using a flashgun on own property question please (UK)

realspeed

realspeed

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Bazza
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I intend to take some photos at night using one or two fairly powerful flashguns so that I can highlight bushes and trees on my property. So what I am asking is "is there anything to stop me?" Only thing I can think of is an environmental issue.
Has anyone had any experience doing this?

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I guess the first question is where are you and how far away from roads or local community are you? The council will probably be able to tell you about by laws etc
 
Steve
There are 4 bed detached houses all around but I live in a cal de sac. this is mine for example to give some idea. Great quiet area with good neighbours

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bye the way Steve I know Epsom very well Used to live in North Cheam and Sutton before that. I was actualy born in Sutton. I worked for BT for about 25 years in the Epsom and surrounding area. At least those 4/5 mental hospitals have gone, worked in most of the from time to time. point of interest you may not Know. thje old racecourse grandstand is suppopsed to be haunted. there are artesian well underneath and during WW2 canadians were billited there, A couple supposedly fell into one of the wells before they were capped . also a couple of other places supposed to be haunted bit of a story. Ome of my workmates
was late finishng an installation and going downstrairs a woman dessed as in the 1800's passed him by and said nothing. Late on he was told that was the ghost that haunted the place. On the Ewell roundabout there used to be a garden centre. Every morning the light bulbs were out of the lamps and placed on the furniture overnight.
One time I had to install a wall phone in the morgue in Epsom Hospital it was one that worked by pushbutton rare back then .OH yes I know a lot about Epson. Got many stories of working in Epsom. This was at least 35/40years ago
 
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That is what concerned me why I asked I appreciate your reply thank you The flashguns have a GN170. classification No issue using during daylight hours but night time is something else. I had similar from a house behind ours who had security floodlights installed which lit up on of our back bedrooms , it was left on all night for weeks/months at a time. I did tell them in the end
that quote does not actually cover flashguns directly I read the paper in that link
 
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If it’s at night, presumably people draw the curtains and unless you’re deliberately aiming it at their windows I don’t think there’s an issue. Lightning in a storm or fireworks are probably worse.
 
realspeed said:
...that quote does not actually cover flashguns directly I read the paper in that link
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My guess is that lawyer for an angry neighbour would draw no distinction and I imagine that neither would a judge. In any case, you seem to have misgivings about the idea and that might be as good a reason as any to think again.
 
I can't see any issues at all - light emitting from a flashgun for 1/xxx of a second is not going to constitute a statutory nuisance...
It wouldn't even occur to me that it could be an issue...

If you feel that it might disturb your neighbours then let them know in advance so that they are not going to worry - and minimise use, but the concept of it ever ending up in court is absurd - there is no way that any council would pursue you and it would not be tricky to get it thrown out of court when your 'neighbour's lawyer' charges him multi-thousands to pursue you over light from a normal high street available device, for a normal hobby being used at night (which it is designed for) for a partial second!

just crack on - get some good photos and share them :)
 
akirk said:
I can't see any issues at all - light emitting from a flashgun for 1/xxx of a second is not going to constitute a statutory nuisance...
It wouldn't even occur to me that it could be an issue...

If you feel that it might disturb your neighbours then let them know in advance so that they are not going to worry - and minimise use, but the concept of it ever ending up in court is absurd - there is no way that any council would pursue you and it would not be tricky to get it thrown out of court when your 'neighbour's lawyer' charges him multi-thousands to pursue you over light from a normal high street available device, for a normal hobby being used at night (which it is designed for) for a partial second!

just crack on - get some good photos and share them :)
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A single shot certainly wouldn't be classified as a nuisance - Firing a shot every minute for 3 hours every night for several weeks probably could (just to take an absurd extreme).
 
Faldrax said:
A single shot certainly wouldn't be classified as a nuisance - Firing a shot every minute for 3 hours every night for several weeks probably could (just to take an absurd extreme).
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True - but even with that (and acknowledging that you were presenting an absurd extreme) it is unlikely to succeed in court - primarily because it is a contained period - by the time it got to court, the photography would be done and there would be no issue... - all very different to for example security lights which are on continually or even sporadically but where the intent is clearly to carry on into the future with no end date... the barrier to be considered a nuisance is quite high, and is likely to contain at least some element of intended continuation without end.
 
akirk said:
True - but even with that (and acknowledging that you were presenting an absurd extreme) it is unlikely to succeed in court
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Are you a solicitor or a barrister?
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
My guess is that lawyer for an angry neighbour would draw no distinction and I imagine that neither would a judge. In any case, you seem to have misgivings about the idea and that might be as good a reason as any to think again.
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Given that two woman are killed every week by an abusive partner or ex, and that it’s rarely an isolated incident, I think you’re putting a lot of faith in the law following up a complaint about a light :thinking:

I’m not a lawyer, just a rational adult, who’d readily admit to being on the risk averse end of the spectrum.
 
Phil V said:
I think you’re putting a lot of faith in the law following up a complaint about a light :thinking:
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I'm not putting faith in anything.

akirk seemed so certain of his advice, I was attempting to find out what he based it on.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
My guess is that lawyer for an angry neighbour would draw no distinction and I imagine that neither would a judge. In any case, you seem to have misgivings about the idea and that might be as good a reason as any to think again.
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On what do you base these guesses?
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I'm not putting faith in anything.

akirk seemed so certain of his advice, I was attempting to find out what he based it on.
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You do appear to be. ;)
AndrewFlannigan said:
My guess is that lawyer for an angry neighbour would draw no distinction and I imagine that neither would a judge. In any case, you seem to have misgivings about the idea and that might be as good a reason as any to think again.
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In my view that’s a series of wild assumptions that turn into an assertion with no basis.

Alternatively, you’ve done your research and you can cite cases where similar has happened?

That’d have been an interesting addition to the thread
 
Light intensity from a flash falls off quickly due to the inverse square law, unless your flash is pointed at a neighbours window it's unlikely to be noticed. Just look at your examples there's no detail in the background.

No harm mentioning it to any neighbour who you think might be concerned, or might have young children in bed early. And obviously not too late either.

Ian
 
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I used flash to photograph frogs in my garden pond one night. Never even considered it worrying the neighbours. And nobody complained. They were probably all asleep anyway!

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I wouldn't expect photographing bushes in your garden to create issues, but if you have nice neighbours as you say then it's worth consulting with them first.
If there is some unimagined issue, then this enables you to work with them to solve it & still have good relations with your neighbours.
Mutually convenient timing would solve just about any possible issue & there's always the possibility of setting up a backdrop if the bushes your interested in would involve firing the flash into their windows.

It seems to me that the fact your concerned about possible issues, means you are not one of the thoughtless types who would end up annoying their neighbours.
 
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