Photographer stopped for snapping . . .

After I received my letter from the Secretary of State at the Home Office in November 2009, stating in part, in relation to section 40 of the Terrorism Act 2000
" . . . . Important: section 43 does not prohibit the taking of photographs, film or digital images in a public place and members of the public and the press should not be prevented from doing so in exercise of the powers conferred by section 43."
I concluded that police would not now be preventing me from taking photos in a public place.

This all arose because in September I had been taking shots, from the pavement outside North Greenwich Bus station. of the Docklands City skyline and the O2 building nearby. Two O2 security guards were aggressive (see my earlier post), threatened to personally confiscate my cameras, and called the police. The police, when I also rang them on 999, said that I had to desist immediately. I pointed out that I was in a public place, and would they please come and see. No-one came, and I was able to walk away, although the guards said they were having me arrested for 'being a terrorist' and for 'taking photos'.

I nearly fell off my chair to read in the Grauniad this morning that Paul Lewis (a well-known and award-winning photo-journalist), was closely questioned by a rather large number of City of London police on Thursday, for taking shots which hundreds of people shoot daily, of the Gherkin.

I and a colleague on the HNC course were told, only two weeks ago, whilst she wanted to film in St Pancras mainline railway station in London, that the British Transport police had just the day before been briefed to allow most filming, and to be less aggressive when they approach photographers. This is what I expected to read about in the papers, NOT that a very well-known journalist has been treated like a criminal. Click on the title to read the depressing article in the Guardian.

Reality intruded last week for us, as we were told brusquely by a security guard at Paddington mainline railway station that we were forbidden from filming without a permit. So, we went and got one each. And I noted that every ten minutes someone in uniform passed by. Gosh, we were only waiting for the next arrival at Platform One.

Remember, there are fifty or more security high-resolution CCTV cameras covering most parts of this station. Every move we made has now been stored on film, ready to be reviewed at any moment for at least the next year. If YOU use a station, you're on film now for a while, too.

There is an urban tale which states that if you walk from one end of Oxford Street to the other, you have been recorded on 196 CCTV cameras. Useful, if you drop your keys . . . What do you think ? You could also Google 'I'm a Photographer not a Terrorist', or click on my post title, which is a link to the Paul Lewis article . . .