Photographing in Public Places

It seems to be getting tougher and tougher to photograph in public places these days without attracting adverse attention, especially when there's an increasingly heightened public awareness of issues such as terrorism and paedophilia (in no small part stirred up by certain sections of the media themselves). Who knows if Cartier Bresson, Robert Frank, or any of the other great street photographers would have been able to ply their trade in today's climate, when the public's being made increasingly paranoid by campaigns like The Met's latest anti-terrorism campaign.

But there are a few basics that it's worth remembering. On the whole, UK law doesn't prevent photography in public places. This is, of course, assuming that you're not committing any other offence such as obstructing a police officer from doing their job or holding up traffic by setting up your tripod in the middle of the road. Also, as long as you're not causing any harrassment, you're allowed to photograph other people if you're both on public land. If the person you're photographing is on private land, they could claim a right to privacy, and if you're on private land, then the owner of the land has the right to restrict photography on their property. How you choose to use the photos later may well be restricted by whether you have a model release or property release, but this is a different matter. It's worth noting that some places that may seem 'public' are in fact private - the Royal Parks for example, and shopping centres. And you should also be aware that if you're photographing something that could be deemed sensitive to national security, then recent prevention of terrorism legislation could result in you having some explaining to do down the local nick.

EPUK recently highlighted an incident where a photographer was forced to delete his images by the police. This was in breach of the ACPO guidelines, which were established to guide Metropolitan Police officers in their dealings with the media. They clearly state that "once images are recorded, we [the police] have no power to delete or confiscate them without a court order, even if we think they contain damaging or useful evidence." It also states that "members of the media do not need a permit to photograph or film in public places" - though it's worth adding you could certainly help your cause by joining an organisation such as the NUJ or the BPPA, both of which are able to provide recognised press cards to their members. To be eligible to join, you will need to be earning a certain proportion of your living from freelance photography related to news. The NUJ also have a student (http://www.nujtraining.org.uk/studentreg.phtml) membership scheme and are able to issue their own student press cards. Even if you're not eligible to join though, it's worth taking a minute to read the ACPO guidelines, and it would certainly do no harm to print them out and keep them in your camera bag in case you're ever challenged, at least in London.

Clearly this shouldn't be taken as legal advice (and I think everyone should be thankful I never became a lawyer). But hopefully it will help raise awareness of the difficulties that photographers are increasingly facing in today's climate, and help give you the confidence to stand your ground when you know that you are doing nothing wrong.

Reference


Police officer forces photographer to delete images

Police admit they were over-zealous stopping a photographer at Christmas Lights Event

EPUK: ACPO media guidelines

The National Union of Journalists



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