Filming rights in the UK
 

Not sure where to put this but I have written a blog about what I know. Please read it!!

Philip Bloom Blog Archive Filming in Public Places

Hi Philip
Interesting blog piece... and oh! how different from working in Paris..where basically you can't shoot many public monuments even from public areas and any one can sue you for taking their picture without permission...
Many Psuedo stars make more money from suing celeb mags than from their debatable talent...

cheers
Gareth

Nice story Phil
What is a community support officer?
I never had trouble filming in Montreal, only time I met the police was in Francophone Summit in Quebec city last fall. Lots of president,delegates,and police from all over Canada.
I had a lot of security check,(interview with guys in raincoat and high ranking officers),ID control,questions on myself, my cameras and laptop and the purpose of my work.
They did not understand that an amateur could do a film for fun.

They were very polite, but surprised that my Sony A1u could see in the dark the police helicopters (nightshot mode). After the 6th check and watching my youtube channel they gave me ”carte blanche” and even encourage me to continue my nice work!
I was only(firmly) asked not to zoom in on the policeman(their faces or name tag).

Next time I will try the British accent.

Community support officers are civilians who support the police by taking on some of the more mundane work. They get a portion of the training that full police officers get. The idea is to release the more highly trained police officers for the more challenging tasks, and also to provide an apparent increase in resources at a more moderate cost.

They're a political issue. A lot of people object to giving police powers to partly trained civilians (and Phil's post shows why), especially because, in Britain, many rights and responsibilities are '' rather than being formally documented. Other people say that releasing the police to do their 'proper' job is a good idea.

There' a major issue over here about photography in public places generally. Some police (and CSOs) are taking a very heavy handed line, using various issues (terrorism, paedophiles) as reasons. One pro photographer was challenged for shooting the annual Christmas lights switch in his home town.

Guidance has been revised to stop some of the excesses, but as Phil shows, it's not always enough.

And on this subject:

BBC NEWS | dot.life | A blog about technology from BBC News | My YouTube shame - part two

very nice blog! I filmed in India this winter and had an interesting experience: while I was shooting guerilla style on the streets in Bangalore with my cinesaddle another team from Belgian TV set up sticks and props and what not with a big Sony and I watched as 2 police officers immediately came to see permissions, which were produced and shown. After reading the permission for some minutes they walked over to me, looked at my HVX 201, propped on the cinesaddle and said " nice idea" and walked off....

Nice blog Phil!

I've often wondered where the gray areas were, and now I have some sort of idea. I did not know that you could film a private place from a public road - hey now I know.

thank you Nick
for explaining what is a cummunity support officer.
The equivalent in Montreal are Police Cadet, 18 years old student of police college who have a summer job of playing police and do security jobs.

thank you Nick
for explaining what is a cummunity support officer.
The equivalent in Montreal are Police Cadet, 18 years old student of police college who have a summer job of playing police and do security jobs.

Thanks for that info Phil I am sure there are a lot of people who can benefit from this sort of information especially if they print off the info and carry it around in their camera bag.

Best regards Alan

Phil, there is another thread where you posted a link to a guide someone had written about photography in public (i believe the guide is a couple years old). It was a great little piece, and you mentioned that you would fold it up and carry it in your pocket. I've searched everywhere and I can't find the thread. Many thanks.

JS

not the blog with the thing to print out and cut out at the top of this thread?

no this piece was a bit longer, maybe a full page. I think it may have been about photographer's rights?

My apologies Phil! It was actually a thread where people where speaking OF you, not actually a thread that you started. I found the link: Bert P. Krages Attorney at Law Photographer's Rights Page.

Thankyou for your time though! Love your work.

JS

Nice blog piece, and more or less directly applicable with respect to the law in the U.S., as well.

My two favorite bits:

"Because I am sure if you were a terrorist doing a recce you would take your ex3 and 35mm adaptor or RED and take some nice shots of the places with shallow depth of field and film in overcrank."

"I don’t know what the law is in other countries, certainly if someone has a gun and asks me to stop filming I generally do."

Can't argue with that! ;)

If you did, you might get to see the gun a whole lot closer...

"Is that a REAL pearl handle?"