bobcooley - 3:51 am on Jul 11, 2007 (gmt 0)

Hey all;

I'm a photographer of 22 years experience (photojournalist and commercial) - and I can help a little in this area...

This issue actually has to be separated into three areas:

1) Where can you photograph

2) What can you photograph

3) How you can use those photos

This is only meant to be a primer on what is a really complex subject, so your mileage may vary :-)

1) Where you can photograph:

There are 3 categories of locales -

PUBLIC SPACES (city streets, parks, beaches, etc) - Photography is legal in these spaces as long as you are not infringing on someone's privacy (looking in their window, etc) and as long as there are no local laws or ordinances restricting photography in that space (for example, in Times Square you can photograph to your hearts content; but to use light stands or (technically) a tripod, you need a permit - although tripod enforcement is rare) - City Govt buildings are technically public spaces, but usually there are local ordnances restricting photography except by authorized (press) personnel.

But, caveats aside, you have a LOT of freedom to photograph people, places, things while you stand on public property - legally, you have the RIGHT to create photography in these areas.

SEMI-PUBLIC SPACES (the 'public' areas in shopping malls, festivals, etc) - Photography in these places is the same as in public spaces, but it is not a right, it is a permitted by the ownership of these spaces. You may photograph in these places if there are no posted restrictions, or unless (or until) they ask you not to.

PRIVATE SPACES (the actual stores in the malls, any privately owned or rented property, etc).- Photography is prohibited in these areas unless you have express permission from someone who has the authority to give such permission.

2) What you can photograph:

Pretty much anything if you are in public, as long as you are not infringing on the privacy rights of others (no shooting into windows, but people on the street are fair game, even children). This is where common-sense comes into play - if you are getting in peoples' faces without cause, or sneaking photos of lots of children, you can expect someone to call the cops, or to significantly reconfigure your camera...

There has been some controversy as of late in regards to some specific buildings (the San Francisco case comes to mind) where over-zealous security guards claim that you cannot photograph certain buildings - if you are on public property, you can shoot any building you desire (some caveats apply in regards to security in a post 9/11 world - but these cases are rare, and only enforced by actual law enforcement - not security guards).

3) How you can use these photos:

Now, with few restrictions you can photography almost anything in public, including people, property, art, architecture, etc.

Where you run into problems is where you USE the photos (this is actually what Copyright is all about).

If you put the photos on your wall in your home, or put them in your photo-album, you are within your rights.

Posting them to a web site, making and selling post-cards, posters, selling prints, etc. are all considered commercial uses, and for these purposes you are REQUIRED to have both the written consent of any persons in the images (in the form of a model release), identifiable properties (in the form of a property release) and reproduction rights for any copyrighted materials (in the form of a Statement of Assigned Rights from the owner of the copyrighted art, sculpture, etc.)

There are exceptions to these rules for uses of commentary, news-gathering, and educational purposes known as "fair-use", but fair use is not as broad as it sounds (it's a specific legal distinction with specific rules; one cannot merely say 'oh, it's commentary, therefore "fair use" applies')

The reality is that if you post your vacation photos of famous monuments (like the eiffel tower, etc) to your blog or website, you probably won't receive a Cease and Desist, but you have no legal right to sell these images of someone else's copyrighted work.

This is by no means a complete discussion of this topic, but hopefully this additional info will help.

cheers!

Bob Cooley
photographer
NYC