Photographers' rights

Many photographers now feel they are under attack from many quarters for practising our hobby, whether it be from police, private security personnel or other members of the public. Some of our own Club members have been affected. As at the of 2009, there has been much media comment about the issue, no doubt helpd by a couple of national media journalists being stopped recently by police.

This part of our site is NOT giving legal advice, but we will provide links to other websites that seem to give helpful guidance. It is not intended to be comprehensive, but just an ad hoc selection as we spot them. We do not vouch for the accuracy of information and advice given on these other sites, but will only include ones which we think have some credibility.

Clearly if you have an important issue regarding your rights, there is no substitute for specific legal advice from a professional.

NB On 18 August 2009 the Home Office issued Circular 012/2009 to 'All Chief Officers of Police' to clarify counter-terrorism legislation in relation to photography in a public place. Check out the Circular's details, but in essence it states that the Terrorism Act 2000 was not designed to stop public photography of people or buildings, nor to stop legitimate journalistic or other innocent photographs of the police.

Also, on 29 September 2009 the Prime Minister's office responded to an epetition and confirmed that section 58A of the Terrorism Act 2000 (updated by section 76 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008) does not automatically make it illegal to photograph a police officer, military personnel or member of the intelligence services.

On 4 December 2009, following high profile coverage in the national media, the Association of Chief Police Officers sent a memo to police forces across England and Wales “to clarify the legislation and guidance in relation to” stop and search and stop and account under Sections 43 and 44 of the Terrorism Act and Section 58A of the Counter Terrorism Act 2008. You can read the memo on the Amateur Photographer website.

In April 2010, reinforcing guidelines were published on the Metropolitan Police website about photography in public places. It confirmed that members of the public do not need a permit to photograph in public places and police have no power to stop them per se. Officers do not have the power to delete digital images or destroy film at any point during a search should one be carried out.

Reference and lobbying

UK Photographers Rights This site has a useful pdf format downloadable guide to photographers' rights (now in Version 2). But do read the caveats on the site about its being a guide, not a definitive manual.

PhotoRights.org - range of information about photographers' rights to take photographs, on a site maintained by Editorial Photographers UK Ltd.

Pro Imaging Targeted at professional photographers, but has a useful guide to (all) photographers' rights on, for example, copyright, when entering commercial photo competitions; has lists of current competitions that have passed or failed their 'Bill of Rights' relating to fair terms and conditions.

© is for Copyright - a layman's guide to copyright for photographers, by Sal Shuel, former Administrator of the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies.

Copyright Action for photographers and photograph users - range of information about copyright, on a site maintained by Editorial Photographers UK Ltd.

July 2009: The British Journal of Photography is starting a campaign “to counter the rising paranoia that targets every photographer who shoot images in public places”. The campaign includes a visual petition on Flickr. You can read the article on the BJP website, and also see their ‘not-a-crime website’.

Austin Mitchell has tabled (7 December 2009) another Early Day Motion in Parliament about the rights of photographers. Austin Mitchell is a keen amateur photographer as well as an MP, and this is the second EDM he has tabled on the topic so he cannot feel that the situation has improved since his last one in March 2008.

I'm a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! is another campaign to defend photography.

Street Photographers Rights in Australia - rights of photographers in Australia.

US: The Photographer's Right A similar role to the UK rights site above which may be useful if travelling to the US.

News

By the time of this update at the end of 2009, there has been a raft of recent news stories about the issues - including in national newspapers - too many to mention sensibly. The links below are to two weekly photo magazines that follow the subject.

British Journal of Photography carries many stories. A couple of the most relevant and recent headlines and articles are shown below.

Amateur Photographer magazine also regularly carries articles on the topic.

Other relevant material

PhotoLegal: A UK podcast about Photography and the Law; you can listen to the recording on the site or download the MP3 file to listen on a player.