I'm a third year photography student in GBN, but I always liked photography, even before I started taking photo classes. I love it so much that I'm sure that at some point in my life I will study it in college. But after reading about the issues that other photographers have faced....I must say that I'm nervous. Of course, the photographer mentioned in the link lives in the UK, but it can easily happen here, in the USA, as well. I have been downtown to take photographs and luckily I was never arrested or been stopped from taking a picture. Yes, there have been some...well, less than warm looks from random passer-by's that happen to be in my shot, but I was never told to stop taking pictures by a police officer.
Photography is an important aspect of today's society. Photographers should be allowed to do their job freely, without any unnecessary, unfair limitations.
There are a few laws that a photographer should be aware of:
1. The general rule in the United States is that anyone may take photographs of whatever they want when they are in a public place or places where they have permission to take photographs. Examples of places that are traditionally considered public are streets, sidewalks and parks. So basically, you can go to downtown Chicago and take pictures there without any worries.
2.Anyone can be photographed without their consent except when they are in places where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy such as dressing rooms, restrooms, medical facilities, and inside their homes. This was decided in the Nussenzweig v. DiCorcia case in 2005. DiCorcia was taking pictures in Time Square with an elaborate system of strobe lights, he was taking pictures from 20 feet away, collecting images of passers-by (including Nussenzweig) without their knowledge. He then exhibited these photographs and published them in a book. Nussenzweig felt that his privacy was violated, so he filed a lawsuit. The court ruled that DiCorcia's use of the picture was for artistic expression, and not commercial. So it was decided that a photographer could display, publish, and sell (at least in limited editions) street photography without the consent of the subjects of these photos.
3. You are allowed to take pictures of criminal activities,law enforcement officers, and accidents or fires. But you need to know that police officers have the right to keep you away from areas where you may disturb their activities or endanger their safety in some way. For example, if you are taking pictures of a car accident, you probably won't be allowed to get really up close to the scene, simply because you will probably interfere with the police officers work.
4. Private parties have no right to confiscate your film without a court order. If you are taking pictures of a store and the owner of that store comes up to you and asks you to give them your film, this can constitute as a criminal offense, such as theft, or coercion. It can also constitute a civil tort, such as conversion.
(Photo by Alex Turner)
1 comment:
I found this article very interesting as it seems like the idea of taking pictures in certain places is controversial. I feel like people should be allowed to take pictures of other people without their permission, as if somebody were to take a picture, of say, their family, in a big city, it would be very hard to take a picture without anybody in the background. I also agree with the fact that there are specific areas such as bathrooms and changing areas in which pictures should not be taken. In general, one should be allowed to take pictures of somebody when they are in a condition that they would be seen in a public. However, I feel like the idea of posting pictures on the internet is a concern. The laws only deal with limited copies, and with the internet copies can be unlimited. Therefore, I do agree with the laws about photography.
Post a Comment