Melissa’s last blog post..One night in Charlotte and the world’s your oyster

@Cece: I completely agree. I think that shop owners are missing out on loads of free advertising.

@Devon: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for that fantastic link. While it still greatly annoys me that people are so paranoid that they feel the need to curb people’s creativity, I’m happy to follow guidelines / laws when I know what they are.

@Melissa: I’m always amazed at what bother’s people. I am the kind of person that often carries a camera around and is jut looking for random artsy shots. So it’s often difficult for me to call ahead for permission. I’d be making phone calls all day if I did that! I might have had the composure to explain that I was just taking pictures for my own personal pleasure and enjoyment except that I was totally taken aback and offended in the manner in which I was approached by the shop owners.

I suppose since I would never ever dare use my photography for evil it’s hard for me to grasp why people would automatically assume that the person with the camera has malicious intent.

Sigh – I guess I’ll just have to do some more “shooting from the hip” from now on. Trouble with my best friend the Pentax K-1000 is that the shutter is anything but silent.

I also had to deal with the problem when it was in public. Shooting a street festival or county fair, for example, on rare occasions would warrant someone pitching a fit about getting their photo taken for one reason or another. In this case, they absolutely did not have a right to be angry – it was a public place, and they chose to be in that public place. To avoid controversy I typically just agreed not to use their photo and move on. You never know what someone has been through to not make them want to be photographed.

True story #1: A women came in the newspaper one day to yell at a photographer who had submitted a photo of the woman’s horse for publication. The woman was angry because the horse HAD A RUNNY NOSE and it MADE HIM LOOK BAD. I am not kidding.

Tru story #2: Another woman came to the newspaper angry because someone had photographed her in a public place dancing with a man who was not her husband and this photo, published the day before, had apparently landed her in hot water.

Moral of this story: Blow your nose and your horse’s nose before you leave the house.

Melissa’s last blog post..Uninvited dinner party guest (wait, that’s me)

How is that I, as an artist and a photographer, am no longer allowed to go to public places and photograph what I see to display as art!!!

Unfortunately, the interior of stores is private property, not public. The owners have the right to prohibit photography while you’re inside. If you’re out on the sidewalk (public property), taking a picture of the exterior, you’re fine.

Here’s a useful intro to photographer’s rights that can answer many of your questions.

Devon’s last blog post..Less Broody
Did a new Processing sketch.  Almost makes it look…

And welcome to the Genea-Blogosphere, Whitney!

Miriam Robbins Midkiff’s last blog post..Saturday Night Fun – Finding FHL Resources

It is also odd when everywhere you go people can take pictures with their cell phones and nobody knows if they are taking pictures or not. If you’d whipped out your iPhone you would not have had a problem.

Legally people in the US are entitled to be the only one’s who profit from their private property including images of them and their children. While you can take pictures for editorial purposes you can’t for commercial publication or to make it look like they endorse something they don’t endorse. Apparently “art” falls in between in a grey area. If you think about it, if you slapped Iceberry’s on a lunchbox and sold a million of them they’d be pissed but of course if you did this as a marketing company, it would be worth gold to them in free advertising. So maybe that’s the approach you need to take. Hi, I’m WCM, mind if I market your company for FREE?

But I agree-people are totally nuts. And FYI I have found Southern States and the nursery over in Lincoln are very happy to have you snap whatever you’d like.

Cecelia Spitznas’s last blog post..Better Than an Astronaut Phone

Yes, it is rather ridiculous! I think you should continue to perfect the “covert snap” as you taught me in NYC. That way nobody will be any to the wiser.

Jim

Jim Spitznas’s last blog post..All Bird Images