Have You Ever Been Accosted In Such A Way During Street Photography

davholla said:
I was with my nephew (who was about 8) in the park and while he was playing I was taking photos of insects and my mum said "I am not sure that is a good idea, people might think you are taking photos of children".
Fortunately I didn't have a problem but I feel for you. Hopefully the idiot who phoned the police learned from this.
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Interesting point of the difference between perception and reality and how we in society have become to think the worst in people due to a few malevolents rather than the belief of innocent until proven....


Jelster said:
I don’t think people actually realise, that in a public place you can’t stop anybody photographing anything as long as its not illegal, rude etc. I don’t need permission to take a photo of somebody walking down the street, or on a bench reading the paper. If I was challenged, I would put them straight, whether I shot them or not.....
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the difficulty is the subtle difference between a place given public access and a public place. Many shopping centres owned by companies have land around them which although seemingly outside what you could call the shopping centre is still part of the shopping centre ergo privately owned, but the public given access. These rarely have any point of demarcation showing where the extent of the privately owned land ends.
 
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Ste_S said:
The Bruce Gilden videos on youtube where's he's shooting in West Bromwich are amusing. Small towns, small minds and anything that is different will be viewed with suspicion.

Shooting in cities is viewed with less suspicion for sure, also easier shooting within your own 'tribe'
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Is there an element of how liberal a town is in this regard? Some, and I extend this to all Europe, you can shoot and subjects embrace and welcome you to shoot them, however many (and most of the UK) you are met with suspicion.
 
jamesev said:
Is there an element of how liberal a town is in this regard? Some, and I extend this to all Europe, you can shoot and subjects embrace and welcome you to shoot them, however many (and most of the UK) you are met with suspicion.
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I think it just depends on how used people are to seeing cameras outside of phones. Small towns where they aren't often seen you'll be viewed with suspicion at best, called a 'pervert' at worst. Shooting with a phone is the way to go in small towns - no one gives a crap.

One group of people stand out though, regardless of location. In my experience pensioners love to be photographed, and always smile - I even had one gentleman tell me I made his day by taking a picture of him. I can only think that they grew up with cameras in a time before phones and are less scared of them than people younger than them.
 
juggler said:
No, we have a state-given right to photograph anyone going about their daily business (in a public place).
Whether we have a moral right to do so is open to debate.
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In the same vane, Um no we don't.

Photography in a public space is lawful in most circumstances, not legal; ie there are no laws preventing it or allowing it (apart from a few laws about national security and the process of law).

There's a big difference.


(Caveat - in the UK. Europe differs somewhat.)
 
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I was looking at the people and portrait category of another forum and about 1 in 10 of the images were of children. I checked my own clubs last portrait competition and it was also about 1 in 10. For the club photos which are easier for me to analyse, as I know the background to many shots, about 1/3 are close relatives, 1/3 are taken overseas (often India) and the remaining 1/3 taken at special events (e.g. re-enactments). Oddly the club audience and judges respond much as they did years ago; they all seem to like a good shot of a cute child or children. My most successful competition image this year is of 3 children playing taken in the UK BUT it was at a paid for special event where there are actors/actresses both adults and children. In fact for practical reasons the children were all with parent(s). The right to take the photographs and use for non-commercial use in in the contract so no problem. We do seemed to be forced in this direction by recent UK attitudes. The only realistic alternative is to go abroad for photography where people generally welcome photography.

Dave
 
KIPAX said:
I'll say it again.. the best way to do street photography if you don't want people asking what your doing.... is put a hi-viz vest on and stand in plain view of everyone... If you have photogrpaher or photo on the hi-viz and maybe a clipboard :) You can stand there all day and nobody will bother you ..try it :)

IMHO of course :)
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This emphasises the point made out to the OP. Don't lie have confidence and say what you are doing. The attitued to take is "if you don't like it call the police now".

