[Leica] kapoor sculpture in chicago

[pswango at att.net (Phil Swango)]

At 05:18 PM 2/24/2005, Eric Ladner wrote:
>I think, from informal conversations with lawyers, that legally you can
>always _take_ the picture if the subject is visible to the public; it's
>what you can do with it that may be restricted.


This is interesting to me.  Last week I was walking down the street in my 
neighborhood and saw a film crew working on a Hollywood movie starring 
actor Guy Pierce.  Standing on the sidewalk across the street, I took a few 
souvenir pictures with my digital P/S.  A very polite woman approached me 
and told me that photography was not allowed.  I thanked her for the 
information and suggested that since I was on a public sidewalk and the 
filming was clearly visible from there, perhaps there was no legal way they 
could prevent it.  She very politely told me they could call the police if 
necessary.  I very politely thanked her again and walked a few meters down 
the street, out of her sight, and continued shooting.  Now, I have no idea 
who was right.  I understand that if I tried to make commercial use of the 
pictures there would be a problem but I assumed personal use was OK.  Does 
anyone here have an opinion?

I also have another copyright question.  Many years ago I was friends with 
the Memphis photographer William Eggleston.  One day when we were hanging 
out he took a picture of me and later gave me a mounted enlargement.  I 
have it hanging in my house and have never displayed it anywhere 
else.  Since then he has become well known in the art world, but we are no 
longer in contact.  My question is this:  if I put the picture on, say, a 
blog site, would that be a copyright infringement?  Also, would it be OK to 
post any pictures I took of him without his permission?

Any input would be welcome.




Phil Swango
307 Aliso Dr. SE
Albuquerque, NM  87108
505-262-4085
714-908-7846 (fax)
pswango@att.net