I shot this on a day when I really wasn’t looking for much in particular, but instead was mostly interested in taking a brief walk in the rain. Days like this are about as close to ideal as can be, at least in my humble opinion, and few things in life are more enjoyable than taking a stroll through the rain on a warm watery afternoon like this one. Since I had my D200 with me I figured I might look for a photographic opportunity, though that was not exactly my goal per se. I strolled around campus for a few minutes taking in the rain and slight breeze, and as I was on my way back to my building I saw this lonely bike sprawled out on the sidewalk chained to a bench. My thoughts went to the poor owner who, no doubt, was caught unprepared in the precipitation and rushed to chain his or her bike to the nearest stationary object until the downpour abated. Thankfully some people soon wandered past, including this fellow who was sporting a campus-themed umbrella to augment his college-style attire, and I was able to snag the photo you see here. I hope Mr. College Dude got to his destination safe and dry, and I hope for many more days like this one in the coming weeks and months.
I trust a model release signature was obtained from the student before his image was posted on the web. We are in tricky times on the whole privacy issue.
No, for a couple reasons. First, the student’s face is almost entirely obscured so that it would be difficult to identify him personally. This is one reason I posted this particular photo instead of another version: you can’t really tell who the person is. Second, the photo was taken in a public place where there is no expectation of privacy. If photos were prohibited, or it was a private home or business, the situation would be different and permission would likely be required.
LifeHacker has a good article on this that you might want to check out:
http://lifehacker.com/5912250/know-your-rights-photography-in-public