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**tamlin** · 01-23-2008

Just by chance I caught sight of this news story today:

BBC NEWS | England | Humber | Police seize photographer's film

Have we as a society (in the UK, at least) become so paranoid and obsessed with "privacy" that street photography is now seen as a criminal activity? If such great photojournalists as Henri Cartier-Bresson or Garry Winogrand were alive today, would our over-zealous law-enforcers be seizing their film and confiscating their equipment? There's little doubt that if someone attempted a modern version of Julia Trevelyan Oman's book "Street Children" (a collection of candid photos of children playing in the street in the East End of London, published in the early 60s), they would run the risk of either being arrested or being lynched on the spot as a paedophile by the public.

I realise that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance", but is this over-protectiveness stifling the creation of potentially great art? Am I over-reacting? Does this kind of thing only happen in the UK? What do other people think?

01-23-2008	#1 (permalink)
tamlin Janitor of Lunacy Join Date: May 2006 Location: Sitting in the Wishing Chair Posts: 4,970	The Death of Street Photography? Just by chance I caught sight of this news story today: BBC NEWS \| England \| Humber \| Police seize photographer's film Have we as a society (in the UK, at least) become so paranoid and obsessed with "privacy" that street photography is now seen as a criminal activity? If such great photojournalists as Henri Cartier-Bresson or Garry Winogrand were alive today, would our over-zealous law-enforcers be seizing their film and confiscating their equipment? There's little doubt that if someone attempted a modern version of Julia Trevelyan Oman's book "Street Children" (a collection of candid photos of children playing in the street in the East End of London, published in the early 60s), they would run the risk of either being arrested or being lynched on the spot as a paedophile by the public. I realise that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance", but is this over-protectiveness stifling the creation of potentially great art? Am I over-reacting? Does this kind of thing only happen in the UK? What do other people think? __________________ Religion: It's all fun and games until someone gets burned at the stake...