Yes You Can, But Watch How You Sell It
Recently there was an article in a national photography magazine by a famous professional photographer who said you MUST get a property release from the owner.
I photograph a lot of barns here in upstate New York and that answer concerned me, so I checked with several other experts and here's a summary of what I learned:
1. You can shoot almost any property from a public location, except those properties deemed to be a security risk by government officials, such as airport runways, military installations, federal buildings and so forth. You may be asked to delete photos you take of these areas if caught by an official.
2. If the property is protected by a trademark (i.e., Disneyland), you can photograph it for your own personal use but cannot sell it without a property release and you probably can't get one for a trademarked building.
3. Pretty much any other property is OK to photograph as long as you do it from a public location. To photograph ON private property you must have permission.
3a. If you are only using the photographs for your own viewing pleasure, end of story.
3b. If you are going to sell the photographs, for example, at art festivals, you SHOULD
get a property release but you're probably OK as long as the owner of the barn
doesn't come to the festival, see his/her barn, and demand you stop selling them
or give them a cut of your revenue from sales.
3c. If you are going to publish the photographs in magazines or post them on a stock
site for commercial use you must have a property release. The magazines and
stocks sites are sure to require it.
I try not to be obvious when I shoot these barns and such in upstate New York, and I do sell the photographs at festivals and don't worry much about it. If I was going to submit them to a stock site or a magazine for publication I'd go get property releases.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not a lawyer and you shouldn't get your legal advice from some clown like me on the Internet!
Carl (Pittsford, NY)
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