Photography in the news

[Tracey]

I've recently been reading many articles about photographers rights to take pictures and photographers being "stopped and questioned" by the police.
Heres 3 such articles, just from one site :
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Lord-Carlile-says-photography-of-the-police-is-allowed-11740
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Man-in-New-York-arrested-for-taking-photographs-11801
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Police-issue-London-photography-guidelines-11823

Will/how will this affect the amateur (and tourist) photographer in and around towns and cities?
Does this mean we simply have to be more aware of what we are trying to photograph?

In general is this good or bad for photography?

[Hedgehog]

I've not read the links yet but it's a subject that gets talked about a lot & there are a lot of misconceptions in our society & even within our own police force about what is & isn't permitted... so you can imagine in a less developed country the rules may be somewhat hazy. I know in the US you have to be very careful & photographers rights (or rather the right to take photographs) are being hacked away at all the time.

In the UK, if you're taking a photo from a public place of something where there isn't an expectation of privacy there is nothing anyone can legally do about it*. That doesn't mean you won't get accosted by the police or threatened by overzealous security guards.

Personally I've never had a problem in any country & in some (such as the Galapagos) I have been very much encouraged to take photo's because they know people will see my work & want to visit to see for themselves (in a Borneo hotel I was asked as I checked in if I was a journalist... when I said I was a photographer & they gave me the best view in the whole place!). So not everything is bad.




* there are certain places such as outside court houses where photography is illegal while the court is in session, but the press frequently flout this.

[Hedgehog]

The best explanation of photographer's rights in the UK I've found can be downloaded from here...

http://www.sirimo.co.uk/2009/05/14/uk-photographers-rights-v2/

... as it says it dates back several years & has just been updated (though I can't spot the changes if there are any).

[Tracey]

I'll have a good read of that tonight Hedge.

As I'm just venturing back into photography after an absense of almost 20 years, theres loads of things for me to learn, relearn and get to know