I recently found a rare butterfly in a place where it was never seen before. I was with a fellow inatter, who had a decent camera and got a great photo of it. I, however, was unable to get a photo with my phone, so he took another photo for me to upload to inat. It was not a photo I had taken myself, but I was there at the time and was given the photo. I didn’t copy/steal it, so could I still use it?
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I have on several occasions asked my wife to take a photo of a bug/plant/whatever for me (for example when I was driving, or holding a sleeping child) and then uploaded that as my observation. I don’t see how your situation is any different. You encountered the organism, caused a photo to be taken of it, and that photo is evidence of your encounter. Seems like a straightforward yes to me.
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If you were there, and using the pic with the photographer’s permission, it’s fine - but best to add a note in the description saying “Photo by x, posted with permission” and make sure the Creative Commons license is one they are OK with :)
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I have posted several photos which were taken by a colleague who was using my camera while I held the animal. Usually this was because I was wet and muddy, and the other person had dry hands. It would seem nit-picky to say that I was not the observer in such cases.
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I’ll add that!
Here’s the obs btw :https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/274761110
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I agree with what others have noted above and will just add that iNat’s guidance on this is that doing this occasionally when properly documented is tolerated. I see no issues with this specific scenario. But users should not add lots of photos/observation from other users on a large scale.
Link (to links) to previous staff responses:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/uploading-permission-given-photos/10375/5
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