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 haven't gotten permission from them and they ghost you, I personally think the respectful thing to do would be to not post the pictures you took of them. Thats pretty weird.
If the ghosting is a recurring problem maybe ask them before the date ends "Hey i love these pictures of you, do you mind if i post them on my instagram/use them in my portfolio?"
Likewise I wouldn't use pictures they took of you for your portfolio, as you aren't really the photographer in that case. (Unless you chose the settings/composition/posing and are using them as a shutter release, but thats not what it sounded like)