Street photography in France

jon ryan

jon ryan

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Does anyone know (that's `know` as in `have knowledge of the legalities` rather than `have an opinion on`) how things stand with candid shots in public places in France?

I know that they have tighter privacy laws than the UK, but there seems to be some some ambiguity. From what I have read, it seems that photography in public places is pretty much OK, as with here, but publication of the results can lead to complications, or even lawyers.
 
I've never had any problems photographing things in France, buildings with or without people in the shots or on 'private' land e.g. chateau, in fact much less hassle than in the UK. Not sure about publication though as I think you are correct they have tighter laws to protect privacy.

Matt
 
Canon Bob might be the best person to help you with this
 
One of the best threads that I've seen about casual photography in France is this one:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=35938

One of the main factual contributors is Roger Hicks, he of the Amateur Photographer back page fame.

As pointed out, most of the law in France relates to publication which, due to the French legal system (inquisitorial v adversarial), has very rarely been fully tested.

Basically, stay away from celebrities and politicians with their mistresses, publish on your own Flickr etc, and you should be fine.
 
I was in Paris, last October and didn`t have any problems at all ...... well apart from one woman throwing a major "Hissy Fit" :lol: but other than that, cool :thumbs:
 
V. useful link - cheers, Mark. I'm planning to use some shots on a promotional website, so I suppose that could just possibly come into the `advertising`category, but these won't be specific to a particular product so I should be OK. Probably. More checks to do, though.

Bob has already got back to me with some useful info - cheers, Bob!

Jolly nice place, this!
 
I've tried to understand how things work over here and concluded that it falls into two categories, Civil Law and Legal (Penal).

Article 9 of the Civil code was tested and the judges decreed that no offence is committed unless the persons are depicted in a way that would reveal intimate facts about their private lives or that they are being harassed by the photographer.

The penal code (Article 226...parts of) is a little more encompassing but a legal test failed on that one too. A guy published a book containing street scenes and other public places and was taken to court by someone identifiable in a shot. The judges decreed that there was no invasion of privacy and that to prevent the image being displayed would have deprived the photographer of his freedom of artistic expression.

I had a discussion with a French photographer last year and he takes shots for advertising. If there are people in the shot then he must get their permission if, and only if, the image implies that they endorse the product/venue....ie, not just walking bye or being there.

Summing up, I think it's like this. The law remains in place for when it is actually needed but common sense has prevailed in the judiciary. Don't harass, mis-represent or intimidate someone and there's nothing to be concerned about in public places.

Hope that helps and FWIW, I've never had a single problem or question whilst out in the street and happily take candids of individuals (including children)...there's far less paranoia here.

Bob
 
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