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Press Gazette - Photographers lobby Parliament over police curbs
Labour MP Austin Mitchell is planning to take a delegation of photographers to the Home Office to protest about the growing number of cases in which police officers and others try to stop professional and amateur photographers taking pictures in public places.
Mitchell, MP for Grimsby, has already tabled an Early Day Motion at the Commons which has been signed by 131 MPs, giving it wide cross-party support.
Mitchell said he tabled the motion because of the increasing number of occasions in which police and others had tried to stop people taking pictures in public places.“People have complained about photographers being stopped from taking pictures by police, PCSOs, wardens and by various officious people,” he said.
“People have a right to take photographs and to start interfering with that is crazy. It seems crazy when the streets are festooned with closed-circuit television cameras that the public should be stopped from using cameras.
“The proliferation of digital cameras and mobile phones with cameras means that everybody carries a camera these days.”
Just remember today it’s a guy with a large Nikon camera, tomorrow it could be you with your camera phone who gets arrested, questioned or cautioned.
Comments
I saw on your gallery that you're busy with the BFP course. How is it? Worthwhile?
Posted by: Michelle | April 25, 2008 1:44 PM
Happy with it ? Hmm that's a good question for me I wanted to know how to market my photos, how to submit to periodicals and agencies and how to protect my copyright.
The course itself to my mind doesn't cover this well and overall it needs a re-write to bring it up to speed. It covers set areas of photography (weddings, news, glamor) and in these the again it needs a refresh - given what you can see on the Internet and the top shelf of most newsagents the glamour side looks very tired. The wedding section doesn't cover the more recent trends of photo-journalism in wedding photography but I guess you need to know the basics (bride, bride and groom, his parents, her parents etc).
To complete the course you need to "do" a wedding and produce some glamor shots and to be honest neither of these interest me.
The basic message of the course seems to be "it's hard to complete with professionals so pick nice easy things which the pros won't do". An example of this is take pictures of a local businesses office as they may want them.
I agree that you need to specialise in an area and know your market but I'd rather set my sights a little higher than that.
For me I'd rather work with a pro photographer and try to understand why they take that specific shot and why they consider it works. I know next year Steve McCurry has a photographic expedition to Rajistan in India - perhaps I need to start saving !
Oddly the years worth of the monthly BFP newsletter is more up to date and a little more aware of what is happening in the world today.
So, after all that, have I sold anything ? No, but I had photographs used in a few magazines which credited me and I had a photograph used on Londonist with a credit. I'm not interested in sales but the fact that someone else liked a picture enough to use it means a lot - as does seeing my name in print.
Does that provide you with a feeling for the course ? Happy to discuss if you need more background and thanks for the sweet potato and rice recipe !
Posted by: Mark | April 27, 2008 12:54 PM