My rights as a photographer

[Raven Garrow]

I've learned to "knock" on doors and ask if it is alright to shoot something on someones property, after being yelled at by someone for not asking. (I was not p hysically on the property, but lost a great shot because of the conflict)

I wanted to lie, and say I'm a photo student, so I would not to be intimidating, but I didn't. Then I thought I should have handed them a business card. This si tuation made me think of something.

What if someone was to ask me for royalty on the photo? I would have no idea how to respond, and I would like to be prepared.

Thanks for any responses. Raven

[Stuart Goldstein]

I am a photography student and was on public property and tryig to shoot a flowe r on a college's property. I was asked if I had gotten permision from the PR off ice. When I told the nuns that I hadn't (and I made sure that I was on the town' s sidewalk etc), they asked me to leave and get permission.

So I don't think that telling someone that you're a photo student is going to wo rk.

Another time, I was shooting some of the closed steel mills in Bethlehem. Every time a truck came into the parking lot that I was working in, the truck would ho nk its horn at me. There was no one else around. I decided that the best thing f or me to do was to work quickly, get the shot, and leave.

It seems that people are becoming more paranoid about "privacy" an "corporate es pionage" issues and don't want anybody taking photos. At least that's what it se ems like some times.

[Mark Alan Wilson]

There is a web site for a series of travel books called Photo Secrets (or PhotoS ecrets) that explains your rights, and copyrights, when photographing buildings and people in public places. I believe the article was written by a lawyer. I do n't remember the URL but it shouldn't be hard to find with a search engine.