She then went on to explain how that photo of her teen daughter soaking up the sun in her backyard had gotten the attention of a prisoner in jail. He had seen the girl's picture, looked up her last name and street in the phone book and called her at home. Fortunately, the mother answered the phone both times, preventing her daughter from speaking or even knowing about this undesireable stranger. I don't blame the mom for being annoyed and frightened with that photo, because it prompted a man to call her daughter from prison!
The photo, taken years ago, was innocent enough: She was sunbathing in her bathing suit and, because it was hot, and I mean HOT, she had brought out a typical household fan to keep her cool. I happened to drive by and saw this. In my defense, I don't think a single photographer seeking features for a paper would pass that up. I also admit I'm a bit naive when it comes to the mind of perverts. It never entered my mind that this young girl could be harassed by prisoners or stalked by predators.
To make a long story short, my fortune of finding an interesting feature turned into someone else's perverted fantasy.
The pictures photojournalists take for newspapers wind up in all kinds of places: refrigerator doors, scrap books, wall frames, and in the hands of prisoners. It was just an eye-opener for me. Should we include street names with these kinds of feature photos? Maybe not.
Yes, we are responsible for filling news pages. But are we responsible to our subjects once our photos are published? I don't think so. We just need to be mindful of who we're putting in the paper, and who our readers are...
And do those who are sunbathing have a reasonable expectation of privacy when doing this in their own yard? Yes. But only if they are not easily visible to someone driving by. Perhaps this mom felt a bit culpable because she had not monitored her daughter's sunbathing routine more carefully.
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