David Forster

Being a keen amateur photographer, I’ve been researching the rights and laws concerning taking photo’s in public for a little while. This came up in a discussion I had with a fellow biker and semi-professional photographer at the Frith Street bike meet on Friday night and also in a confrontation I had with a police sergeant on Sunday at the Ace Cafe.

At Frith Street we were discussing candid photography and the difficulty of obtaining a person’s permission to photograph them and subsequently getting them to behave normally. I found it interesting to find out that my friend carries model release forms with his kit just in case the need for one arises. I think I will print a few off and carry them with the camera from now on, even though they are more of a courtesy than a legal requirement and that I won’t be doing any commercial work. You never know.

At the Ace I was approached by the officer, who had seen me taking photos of him and his police car on the North Circular Road from a footbridge. Thanks to my basic understanding of the law, I knew that I was quite within my rights to do this and decided not back down to his “bully-boy” tactics (more on this in a later post perhaps). I stood my ground and answered his questions politely (it takes two to argue) and he was left with little else to do except get back to his job.

Here’s an excellent UK photographer’s rights page, which has a downloadable PDF file, which I have printed and will keep with me wherever I take my camera, and also a link to the Liberty guide to human rights, which has been useful for more than just photography issues.