The law is very clear. If you push click on the camera, you own the copyright of that photo. If someone else pushes click on the camera, that other person owns the copyright of that photo even if you're the subject of the photograph.
If you take a selfie and push click on your phone camera or camera button, yes - you own the photograph.
So, who owns the photograph above?
The guy in the sailboat or me?
I own the copyright of the photograph above because I pushed click on the camera, making me the owner of the photograph.
I faced a similar situation a few years back. I wrote an article and a photograph was sent to me. However, the photograph wasn't taken by the person who sent it to me, the photo was taken by a third party. Without that person's permission, the photograph could not be published. There were disagreements and assumptions because of the subject in the photograph, but the law is clear. If you didn't take the photo, you can't use the photo without permission of the owner of said photo.
Isn't this a great picture above? I took this photograph in Hawaii when one of my sons was starting college. We had a free luncheon on a big ship and I took some photos above deck after the lunch.
A tip of the hat to everyone who has taken a photograph worth framing!
Photography is definitely an art... so do the healthy thing and honor the copyright ownership of every photograph, whether a celebrity or not.
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