Street photographer Sean Tucker is constantly putting out truly informative content. In his youtube series, he sits down with some incredibly inspiring photographers, showcasing their work, and he also uses his platform to express his own philosophies about photography.
Recently, he put out a video all about the ethics of street photography and how to avoid any legal trouble that could come from the result of bad practice. Check it out!
The Laws & Good Ethics of Street Photography
“Anytime I post an image on my Instagram account where I’ve been out doing some street photography and someone appears in an image of mine who’s recognizable — you can see who they are — I get the same barrage of questions underneath,” Tucker says at the start of his video. “This like, ‘Did you get permission?’ ‘Is this legal to do?’ ‘What about GDPR?’ ‘Did you need a model release?’ ‘Does posting this image on your Instagram account count as publishing?’”
Tucker thinks there might be a lot of confusion when it comes to what is legal when taking street photography and what isn’t. So the purpose of this video is to go through some of these questions with his viewers and hopefully “break down some of the misconceptions and leave you better informed at the end of it.”
Before making this video, Tucker contacted the Association of Photographers (AOP) and asked if they’d be interested in sending someone to sit down and help Tucker answer some of these questions for his viewers.
“The Association of Photographers are an organization who help photographers with legal advice — how to draw up contracts, how to go about the business part of their work and to get their work out there.” So as you can imagine, it was only natural that Tucker would go to the AOP seeking advice.
In this video, the AOP sent over Nick Dunmur, a member of their legal time to answer any questions Tucker thought his viewers might have about the legalities and ethics surrounding street photography. His aim is to also help his fellow photographers put together their own moral code when it comes to taking pictures of other people on the street.
“Sometimes asking if you can take a photograph isn’t enough, you also need to ask yourself whether you should.”
Check out the video above and let us know what you think in the comments below!
