Should We Be Knocking?

Absolutely! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Edited to add - I've had several people thank me for asking instead of trespassing.

I usually shoot from the street or if I see someone I ask.

Trespassing photographers have ruined many a place for others.

I would like to at my grandmother's home, but do not want to alarm anyone.

I've stopped by to say " Hello " & spent a lovely afternoon with the Homeowners.

I always give someone a print from home if I have photographed their animal or property. Everyone's happy.

If I can shoot from the street I do and I have asked and so far people are happy to let me shoot. I give them prints to select an 8 by 10 or 2

just jump over the fence and take a chance....

but no, i don't need a view that badly. i do know of people that were i think sued for trespassing for getting a view that could only be taken from that one vantage point.

if i had someone out going with me, they could ask and i could follow. or if they invite me in, then maybe. but in general i'd rather just pass it on by. i really think people would ask what i'm going to do with the image and then they will want a cut of it.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

also you don't know what crazy weirdo's live there.... which is funny because i remember we were at a park. the park was boring. so we shot houses instead. and one guy who snuck up from behind said, nice house there huh? and i said something nice, and he said, wanna take a look inside. and before my reasoning center could take over, i said, sure ok.... he could have been a murderer or have a gun. so we all went in and shot the inside of the house. i never did use the pix, but i wasn't expecting anything like that. i think he just likes showing off his house.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

My daughter just did this the other day! There are some people who live down the road that has this beautiful and very large flower garden that is all Dahlias. She said she had been meaning to stop some day and the other day she saw them out in the garden so she stopped. They were very nice people and they cut some for her to take home to take pictures in her studio. They also told her she could come back any time she likes to take more pictures. She is planning on printing some up for them for being so nice.

I did this once when I was out of town. I saw this very unusual old rusty vehicle along the road. At first I tried to take pictures from across the street, but too many cars on the road. I saw a man come outside so I went over and asked him if he minded if I came on his property to take pictures of it. He said he didn't mind at all as long as I didn't try to take the car. LOL

I was starting to get some advertising contracts for different photos I had taken long before I ever considered they could make money through selling or advertising. One company that wanted to use my "row homes" image for advertising asked if I had received permission from the house owners to use the house in an ad they were putting together. The picture was old and lower resolution anyway and I took it upon myself to go back to the location and rephotograph the subject in South Baltimore.

I had the documents with me to sign for permission to photograph the house and I knocked on one of the row house doors. A lady answered through the screen door and when I went through the spiel of asking for permission of photographing her house along with other row homes she said, "I don't know, I'll have to get my mother.". I waited outside for what seemed like five minutes and finally the daughter came back with a very elderly lady. I again went through the spiel as nicely as I could. She replied, "No, I don't think so".

This was just the first house... I needed to get permission from the other houses in the shot as well. I never even got the opportunity to use the permission documents. There was nothing more I could think of to say standing out there on the street talking through a screened door, so I paused for a while and said, "Ok then... thank you".

I really expected about as much but I had to try at least once.

There's an old expression... "It's easier to ask for forgiveness then to ask permission".

Generally, if you're taking photos from a public area, you're ok, but if you use those images for advertisement and/or to make a monetary profit, that's when you need to be careful.

The contract go-between actually wanted my original shot, not the new higher resolution image I offered them. They told me, we'll make it a different color or something.

(I suggest to make this thread private if this is the direction we're headed in the thread.)

I've always been reluctant to ask strangers for favors.

For I'm afraid how I would react if I hear, "No"

Once I asked a person if I could take pictures of rusted cars and trucks on his property. His reply was, never had anyone ask me this then a long pause..... he then said "No". I walked away in disappointment.