sight, but the owner
also has the right to prohibit photography in an indirect manner. The owner of
the property can tell you to leave the private property at any time and for any
reason. If you are photographing against the owner's permission, then that is an
obvious reason to be kicked out. If you refuse to leave, then it is a criminal trespass,
which is a 4th degree misdemeanor in Ohio.
The
good news is that there is a nice loophole in the law. The owner of the
property or an agent of the owner must tell you to leave first before it is trespassing.
That means that, in a last resort situation, you can enter a no photography
zone and kamikaze photograph the place until you get kicked out. I highly do
not recommend doing this unless you are willing to burn some bridges. That is
why I spent so much time getting photo permissions. I honestly do not want to get
permanently banned from locations that I would return to. Note that is also not
a good idea to kamikaze photograph a residency because a homeowner has the
right to use deadly force against all intruders. This sort of applies to most private places as well. The only locations that you can ever consider breaching are locations where the public is invited in, like malls. Also note that I am not a
lawyer, so don't cite me when you plan on playing hardball with the law.
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