Amateur Photographer Magazine

 Photography climate echoes wartime Britain -

Monday 31st March 2008

Chris Cheesman

'Amateur photography is not banned,' declared Editor FJ Mortimer on the cover of Amateur Photographer (AP) after the outbreak of the Second World War (see below).


The Editor's reassurance to readers followed government warnings not to photograph subjects of war-time importance, such as anything related to the military.

Given the spate of recent clashes with police forces, photographers could perhaps be forgiven for thinking that photography is just as endangered in 21st century Britain.

Reports to AP suggest that the cloud of suspicion hanging over photographers has reached bursting point in recent months.

A photojournalist recently won thousands of pounds in an out-of-court settlement after clashing with police in 2006.

Fast forward 18 months and police reportedly forced a press photographer in Birmingham to delete his digital images after the officer objected to having his picture taken.

The gathering storm comes as camera-wielding members of the public continue to fall victim to over-zealous security guards in shopping centres – one of whom was a 79- year-old man taking a picture of his wheelchair-bound wife, according to reports emerging from Hull a few weeks ago.

Shopping centres are private property and subject to their own laws. Far more worrying to the enthusiast is increasing evidence of such confrontations spilling into public places where, by law, photography is allowed.

Photography rights campaigners are furious at what they see as unfair behaviour by officers dealing with photo enthusiasts.

Among them is Austin Mitchell MP, a keen photographer who, on 11 March, petitioned fellow politicians on the matter in the House of Commons.

His Early Day Motion (EDM) has called on the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers to agree on a 'photography code' to be used by police officers 'on the ground'.

The public's collective sense of suspicion is on course to be raised further with the latest phase of the police's anti-terror campaign, launched in February.

Published in newspapers and transmitted on radio, a large part focuses on the public's awareness of people with cameras acting suspiciously.

'If you suspect it, report it,' is the police's key message.

At its heart, Mitchell's EDM asserts that police action unfairly targets those enjoying legitimate 'street photography'.

Among those falling prey to police powers was amateur photographer Steve Carroll, who told us how police confiscated his films following complaints from members of the public.

Carroll had been experimenting with street photography in Hull city centre before Christmas.

Of wider significance was what followed. Humberside police issued a blanket statement warning all photographers embarking on 'covert' street photography that they should expect to be stopped and quizzed.

Pete Jenkins, vice-chair of the Photographers Sub Committee at the National Union of Journalists, condemned the force's stance: 'Taking photographs in a public place in the UK is still not a prohibited act, nor is it any way against the law. We as citizens expect the police to uphold the law, not to make it up as they go along,' he told AP.

Jenkins added: 'While I can understand that anyone acting in a covert and underhand manner might excite suspicion in today's anti-terrorist climate, one does have to put this into context. A camera, digital or otherwise, is just that. It is not a weapon of terrorism or an anti-social tool, nor is it the badge/weapon of the paedophile.'

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MP LAUNCHES PHOTO PETITION

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