Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 12:16 PM 9/21/99 +0200, Anthony Atkielski wrote: >No, but given people the impression that you need their permission to take >photographs on the street is a slippery slope. They need to understand that >public places are public, not private, and that they are not entitled to >forbid >anything that happens to displease them. This is ridiculous. When I act as a news photographer, if the picture is news, I don't ask permission and I don't stop taking pictures when told, or asked, to. That's my job. I explain it. When I'm shooting a "feature" photo, that isn't news, that isn't critical for the reader to be informed, but more entertaining, I ask permission because it's the polite thing to do. If I felt the reader had to see it, I'd say "sorry, but this is a public place, and I have no reason not to take the picture. If you don't want to be in the picture, don't be in front of my lens when I shoot." That would be in the context of a street scene, or on private property where I have permission to be there by the owner. But as the rule at most publications is to name the person in the picture, if they don't give you their name, and you can't find it, you're stuck. So the way to get the name is to be polite. It's not a slippery slope to act civilized. It is so rare that people object, in my experience, that the issue of permission isn't really an issue at all. Eric Welch St. Joseph, MO http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.