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I have recently contacted a shopping mall in Singapore to ask if I could post pictures in published based editorial on their grounds:

Can I use pictures with shop windows in editorial?

My original email:

To whom it may concern,

I was recently shopping with some friends in the Shoppes at Marina bay sands and I saw some of the shop windows where very amazing.

I didn't see any no photography sign inside the mall and thus having my camera I took a few pictures with my friends.

Some of them fit into a collection I am currently building for an editorial. The goal of the editorial is to present the idea that people do not use their surroundings enough when taking pictures.

It will be published online on social media such as Instagram, Behance and more. I would also like to submit it as an article to submission based magazines if possible (unpaid) and citing the location in the credits.

Thus I would like to know if it was allowed to post those pictures since the Shoppes is probably private property I wanted to go through the proper channels first.

Here is an example of the photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bW9Hx7rfcekaRGfy5

-- Best Regards,

BURLET Médéric

And here is their reply:

Hi Burlet,

We have no comments on your pictures and is not in purview to provide authorization.

Best regards,

filmphoto

I don't really get the meaning of this sentence. Does this mean I have the right to send those pictures to submission based magazines?

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I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but to me that reads as

We don't have the authority to say yes or no.

Purview is legalese for 'jurisdiction' or 'authority'

If you wrote to the mall owners, that may mean you need to instead get permission directly from each shop owner; but it's so terse that all it's really saying is "not my problem, go away."

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