on 5/19/01 10:57 PM, Laurie Solomon at laurie@advancenet.net wrote:
[re needing or not needing releases for 'art']
> You do in the U.S. if the person is recognizable and you do not want to get
> sued for invasion of privacy.
There is no right to privacy in a public place by definition. We are talking
about street photography remember. Do you think Frank, Klein, Winogrand,
Arbus et al got releases? I can tell you now they didn't. I don't know a
single street photographer (and there are 500 on my list) who gets releases.
Harvey Stein (CONEY ISLAND, TWINS) said publicly in a seminar last week that
I attended that he has never got a release for a street photo. Commercial
use is not generally understood to include books and print sales.
Does US law really provide for someone to sue for invasion of privacy? I've
never heard of that. I would like to know more if it is true.
Under French and Quebecois law things are different, which is why I don't
photograph in France and Quebec.
> If the subject is recognizable and your
> artwork defames their reputation and /or character or implies something
> untrue or that they find objectionable, you could be open for slander and
> defamation legal actions as well in the U.S. and maybe in Canada.
Indeed, and a release won't help you with that.
--
John Brownlow
