Photographers' bust-card screened onto a lenscloth

The UK Amateur Photographer magazine is giving away free lenscloths silk-screened with the Photographers' Bill of Rights with its July issue. UK anti-terror legislation gave the police sweeping powers to harass photographers for shooting in public places, and to compound matters, tabloid-driven hysteria over paedophilia has seen many photographers accused to paedophilia for taking pictures of (for example) public busses and empty playgrounds. UK law enforcement heads and the new government have spoken out against the practice, but it does not seem like word has reached the copper on the street, as there are still numerous accounts of photographers being rousted for taking pictures in public.

Photographers' rights campaign spawns lens cloth launch

• [Blackbird]

  I’m doing some shooting for the G20 in Toronto this week. In preparation (read CYA) I downloaded and tested a photo recovery software program (open source I believe) that is fantastic. It’s pretty fast (for an entire 4gb card) and recovered all the files I had deleted on the card. I then tested the same thing with the format function on the camera (Canon T2i). It worked on format, but not low-level format. Provided the cop isn’t a camera buff, doesn’t confiscate the camera/card, and you don’t take any photo’s on the same card, you should be able to get everything back.

  Of course, all of this is besides the fact that they have no real power to do this in the first place…but it’s a pretty descent backup plan. Just make sure (without going over the line) that your pissed that you have to do it. Give in to easily and they may suspect something. : )

• [Anonymous]

  We need a Canadian version of these for the G20 this weekend.

  • [Blackbird]

    I checked and I think this suffices the moderation policy. If it doesn’t, my apologies. Though not specifically for photographers, I spoke to a lawyer regarding a few issues with the G20 with respect to Canadian Laws.

    I’ve linked to the copy on my blog since I know it likely won’t change…there is a version on the CBC website as well somewhere in the G20 Streetlevel section.
    http://bobdunkin.blogspot.com/2010/06/word-with-lawyer-this-is-not-to-be.html

• [Anonymous]

  will they be coming out with one translated into american?

• [coop]

  Nikon D300s has two cards, and you can have one backup the other during use.

  Take pix with both cards, hand over one…

  Call the your editor/the press about confiscation.

• [barnaby_s]

  You may want to check which issues it comes with, as
  Amateur Photographer is a weekly publication.

  I believe it is the issue with a cover date of the 10th of July, but I am not sure when that actually hits the news stands.

• [adambowie]

  That’ll be the issue that’s released in two weeks’ time on Tuesday 6 June.

• [adambowie]

  Tuesday 6 *July* that should be.

• [Amateur Photographer mag]

  The free cloth comes with the issue that hits news stands on Tuesday 6 July and is available to subscribers from Saturday 3 July 2010.

  Good luck – make sure you don’t miss out!

  Cheers,

  Chris Cheesman
  News Editor, Amateur Photographer magazine

  For all the latest news visit http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

• [Blackbird]

  Sorry to post again…but there’s already been a photographer detained in Toronto. No charge, no…nothing. Not even an explanation.
  His story is here:

  http://www.cbc.ca/canada/g20streetlevel/2010/06/g20-security-detained.html

• [coop]

  Chris, will it be available for purchase as well?

• [Anonymous]

  Good luck telling a hostile cop he isn’t doing his job right and he should read this little cloth you have that explains his job for him.

  Right, because nothing resolves conflict like telling people they are ignorant and don’t know how to do their job.

• [seyo]

  It would be better printed onto a t-shirt, that way you don’t have to fiddle with taking this thing out of your bag and try to put it in the cops’ eyesight to get them to acknowledge it.

• [mlc]

  I originally read the title as “…screend onto a loincloth”, which would have been awesome in an entirely different way.

• [simonbarsinister]

  Good luck telling a hostile cop he isn’t doing his job right and he should read this little cloth you have that explains his job for him.

  I predict some tazings coming on…

  • [Pantograph]

    They have tazings in Britland? Now that’s scary.

• [seyo]

  On a tangential note, instead of worrying about a cop deleting your files, wouldn’t it be really cool if the camera could upload the photos wirelessly right after you shoot them?

  • [TCC]

    An EyeFi SD card and a MiFi type hot spot would take care of that no problem.

• [inness]

  Censorship, particularly attempts by local media, has always been, and remains, a relevant issue for professional journalists.
  To cite just one instance, as a reporter for a daily newspaper last year I was covering a bank robbery in Franklin, LA, when a state police official confiscated my camera. I was restrained under threat of arrest to a specific public area and held under guard by the local police. The threatened charges were intimidating a law officer and trespassing upon a crime scene (presumably because 1) I’m tall, and 2) I respectfully and calmly kept stating my rights and intentions. I was more than a quarter-mile from the cordoned crime scene, in a public parking lot surrounded by other citizens, but I was with the media and taking photographs.
  I was clearly wearing my press pass and had told the officers who I was, whom I worked for, and what I intended to do, which was to ask questions and shoot long-range photos of the bank while a police bomb disposal robot destroyed a suspect package.
  Apparently the local and state police felt the bomb disposal robot (paid for by public funds) was a top-secret, stealth device and no criminals should know law enforcement possessed such technology.
  After some time my camera was returned and I was asked to delete the photo I’d taken. I refused, but felt compelled to show the officer the deletion process, as he still held the camera. I was immediately on the phone to my editor, who was infuriated and immediately sent our staff photographer down, told me to record everything and instructed me to begin taking more photos, assuring me bail would be forthcoming if necessary.
  Apprehensively, I then told the officers, still calmly and respectfully, that I would be walking to the edge of the crime scene where a dozen or more members of the public still stood, that I would begin taking more photos, and that if I was to be arrested, then so be it.
  It was only at that point that the state and local officials relented. The entire situation was a product of unrestrained law enforcement; the type of insanity that intimidates amateur and inexperienced journalists world over, especially those without the funds or unyielding support of colleagues and friends.
  Vigilance and fearlessness are requirements for covering the news. Authority continually grasps for more, but dedicated journalists, and concerned citizens, must hold fast and they can use the support, not the disdain, of the public; because ultimately, the public is who we work for.

• [inness]

  First rule in dealing with any law enforcement official on a news scene: Identify yourself, your organization, and your purpose. Then state clearly but respectfully that while you will follow all directed requests, you are within your rights to cover a news event in a public place and in no way intend to interfere, intentionally or otherwise.
  There is no faster counter-productive measure than to meet antagonism with antagonism. From what I’ve seen that’s the major difference between a citizen journalist and a professional. While the U.S. Constitution ensures freedom of the press, it’s of little use on the street and in the heat of a too often rapidly-passing moment.