I am a photographer and I go on dates in NYC quite frequently. One of the first date ideas that I sometimes suggest is a photo walk, which I usually prefer to do as it is fun and free.
If we go on a photo date, I usually bring my camera and we take photos at a public place (e.g. shops at SoHo or the High Line park). Often we take pictures of each other. Obviously, I always get their (verbal) permission before taking any photos of them. Usually, they're very fond of the photos I take as I have a nice mirrorless camera with a decent lens.
If my date ends up ghosting me after the date, am I allowed to post any pictures of them that I took with my camera on social media (e.g. Instagram), without getting their explicit permission? Is this legally allowed?
I tried doing some digging online about this, and it seems like any photo I take of another person in public is fair game since they did not have any reasonable expectation of privacy there.
What about photos that they took of me with my camera? Am I legally allowed to post those?
In my mind, if I've spent the money traveling over to them (I live very far from the city) and the time taking photos with them, and they ghost me (which I find to be extremely disrespectful), I might as well get something out of it by posting any pictures that I thought were really nice on social media, or as part of my portfolio.
If you're a photographer in the United States, the copyright is based on who pushed the button on the camera. So legally, she owns the copyright of the photos she took of you. This was a big ordeal when a chimpanzee took a photo and there was a court case about who owned the copyright.
However, there was a certain level of expectations with a photo walk. That being you two consented to having the pictures taken, didn't matter if it was in public or private. In addition, with the social norm being that photos are usually posted on social media, then it is reasonable this usage was implied when you offered a photo walk date.
That being said, I wouldn't use then commercially to promote your photography, but personally, it wouldn't be an issue.
Not a chimpanzee but rather a celebes crested macaque. More info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_selfie_copyright_dispute
chimpanzee 😂