I was prompted to make this post by a comment that jenray made on my blog here. This is as good a time as any to remind photographer’s again of their rights. As long as you’re on public property or a public highway and you aren’t behaving so as to cause a breach of the peace or obstructing the highway, then you are legally entitled to photograph almost anything or anyone you like. A tripod has been construed as an obstruction in the past.
There are some restrictions regarding some public parks and squares and some particularly sensitive buildings that you should be aware of. Photographing police officers is perfectly legal. See this:
No-one has the right to ask you to delete any images, and your equipment can only be confiscated if you are arrested by a police officer. If you are on private property such as a shopping centre, you can be asked to leave the premises, but they may not confiscate your equipment, may not ask you to delete pictures and may only use “reasonable force” if you resist their demands and/or continue photographing.
But having said all that, some sense is required. If you stand on the pavement with a 300mm telephoto lens shooting into a children’s playground, you can expect trouble.
This site has a good summary of the legal situation:
http://www.urban75.org/photos/photographers-rights-and-the-law.html
This is the UK Photographer’s Rights website (they have a very useful pdf summary of the situation):
http://www.sirimo.co.uk/ukpr.php
Cheers, Tom.
they might get publicity out of it
http://lois.co.uk
13/10/08 @ 16:28