Illegal to Take Photos on a Beach

Impossible you say? Not in the Borough of Poole:

Steve Cook of Seeker Photography was doing a PR shoot on Sandbanks beach on Monday morning when he was approached by a beach warden. ‘He told me I wasn’t allowed to take photos on the beach,’ Cook tells BJP. ‘But I answered that I could and showed him a Bureau of Freelance Photographers’ rights card.’

The card states that ‘there is no law in the UK preventing a photographer from taking photos in a public place. Thus a photographer is perfectly free to shoot buildings, people, etc without breaking any law and with perfect freedom to do so.’

However, the Borough of Poole disagrees. ‘We ask organisations that are using the land owned by the council for commercial purposes to ask for permission,’ a press officer tells BJP. ‘We do that because we want to make sure who the people are, and to ensure the privacy of local residents. We also want to make sure that these professionals have proper public liability insurance.’

Bananas. Absolutely bananas. As the article goes on to say, there are no legal restrictions on photography in public places. From the wording it’s pretty clear it’s another case of council jobsworths, trying to save the world from paedophiles. They’ll demand ISA compliance for people going to beaches next. I’ve half a mind to go down there and get arrested for taking an entirely legal photograph, just to kick up a stink. I wonder if the I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist campaign has anything in mind…

Tags: Borough of Poole, photography, Sandbanks, Seeker Photography, Steve Cook

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