Photography and the Law

Since part of this course will involve street photography, I have been watching with interest Mickey H. Osterrecihers blog postings over at the JPGmag online photography magazine regarding the issues with street photography and the law.
Mickey was a photojournalist for nearly forty years before becoming an attorney and council with the practice area of Media and First Amendment Law. Mickeys blog covers his recent experiences in dealing with the issues arising from the collision of law and photography and the objection against a transits systems website which contained language equating photography with terrorist activities.

There have been a number of stories like this in the UK, and it has put me a little on the back foot, knowing that at some point in time I will have take some photos of strangers in the street for the course. I know perfectly well that the majority of people have no problem with this happening, but after being challenged by the driver of a car I photographed during the last course, I know that not everyone is happy to have a camera pointed at them. I do however keep a copy of this PDF on me at all time. It is available for www.sirimo.co.uk/ukpr and clearly points out the rights of the photographer as per UK law. Knowing at least that I have a legal right and that I can if necessary point them out (most people are very reasonable and a quick explanation of what I am doing is enough) I feel a bit less nervous on that side of things. At the necessary point in time I shall just have to relax, compose the shot and take the image.


Moran, Simon. (2009). UK Photographers Rights Version 2. Available: www.sirimo.co.uk/ukpr or http://www.sirimo.co.uk/2009/05/14/uk-photographers-rights-v2 . Last accessed 28th Jan 2012.

Osterreicher, M. H. . (2012). PHOTOGRAPHY & THE LAW: War on Photography. Available: http://jpgmag.com/news/2012/01/photography-the-law-1.html. Last accessed 28th Jan 2012.

Osterreicher, M. H. . (2012). PHOTOGRAPHY & THE LAW: Then and Now. Available: http://jpgmag.com/news/2012/01/photography-the-law-then-and-now-1.html. Last accessed 28th Jan 2012.