Found Photography advice

swatki

hey I was wondering if i cud ask your advice on a topic , you also may like my story.
I explore abandoned sites and junkyards , and last year i found a bombproof metal case of alot of photos of this persons life...in an open yard of a crumbling down house
basically i deduced the photos down to this one reappearing guy and picked him as the owner, a few months later i went up to the site while the council were clearing the whole place out , they told me the guys names and g so i found out some cool facts about him..being an underwater hockey champion etc ..... thing is i want to used these photos in my fine art degree show ...ive tried contacting the guy every way i can ...but cant !!....and im thinking of resorting to covering up his eyes in the display so i dont get in trouble with my tutors or the law ...........this may be seen as unethical ...can you please give me some advice on my problem ,,, ive searched the internet but cant find any information , especially for this part of the world.
I would appreciate a response
Thankx
E.

Fenster

Orphan works. There was a sizable debate raging about this elsewhere on Boards, but I don't recall any mention of Irish law.

swatki

what section is the debate going on ?

Fenster

About four threads down.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055831375

SamTHorn

I would try looking into the records of the property and see if it provides any clues. You should be able to retain these from your local library or they will point you in the right direction. Good luck.

~Sam

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sineadw

I wonder if you could claim fair usage from an educational viewpoint? It'd be a bit cheeky if I understand the law well. Which I don't.

swatki

funnily enough i think you can claim usage under artistic/educational grounds
oh yes i know plenty about the history of the house and about the owner ... even his name but not his contact information!
I consulted a solicitor tonight and they said as long as i show that i have tried to contact the owner Im pretty ok ..and the likely that the owner is going to file a suit is slim...
they also said any change i make to the image like e.g covering the eyes is definitly ok to use, because it becomes an adaptation of the image and is not the original

VinDevo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_photography

you wouldn't be the first person to do this and I'd doubt you'd have any problem using the material as long as you treat it with respect

swatki

I have checked this out already thanks for the link

the whole project is about the search for what happened to this person and yes does thread on ethical lines. i wont be using his real name but a psuedo name and im considering covering up his features. I dont wish for his real identity to be the strongest point of the project but rather the phenomenon of the find. The idea of what could have happened to him and phenomenon of finding out info about someone and adding fictive elements to it to create a different identity. because its really about my ideas about identity and character and not his real identity. I have no wish to disrespect or reveal the true identity of the person

stunt_penguin

Having read your description of the project then I think you're *well* cleared both ethically and legally - it's not like you're using the photos as stock or in a commercial project or anything, you're taking them and making something even more out of them. I think it's really cool, acutally!

swatki

thanks for that comment!