Privacy issues - Your thoughts?

[kevin99989]

This is a photo of a man (probably homeless) on our downtown Eastside. It made me feel sad, as in the past, i have seen a lot of this when i have volunteered for number of missions organizations to feed (cooking and serving), and offer connections to housing and detox.

In my current organization, I may be involved in helping to make students more aware of the homeless situation in our city, as there are opportunities for our students to go out regularly to serve in one of the local soup kitchens regularly.

I took this photo without this man's permission. If I use these in the future, I do intend to ask them first, but in some cases, I may not always know where to find the person again if I take the shot while I'm quickly passing by on the street.


A few questions:
- I do not intend to make any kind of profit from these kind of photos. Is it still an invasion of privacy to publish them on a website, or Facebook?
- I see these kind of pics on the newpapers? Are reporters (who make profit) required to get a "model release" form from persons living on the street?

[Matt K.]

Good scene, first of all. I might crop out the other person, since he/she does nothing to contribute to the image. With regard to your question: if you are on public property, you can take any picture you want. Do you think that paparazzi get release forms signed by the celebrities they capture? And they make tons of money with some of their images. I bet the photographer that captured Kate's skirt blowing up did not get her to sign a release form. To be on the polite side, though, I would ask the person if they would object.

[Iguanasan]

The crop suggestion is a good idea!

You'll find tons of details on a site that some of us from Photography.ca helped build last year: About | Publicphotography.org

I'll sum it up for you though. If you are on public property you are legally allowed to photograph anything you can see without any assistance. ie. You cannot zoom into someone's living room, you can't use a ladder to look over a fence, etc. If the photo is of a crowd and there is no one specific individual seen to be the subject of the photo (took a shot of the start of a marathon) then you can do anything you want with it including selling it. If the photograph has a single person as an obvious subject then you need a model release to be able to use it commercially, however, you are allowed to do anything else you want such as Facebook, Flickr, print and frame it and put it on your wall.

[thoughton]

The way I understand it is that you can take any photos you like on public property (with the exceptions mentioned by Iggy, you can't zoom into someone's house etc - lawyers refer to that as a location where you would have a 'reasonable expectation of privacy'), but if you use a photo of a person for commercial purposes then you need a release form.

The law governing celebrities is different, they have a lesser expectation of privacy than the rest of us due to their chosen profession (actors etc), and/or they are 'newsworthy'.

[okmqaz42]

Couple pf things here, first I would not crop. The person with the backpack is turned away from the homeless person which, I think, is what most of society does to people on the streets.
I think from a privacy point of view they are in public so you are entitled to use the image for editorial reason, newspaper, public awareness etc. But you could not use the image to sell a product etc.
I feel the real issue with an image like this is how would you feel if it was a picture of you, a family member or a close friend sitting begging in a doorway would you like to see that. If you were the brother or sister of the man sitting on the floor and this was the first image you seen of your family member for a number of years what affect would that have on the people.
I have a lot of similar images and I always struggle to place them in a sufficient context to justify publishing them anywhere.

The image has pathos, and is very very powerful. Thanks for posting

[Iguanasan]

Couple pf things here, first I would not crop. The person with the backpack is turned away from the homeless person which, I think, is what most of society does to people on the streets.
I think from a privacy point of view they are in public so you are entitled to use the image for editorial reason, newspaper, public awareness etc. But you could not use the image to sell a product etc.
I feel the real issue with an image like this is how would you feel if it was a picture of you, a family member or a close friend sitting begging in a doorway would you like to see that. If you were the brother or sister of the man sitting on the floor and this was the first image you seen of your family member for a number of years what affect would that have on the people.
I have a lot of similar images and I always struggle to place them in a sufficient context to justify publishing them anywhere.

The image has pathos, and is very very powerful. Thanks for posting

Hey! That's good. I wasn't thinking of the extra person as a social statement but you are so right, it is. I'm flip-flopping and agreeing with okmqaz42 here. Don't crop.

I think the more photos like this that get distributed maybe more people will open up to the understanding of how bad things can be for someone else and help out a little bit. Making a profit off of such a shot would be very offensive but raising awareness is a good idea I think.

[Marko]

A few questions:
- I do not intend to make any kind of profit from these kind of photos. Is it still an invasion of privacy to publish them on a website, or Facebook?

The answer to this question is probably yes because you did not ask this person. In that (more ethical) sense you invaded their privacy by publishing their photo without their permission. If YOU were homeless, you might not want your pic on the Net. That said, Legally you are not required to ask this person so no consequence is likely. This really is more of an ethical question you are asking and different photographers will give you different answers.

- I see these kind of pics on the newpapers? Are reporters (who make profit) required to get a "model release" form from persons living on the street?
If the image is photojournalistic, I do not believe you need a model release.

[kevin99989]

Thanks for your answers! Privacy for the homeless is a sensitive issue out here, because not every person living on the street wants intervention from others. Pray for them.