Outdoor Discoveries

Photography and the law

My photographic exploits are concentrated in the outdoors but many a report appears in Amateur Photographer regarding photographers experiencing problems with security guards, police community support officers and the like. While it is usually urban photography that is afflicted, it’s never any harm knowing your rights and responsibilities in any case. A guide for the UK is out on cyberspace but PhotoJobo have a common sense guide with an American slant along with links to guidance for other countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand too. It’s always useful to know where you stand so that you can both avoid any silliness and keep yourself out of trouble.

Update: It now appears that a recent Metropolitan Police poster has really raised the hackles and the press are beginning to get restless about the situation because it affects livelihoods; apparently, there’s a protest in the offing. A higher profile for the issue might result in a more sensible approach than that which is current, hopefully. For now, we need to be more careful than we were.