I do a lot of street photography. Most of the people I photograph, don’t notice, or plain just don’t care. However, there are some that will look at you when you take the image, with that quizzical look in the eye. There are others who will ask, out of pure curiosity. And then there are others who are just down right hostile, which I hasten to add are in the extreme minority. Like this message I got through my ipernity site last night.

I found a picture of me on this site and demand u remove it.
This is a gross invasion of my privacy and against human rights.

So remove it as quickly as possible. I will look to make sure. I will contact a law professional to sue you if you dont.

Now, this is just rude, and hostile, so it naturally got my back up somewhat. I may have considered removing the image, if it had been phrased with a little more care. But as such, knowing I am in the right I am refusing to remove it.

If your on a public street, in the UK, I have every right to take an image. There are occasions where I wont, such as people leaving hospitals, clinics or such. But generally, it’s all fair game. After all, this breach of their human rights, how do they feel about the amount of CCTV that watches them in a day, let alone the number of stores that you walk in, and get captured on in store CCTV. That argument just does not hold water.

I put my professional head on and crafted this reply.

I’m sorry you feel like your privacy has been invaded, but the fact is you where on a public street, and as such are open to be photographed as there is no expectation of privacy in public. Had you been a little more polite in your approach I may of considered removing it. However, the image will be staying online.

Please feel free to contact a solicitor to clarify this if you wish.

You also didn’t mention which photo it actually is, can you please supply the full URL of the image?

Many thanks

Michael.

I now await a reply, or a letter from their Legal Advisor 🙂