Photo Release Form - Street

According to a relative new law regarding photos of street portraits taken in Europe, it is obviously become very important to have a ”model release form” in case you want to publish/sell a photo.

There are several apps on the market both for IOS and Android, where you can change language, text attach a photo of the person involved, signature, but I have failed to find any information, how you give a copy of the signed release form. It could of course be a function sending it to the persons email address, however I can easily foresee, that somebody does like to give the email address to a stranger with a camera.

How are you handling such situations?

I am day-jobbing in the printing industry...

The (to me) obvious solution would be putting my Legalese into some barely readable light grey small print on the backside of some flyer that I'd hand out.

The front side could advertise anything between "Erik shooting weddings for leftover cake" or Roger's Rags or Khalib's Kebap.

Be realistic about how many copies you are supposed to hand out and spot a buddy with a local business, to pay for the printing cost. BTW: That should be a damn good deal for that buddy! At least if their business is catering the folks you are interested in...

Does that cover the whole of Europe Erik?

I was under the impression that only France had introduced strict privacy laws covering public spaces?

Monsieur Cartier-Bresson must be spinning in his grave right now.

rodeo_joe|1 - It is a relatively new law from EU regarding personal information, and I have had to sign agreements with banks, pension companies, insurance companies and clubs etc. that I allow them to use information related to me as per that law. To be honest I have not read it, but what I understand, it is close to the previous French law in that respect, which was more strict than the laws of other European countries. I only asked, as it is a discussion pt between street photographers, and I occasional also bring my camera along to Europe - living in Vietnam it is 100x easier, I have only knowledge of proff. photographers and models, who legalize the shoot. I admit, I have no knowledge of the situation in UK, but I assume it will soon be the previous law, which is valid.

I agree there is a difference between, what I had to sign and situations in public area, which obviously still is a matter of interpretation by the court, and many photographers are awaiting the first cases, but do not want themself to be the first -:)

voice recorder, photo and thumb print. Can think of a lot of potential customers worldwide.

Sounds really good to me....

I suppose a thumb print can replace a signature?

it is obviously become very important to have a ”model release form” in case you want to publish/sell a photo.

It is my understanding that things have gotten a lot more complicated than that under the new "General Data Protection Regulation". Despite it being an EU regulation, each country has some freedom to enact things on their own - so what is OK in one may not be in another. I only researched the application of the German DSGVO (the German name for the GDPR) and it appears that with very few (narrow) exception written permission of everyone identifiable in a digitally recorded picture will be required JUST for taking the picture (never mind publication etc). Everyone in it needs to be informed of the purpose of the picture taking and what happens to "their data". In addition, said permission can be revoked at any time and the data will have to be erased then. Indeed, digital photography now is considered "data acquisition". Model release forms that predate May 25, 2018 need to be re-written to include all the provisions required by the GDPR in order to protect the photographer.

Naturally, in reality things will eventually settle down - but it is hard not to see this as putting every photographer in legal peril if there's people in the image (and, again, just for taking the picture). Here's one link I found that gives a comprehensive legal overview - albeit written in German: DSGVO – 7 Tipps für Fotografen

It appears that Germany could have made things considerably more easy and safe for photographers if they have given the previous law priority over the new DSGVO - but they didn't. The result is a legal quagmire. To be on the safe side of the law with regard to street photography has always been an issue in Germany - the DSGVO adds a whole new layer of complexity on that subject.

it appears that with very few (narrow) exception written permission of everyone identifiable in a digitally recorded picture will be required JUST for taking the picture (never mind publication etc). Everyone in it needs to be informed of the purpose of the picture taking and what happens to "their data". In addition, said permission can be revoked at any time and the data will have to be erased then

Well bang goes pretty much everyone's tourist digital picture taken in any German city, town or countryside EVER!

Lets see, 1998 >2018, so 20 years of model release forms, hummm. And if the model has changed their mind in those 20 years, it has to be deleted. Wow.

So, any video news coverage in Germany showing people has had a 'runner' collecting model release forms from everyone visible?

Or any footy match that shows the crowd too? 4K is going to make a-lot more people identifiable.

Double wow and totally nuts!!

Well bang goes pretty much everyone's tourist digital picture taken in any German city, town or countryside EVER!

 

Lets see, 1998 >2018, so 20 years of model release forms, hummm. And if the model has changed their mind in those 20 years, it has to be deleted. Wow.

 

So, any video news coverage in Germany showing people has had a 'runner' collecting model release forms from everyone visible?

 

Or any footy match that shows the crowd too? 4K is going to make a-lot more people identifiable.

 

Double wow and totally nuts!!

I agree completely. Germany is being run by crazed political correctness fanatics.

What about 'Big Brother's' ubiquitous CCTV surveillance?

Is officialdom exempt from these strict data protection laws?

Nobody has yet asked my permission for my image to be captured by Parking Eye in the local supermarket car park, nor by those little yellow boxes lining our motorways.

Is officialdom exempt from these strict data protection laws?

You even feel you need to ask...?

I like the idea of forcing the Police to delete my mugshot*, 'cos I don't want them to use it without my permission.

I wonder if in the very small print on the back of, say a cricket match ticket, is the following...

'In purchasing this ticket, I agree to let myself be filmed during this sporting event for security purposes. The files may be retained for future use'

* I don't think I have one...:p