I know this question has been asked before, but I cannot seem to find it. So here goes, when shooting street photography what do you do about model releases? If you approach the subject before hand then it is not spontainious and if you approach after the fact, then you might be in for some unpleasantness. I would like to hear other peoples remedy about how to handle this.

thanx, kevin

-- Kevin B. Finigan (kfinigan@swbell.net), February 16, 1999

Answers

It depends on what you plan to do with the photographs. The rule of thumb is if there's a reasonable chance you're going to make money with the photos (commercial/advertising photography), you need a release. If there's a reasonable chance you'll go broke (coffee table book, gallery exhibits), no problem.

There really is no practical way to get model releases from everyone in your photographs, unless you hired a team of trolls to lurk behind you, handing out forms as you shoot and keeping track of who is in which frame! (Imagine the scene...5th Ave. between 48th & 49th St., gridlock on the sidewalk in front of Rockefeller Center. What a photo op!)

If you just want to shoot because you have an unstoppable drive to do so, go for it, and don't spend another moment thinking about releases...but don't plan on making any money with street photography. Get a good day job (preferably in a big city so you can shoot during lunch hour) and shoot as much as you can afford.

And if anyone out there is actually making money doing street photography, I wanna speak with you! :-)

-- Mason Resnick (bwworld@mindspring.com), February 16, 1999.