Photoparanoia

I guess Lillly was shooting digital (from the picture posted), and I was too in the case I mention.

It was very curious when we were in Lytham recently and I was shooting some images on the sea front. I was right in front of some people, pointing the camera straight at them and they never flinched for a second. I could have been invisible.

A friend at the camera club shot a whole sequence of shots in a large supermarket, for the purpose of making a Pictures to Exe slide show. Did anyone confront him or any security guard challenge him? Not a one. But then he's the sort of person who when he approaches a family group and say, "I'd like to take some pictures of your daughter" they just say "OK, that's fine." Seriously, he gets away with it.

:

I just wondered if people are more paranoid about digital than they are film?

Regards
PaulM

I love the photo by the way Lilly, the candid shot of the customer is superb, and once again the black and white contrast is perfect

....People seem to assume all cameras are digital nowdays. I've been asked, and I've heard others asked, to "delete" pictures by someone who hasn't seen the camera well enough to know whether it's digital or film. And it is quite difficult unless they see the back or have specific knowledge of the camera.

Actually, I think (but I might be wrong) you can shoot just about anything you can see from a public place. Publishing those pictures is a different story. I also think nobody has the right to seize your camera to erase the pictures and even if they ask you to erase them, you don't have to comply. But, then, their fists might be bigger than mine....

This is a very serious matter these days and every photographer should be fully aware of their rights beforehand instead of just "thinking" they may be right. I had a similar confrontation to what Lilly did with a man on a public street. I already knew my rights well and I expressed them sternly to this very obnoxious and unreasonable jerk. It turns out I should have been a lot more diplomatic because a few hours later (4 to be exact) a policeman was at the front door of my home (via license plate #). He tried to intimidate me to show him my pictures and it was very obvious I knew much more about he law than he did in this matter. I did eventually voluntarily show him my pictures but the point is you must be fully prepared before you are confronted and, as I have learned, you must be tactful too.

Most people are terribly paranoid these days but they would be shocked to know (at least one policeman in Canada anyway) that anybody, even children, can have their pictures taken in most situations if they are in a public place. It is no different than just looking at them really. The important part of the law is not that you are photographing, or what you "might" do with the photograph, but what you actually do with it (i.e. publish) after that, and then it usually becomes a civil matter and not a criminal one.

Here is a link that contains the rights of photographers for several countries. http://www.photolawnews.com/index.html#photogrights . Sorry, same UK info as already linked to but I would suggest we should always carry some legitimate information and statute numbers in our camera bags. I would venture to say that most countries give photographers the near complete right to photograph in public places but do a search in your own country's Criminal Code and your Charter of Rights and Freedoms for actual statute numbers for ammunition. Pay particular attention to tresspassing. Also, check the webpage link for Canada on the above mentioned webpage. Near the bottom there are some good tips on myths and how to react when confronted.

Interesting sidenote: some surprising places here are not considered "public", like shopping malls and arenas for example.

Regards

Drew

BTW: "Shaken and stirred" very funny Lilly (and great photo and title too)


EDIT: Just re-read my post and it sounded a lot like I was confronted for taking pictures of children didn't it?
Nope, the subject was fallen cherry blossoms on a rusted car hood. My theme was "pretty ugly" and yes... it certainly turned into that alright.

In general, in the UK, we are free to photograph anything from public land. Or anyone as there is no law of privacy as such.

From private land permission should be sought.

This is the advice I worked under when shooting people's properties for the Images of England project for English Heritage.

Obviously, although technically within the law, setting up a ladder to photograph over someon'es high hedges would be foolish and likely to cause problems, so common sense in dealing with people is the wise course of action.

In several years of doing this there were no incidents.

On this subject, I found the following information from the sirimo website very interesting:
Elsewhere on the website it is pointed out that very many places one would consider to be public places are in fact privately owned including, for example, public parks.

As the authors of the UK guide are happy for it to be freely distributed, can I suggest that a sticky with a link to the site / guide be posted somewhere?

Steve

That is a very helpful link, thanks a lot and has now made me feel more confident in how to handle another situation if it occurs, will have a trail through her website too.

Thanks for all the comments it is an interesting discussion. On a lighter note, I was talking to an ex pro photographer last night (now my yoga teacher!) who trained at Newport. He remembered Martin Parr doing a lecture once and apparently he said that when he was up front with the gear and flash lights etc in someones face and was asked what he thought he was doing.................. he used to reply............... "taking a f****** photo"!

Digital, but I am not sure it makes a whole lot of difference, the barber especially didn't know what I was shooting from his angle and the speed at which he approached me...

http://www.photolawnews.com/index.html#photogrights ..........Thats a very useful site too Drew, will maka a note of USA, Canada & Oz rules for future trips.

That quote will do for me Short and sweet


Serendipity (Mick)

A recent article in one of the photo mags highlighted this issue and, even the Police don't have that authority (yet) they would need a court order to do this.

I think it was in Photography Monthly and the article also set out rights as to where you can take photographs from (i.e. private/public land), the exceptions being certain establishments (i.e. MI5) from public land.

A handy little tip for those that might get confronted by an unruly individual would be to use a grip (K10 at least) and carry an old memory card in it's slot.

If someone does force you to hand over the card, take the one out of the grip. Unless they know how to handle a camera, they would never know you are giving them the wrong card. Then of course, you keep the photos, and if you are that type of person, you could leave an unsavoury message on the other card! (Or a copy of the law)

Sorry to hear the bother you had Lilly, does make you wonder if he would have said the same to me, being a fat bloke has its advantages! Oh, and the phrase you were taught is most definately in my dictionary!

That is really quite scary