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07/23/2003 01:37:45 AM · #1
I do not know how many folks out there find it difficult to walk up to a stranger and ask the question "Can I take your Picture?" but I did for the first time tonight and had 10 different people say ok! was cool! not one said no. I told them all of the site and what I was up to and they all went for it. I offered no money but did offer a copy of a print if they wished. This has opened a new door for me and I look forward to whats in store. Does anyone else have a story they can share trying any technique?

Having fun!

Richard
07/23/2003 01:48:23 AM · #2
i find it very difficult as well. i'm glad it worked out well for you. sometimes it is inappropriate, you just have to judge the situation correctly.
07/23/2003 01:50:26 AM · #3
Originally posted by Firstrich1:

I do not know how many folks out there find it difficult to walk up to a stranger and ask the question "Can I take your Picture?"

For sake of anonimity I frist tried this in a different city from where I live - I found that people are more amiable to being clicked if I am along with my wife...
07/23/2003 02:01:18 AM · #4
I've missed many excellent photo oportunities by simply not asking for permission.

Good to see you've had success yourself. Would you mind telling me exactly what what you say to them?


Originally posted by Firstrich1:

I do not know how many folks out there find it difficult to walk up to a stranger and ask the question "Can I take your Picture?" but I did for the first time tonight and had 10 different people say ok! was cool! not one said no. I told them all of the site and what I was up to and they all went for it. I offered no money but did offer a copy of a print if they wished. This has opened a new door for me and I look forward to whats in store. Does anyone else have a story they can share trying any technique?

Having fun!

Richard
07/23/2003 02:19:00 AM · #5
I started with all of them by making eye contact, held out my hand and introduced myself. I told them I was an amature photographer, and I was involved in a challenge on the internet. I explained the nature of the site and of the challenges. I think most were flatered by the request. I managed to get five guys as part of the ten people. Once I had them in front of the camera I just started talking them through it. all were willing to pose...a little shy at first but they quickly loosened up. I think also what helped was the fact I had scoped out a area right outside of the Mall I found them at...I made no attempt to get phone numbers or addresses. I gave them all a way to contact me.
07/23/2003 10:42:21 AM · #6
I've asked people a few times. I'm getting a little more comfortable with it. Just the other day I asked a young man if I could photograph him shooting hoops. He said "Sure, as long as I don't have to look at the camera." At first he looked to me to direct him, but I said to just forget I was there and that I was interested in getting motion, that I was practicing that technique. (The truth btw." I showed him a couple of the shots I got on my lcd. I thanked him.

Some of the people I've asked include a tennis player, and a woman at a street fair with her children, whose faces were painted. People with dogs have been approached by me as well.

For some reason, I feel more comfortable asking at events, like parades, block parties, etc.

Edit...I am usually smiling and people say "hi" to me a lot. That's a good sign that I can shoot them.

Message edited by author 2003-07-23 10:43:43.
07/23/2003 12:10:55 PM · #7
I think that technique is great!! I've got to try it, because people do smile at when they see me taking their picture (and its in their direction so they think it may be of them..) but what worries me is this: (please forgive my risk-avereness, its been beaten into me by years of schooling) Does getting permission to take a picture constitute permission to sell or publish? Essentially, would it be a model release? and if so..should you put it in writing or is it "good enough" as verbal? I know its not exactly on point as many of us may not turn our photographs of strangers into anything, but sometimes we get a gem and we want to print it and I wonder about the legal liabilities about it. (sorry to hijack the thread and be such a heavy in it!)

Kudos to you for having more confidence than I to ask strangers to take their picture.
07/23/2003 12:36:43 PM · #8
I have a business card with me with my name and Web site and instructions on where the person can find their photo. You can see what I do here: //www.nordarts.com/outandabout.html

I am very shy about asking permission. I guess it stems from the time I asked Robert Redford if I could take his photo and he said, "I wish you wouldn't". Yikes. But, I will if I think it is the right thing to do.
07/23/2003 12:41:56 PM · #9
Originally posted by frisca:

Does getting permission to take a picture constitute permission to sell or publish? Essentially, would it be a model release? and if so..should you put it in writing or is it "good enough" as verbal?


I doubt highly that verbal permission would be good enough to sell or publish. Even if your assistant heard the person say "sure you can do whatever you want" without a written consent that specifies what you can and cannot do with the photo they could change their mind. I think a verbal ok would be a good sign that you could post the photo on a site or something like that but I wouldn’t try making money off a shot without something in writing.
07/23/2003 12:43:52 PM · #10
that was my thought too, Jay. I guess just a friendly reminder that permission to take a photo is not permission to sell or publish, and you need that permission in writing.

Bummer!
07/23/2003 12:44:54 PM · #11
Originally posted by joanns:

I have a business card with me with my name and Web site and instructions on where the person can find their photo. You can see what I do here: //www.nordarts.com/outandabout.html

I am very shy about asking permission. I guess it stems from the time I asked Robert Redford if I could take his photo and he said, "I wish you wouldn't". Yikes. But, I will if I think it is the right thing to do.


Thats a great arrangement you have there. I also like how you have the ability to make a photo sale also. Excellent idea :)
07/23/2003 01:23:37 PM · #12
I have found that sometimes when I am sitting at a spot waitng for the right light or time to take a few photos that people will ask me take their photo with their camera...and I say sure,if I can take your pic with my camera also....then I tell them about some of the photo challenges I do and will offer to email them the pic I take with my camera....

