Photography and Privacy

I’m sure a lot of photographers at some point have been approached in a public place with someone ranting and raving about you breaching their privacy.

While we obviously cant speak with authority on the laws in a lot of countries, many would have very similar laws. Do your research, generally information is not hard to find. I found it quite easily by doing a local search on google for “photography” and “privacy”.

Generally you lose your right to privacy anytime you are in a public place. There are some exceptions of course, but its not up to you to approach the photographer. If you think a photographer is acting suspiciously then you should report it to the nearest police officer or security official and let them handle the situation.

If you do approach the photographer and end up being physical with them or damaging their equipment you will be the one in trouble with the law. Generally the photographer would be taking photographs of the scene and you might be a very small part of that, possibly not even recognisable. Photos of individuals would really be useless (no offense) to the photographer, unless you happen to be a celebrity.

Photographers can generally take photos in public places unless there is signage within the area prohibiting the taking of photographs. Taking photographs specifically of children or topless girls sunbathing on the beach might land a photographer in some trouble as well.

Why would a photographer be taking photos anyway? Well there is a huge market for photographs to illustrate editorial articles. For example a general photo of crowds on a beach might be used to illustrate a tourism article on that location or a news article on the weather. Photos taken in this manner can not be used for commercial purposes, for example in an advertisement for a product.

So taking a wide angle photo where the topless girl is just a small part of the photo/scene would be ok, but to take a photo where the topless girl is the main subject without her permission would not.

Obviously this all applies to public places, you do have a right to privacy when you are on private property. So definitely report someone taking photos of you when youre in your front or back yard.