I found the following extract from
Arts Law's Street Photographer's Rights Information Sheet will provide you with the answers for the questions that may arise when you are taking photographs in and of public spaces.
www.artslaw.com.au
I’m inclined to drift off when reading legalese but I found this extract quite interesting. I’d be interested in discovering how the law relates in other parts of the word.
The following is a brief summary of the law in Australia as it relates to street photography which will generally involve people. It is generally possible to take photographs in a public place without asking permission. This extends to taking photographs of buildings, sites and people. In a case involving street surveillance photography used as evidence in a criminal case, an Australian judge stated “a person, in our society, does not have a right not to be photographed.”[1]
If you are using your shots for a commercial purpose, such as for an advertising campaign, you should obtain a model release form signed by the subjects you are photographing to ensure you have authorisation to use their image to sell a product.
In order to access a privately owned space you need permission from the landowner, and he or she has the right to impose restrictions on photography. Therefore, you may only be allowed to photograph certain objects or locations. This type or restriction is common in many museums, galleries and sporting grounds, and may occur on land owned by Councils.
Just because people have free access to a place does not mean that place is a public place in which you are free to take photographs. Educational institutions (both government and non-government schools), child care services, hospitals, nursing homes, shopping malls, sports arenas, music venues (such as hotels and concert halls) are considered to be private property; even if they are owned by a local council or other government organisation. Open markets, such as Sydney’s Paddys Markets and Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market are on private property so that photography at those markets can be regulated by the operator of the market. Museums, art galleries and amusement parks may also have photography policies on the basis the location is private property.
There is no restriction on taking photographs of people on private property from public property.
However there are criminal offences related to voyeurism and filming a person engaged in private act.
Taking of a photograph at a beach that includes a young child not wearing any clothes is a situation that is problematic - without necessarily being a criminal offence - the legal question is whether any photograph that includes the child meets the relevant test in the criminal law of being ‘indecent’, ‘obscene’, ‘offensive’ or whether it shows a child ‘in a sexual context’. In the context of the attention given to sexual abuse and the availability of pornographic images, street photographers should use their discretion as to whether it is appropriate to take photographs as members of the public may challenge your right to take photographs in a public place.
I recently bought a cross body case that I think will be just the ticket and am in search of another shutter remote that is reliable. A few have been mentioned in Mobitog and I have bookmarked them. I also am waiting for some decent weather to practice in. Meantime, sometimes waiting in the car, or even when hubby is driving I shoot from the window.
What do these images tell us? What is the story?