So far it has worked 100% of the time when people have a little film camera...those with digital cameras are a different story... it has worked about 25% of the time with those digital types :)

James

Message edited by author 2003-07-23 13:24:12.
07/23/2003 02:06:16 PM · #13
Joanns, i like your arrangement of business card and website, too. It also generated some questions. Since you are putting those pictures on your website, aren't you in fact 'publishing', for which you probably did not get permission? Since you offer to sell the prints for a certain (nominal, really) amount, aren't you making attempts to sell without permission?

I like to make pictures available as well (preferred method is to email them) to people who are kind enough to let me take pictures of them. The last 3 people i photographed didn't have computers and didn't know much about them which resulted in long conversations about computers, etc. What people sorta expect then is that you deliver off nicely printed photographs (for free) next time you are in their neighborhood. This is getting to be too much trouble for me.

Then, there's also the issue of copyrights. Lots of people seem to think that once you email them a picture (with a copyright notice in the border) they are free to do with it whatever they want. Such as, putting it on websites without your permission and erasing the copyright notice. If you put a copyright notice somewhere in the image itself to protect the copyright, then you are really marring the courtesy gift.

I love making candids or semi candids and have no trouble in allowing people to let me make pictures of them but all the above issues i find problematic.
07/23/2003 03:10:27 PM · #14
Originally posted by frisca:

but what worries me is this: (please forgive my risk-avereness, its been beaten into me by years of schooling) Does getting permission to take a picture constitute permission to sell or publish? Essentially, would it be a model release? and if so..should you put it in writing or is it "good enough" as verbal? I know its not exactly on point as many of us may not turn our photographs of strangers into anything, but sometimes we get a gem and we want to print it and I wonder about the legal liabilities about it. (sorry to hijack the thread and be such a heavy in it!)


Here's my take on it....this is more a moral issue than a legal one. We are constantly bombarded with pix that are taken of celebrities without their consent or permission. If Princess Diana with all the resources at her disposal could not keep the paparazzi at bay I doubt John Doe could give you much of a legal battle.

In the end it's your own code of ethics that decide how you use your pictures.

Shoot wisely
07/23/2003 04:07:09 PM · #15
I've had a little more luck asking people if I may take their picture by telling them its for an online scavenger hunt. They seem to get into the spirit of the hunt. Of course, I really am taking it for the scavenger hunt 26 things and I'll run out of that reason on 31 July.
07/23/2003 04:14:10 PM · #16
Originally posted by Journey:

Joanns, i like your arrangement of business card and website, too. It also generated some questions. Since you are putting those pictures on your website, aren't you in fact 'publishing', for which you probably did not get permission? Since you offer to sell the prints for a certain (nominal, really) amount, aren't you making attempts to sell without permission?

I like to make pictures available as well (preferred method is to email them) to people who are kind enough to let me take pictures of them. The last 3 people i photographed didn't have computers and didn't know much about them which resulted in long conversations about computers, etc. What people sorta expect then is that you deliver off nicely printed photographs (for free) next time you are in their neighborhood. This is getting to be too much trouble for me.

Then, there's also the issue of copyrights. Lots of people seem to think that once you email them a picture (with a copyright notice in the border) they are free to do with it whatever they want. Such as, putting it on websites without your permission and erasing the copyright notice. If you put a copyright notice somewhere in the image itself to protect the copyright, then you are really marring the courtesy gift.

I love making candids or semi candids and have no trouble in allowing people to let me make pictures of them but all the above issues i find problematic.


Excellent questions. A model release is not necessary to publish the pictures on my site because I am not selling their images. I only offer to have the photos printed for them for a fee, I don't make the images available for public sale. I also offer to send them a larger image file so they can print it themselves. Since nobody has asked me to send them a print, I haven't really given much thought to how I would go about doing it with DPC Prints and not have it show up in the public store.

I have another question, prompted by yours and that is, who actually owns the copywrite of a photo with recognizable images. I know the photographer cannot have copyright status on the image without the model release but does the person in the photo then have the copyright?
I would think not. Hmmm. I am going to surf the internet for answers.
07/23/2003 04:44:24 PM · #17
Joanns, if a photog takes a picture in a public place, the copyright is 100% his/hers. He just cannot sell it or 'publish' (publish for monetary gain?) without a model release. The photog can do those things, however, if the image is 'newsworthy' (i.e. the approach taken by paperazzi and the tabloids), and as long as it is taken in a public place.

That's quite different from what you are stating in paragraph 2. Interesting to know what you come up with.

Since i'm the one who has the copyright of the pictures i take, i would like some control over where they end up. If someone puts them up on a decent website with credit to me, fine. If they were to end up in a website whose content is objectionable to me, i certainly should have the right to have them pulled (picture taken in public place, no model release) or something like that.

I have another question. Let's say your candid without a model release wins a $1,000 prize in a photography contest. Would the model have any claim on this prize?

Man, i just hate all this legalese stuff. I also have this feeling once you start pushing model releases under your candid subject's nose, it ceases to be a casual little thing. The subject might get all suspicious and after a long discussion might refuse to sign just to be on the safe side. Hey, we don't know the finer points of model releases and copyrights, so how could you expect the average photogenic Joe in the street to be in tune with this?

Message edited by author 2003-07-23 16:52:36.
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