The law and god for that matter is on your side. https://www.avonandsomerset.police....mmunity/taking-photographs-in-a-public-place/
 
Ste_S said:
Had zero issues in Barcelona.
Generally though I don't like doing street photos when I can't speak the language as I can't explain what I'm doing to [elvis]suspicious minds.[/elvis]
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Legally you need someone's permission to take their photo in Spain. :)

(Same as in several European countries.)
 
jamesev said:
Interesting point of the difference between perception and reality and how we in society have become to think the worst in people due to a few malevolents rather than the belief of innocent until proven....


the difficulty is the subtle difference between a place given public access and a public place. Many shopping centres owned by companies have land around them which although seemingly outside what you could call the shopping centre is still part of the shopping centre ergo privately owned, but the public given access. These rarely have any point of demarcation showing where the extent of the privately owned land ends.
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I suppose there are not that many people who take photos of insects whilst they are with children in the park. I strongly recommend it though, makes the process a lot more interesting, providing the child doesn't decide to play hide and seek while you do it
 
davholla said:
I suppose there are not that many people who take photos of insects whilst they are with children in the park. I strongly recommend it though, makes the process a lot more interesting, providing the child doesn't decide to play hide and seek while you do it
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I do! I have the kids scout out bugs or interesting objects for macro during our walk around, try to make it interesting for them. It also helps draw much less attention to me - people are more likely to smile as they pass when you're with the kids. If it's just me solo on my knees behind a tree in the park with a camera taking pics of some weird fungi or so, then I'm likely to get more stern stares :D
 
Ste_S said:
I thought this didn't apply as street photography was categorised as art, thus avoiding any legal issues.
If it did apply, it doesn't appear to be enforced as yet. Has someone been prosecuted for taking street photos ?
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I looked at advice for photographing in Spain and it did day it is illegal to photograph a person in a public street without their permission. Of course in reality an image of street with some people is not really a people shot but no idea how courts in Spain would interpret this. However, the general advice is to ask people first and you should find the vast majority will agree as I have found in the UK. You are warned to be particularly cautious photographing children as the law is more complicated. The situation with private property seems much as in the UK.

Dave
 
garryknight said:
In central London, it always sounds like the majority of tourists, especially in groups, are Spanish-speaking, and I'm guessing mostly from Spain. And there they are, snapping away at all and sundry. Far away from Spanish laws, letting off steam.
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I speak Spanish and you are right most of them are from Spain
 
davholla said:
I was with my nephew (who was about 8) in the park and while he was playing I was taking photos of insects and my mum said "I am not sure that is a good idea, people might think you are taking photos of children".
Fortunately I didn't have a problem but I feel for you. Hopefully the idiot who phoned the police learned from this.
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I do understand in this day and age not taking photos near parks for fear of being branded something very bad, but it's a shame that even with your nephew playing it was still a worry.
I went to Southend about a week ago with a friend, met one of her friends up there too and he had his 6 year old daughter for the weekend. We went to adventure island and he asked if I could get some photos of her on the rides.

It didn't cross my mind as we was actually with his kid, and he asked for the photos. It's something I will keep in mind for the future.
 
conanthewarrior said:
I do understand in this day and age not taking photos near parks for fear of being branded something very bad, but it's a shame that even with your nephew playing it was still a worry.
I went to Southend about a week ago with a friend, met one of her friends up there too and he had his 6 year old daughter for the weekend. We went to adventure island and he asked if I could get some photos of her on the rides.

It didn't cross my mind as we was actually with his kid, and he asked for the photos. It's something I will keep in mind for the future.
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It is a pity that it’s gone down this route, as 99.9% of the population have no malevolence with regards to kids, just the small % that has made us all very wary due to the impact.
 
jamesev said:
It is a pity that it’s gone down this route, as 99.9% of the population have no malevolence with regards to kids, just the small % that has made us all very wary due to the impact.
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But, as I think I wrote earlier, the kids and everyone are being filmed (cctv) all the time so what are these people on about?
 
sphexx said:
But, as I think I wrote earlier, the kids and everyone are being filmed (cctv) all the time so what are these people on about?
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But on cctv it’s usually police and people in authority and they can of course be trusted!
 
jamesev said:
But on cctv it’s usually police and people in authority and they can of course be trusted!
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:D:D. However I think all sorts of “security” employees have access but also a lot of it is by shops etc and private persons.
 
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