Just Because You Can Take the Photograph, Should You?
The law may give photographers considerable freedom in public places. Knowing when to exercise that freedom — and when not to — is another matter. You're walking down a street with your camera or smartphone when you see a photograph. Perhaps it's the way someone is standing in a shaft of sunlight. Perhaps it's an expression, an interaction between two people, or simply one of those fleeting combinations of people, place and light that will disappear in seconds. You raise the camera. Then someone says: ‘You can't take my photograph without my permission.’ Are they right? Usually, no. But perhaps that's not the most interesting question. When official advice muddies the water This issue recently became rather more topical when the Home Office published guidance about photography and filming in public places. The material, intended as advice for asylum seekers about behaviour in the UK, included the rather unequivocal instruction: ‘Do not photograph or fi...
