Street Photographer Gets Called Out in Viral Post, Questioned by Police for Taking Photos of Strangers
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Joshua Rosenthal makes a living from taking pictures of strangers in public, legally.
Under the United State's First Amendment laws, photographers, journalists and anyone on the street can photograph you without permission so long as you do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
So, I couldn't photograph you undressing in your apartment with the blinds closed using some fancy lens, but I can absolutely attend a fair and photograph whoever I want to.
However, sometimes people don't take kindly to this because they don't realize it isn't against the law. Rosenthal found out the hard way when a stranger called him out in a now-viral Facebook post for taking photographs of kids at the fair.
Unfortunately, many of the comments on this post are unfairly accusing Rosenthal of being a bad person because he took photos of underaged people. Many more threatened him.
The Ventura Police Department also ended up questioning Rosenthal after they found him.
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They unequivocally announced he committed no crimes, in a now-deleted Facebook post.
While many parents voiced their concerns about their own children's photos being taken in public, it has to be asked if Rosenthal's life being threatened is really fair, particularly because the people that posted to Facebook clearly didn't care to reach out to Rosenthal in the first place.
If you want to support Rosenthal's work, you can follow his website here.
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Via DIY Photography