Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New Mexico

As a photographer, I was welcomed into a home to take portrait photos a couple of weeks back. Since then, the owner had asked me to delete photos, and not share commercially as originally agreed upon. They're claiming the photos taken inside their house are embarrassing, and could be damaging to their young children. From the photos, you can't specifically tell where they were taken. I'm stumped, and feel threatened by their recent requests to delete and not publish aNY of my work. Please help.


Asked on 6/11/15, 12:59 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Aspinwall Charles S. Aspinwall, J.D., LLC

Unless you have a written contract or model release, you cannot use the photographs since prior permission has been withdrawn. This is particularly true if there are any underage young people in the photographs. The law regarding photography in public is different from photography in private. Public photos don't require permission if not used for commercial purposes, private photos do. Your best advice is to chalk this one up to experience and get a written model release or contract giving you ownership and permission to use the images you create the next time you do this.

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Answered on 6/12/15, 2:50 pm


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