Great news about photography in France

[Roger Hicks]

A legal decision in 2007 has overturned a lot of the case law against shooting and publishing pictures of people in France. I am deeply indebted to Emmanuel Bigler for drawing it to my attention on the Large Format Forum (in the Travel section), and for the link to the original article in French:

EDIT: Unfortunately I can't make the links to Le Figaro work, so try:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=35938

Basically it says that people have to show that they have been harmed in order to claim damages, and that Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights trumps previous interpretations of Article 9 of the French Civil Code. Who says Europe is always bad for us?

This is especially cheering after the delight some people have taken recently in declaring that the sky is falling. Perhaps the pendulum is at last beginning to swing back towards sanity.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[back alley]

well, now there is at least one good reason to visit france 😉
sanity returns...
joe

 

[Paul T.]

That IS great news. It's only common sense, but it's still a relief.

In countless ways that restriction, while comparatively recent, was far more serious than ones that have been debated here recently. I'm so glad we've moved on.

The encroaching march of privacy law is a real problem for how I make my living, a boon for those with access to aggressive lawyers, so I'm really glad to see this march isn't solely in one direction.There is precedent in terms of UK law taking the lead from France, so this encouraging, although one can never relax...

 

[sebastel]

well, now there is at least one good reason to visit france

oh, i need to tell you, that there are at least several hundreds of more reasons to visit france - if you look alone on cheese and wine. and there is no need to stop at these.
but if that does not count for you, i don't mind either, there will be left more for me then.

 

[freeranger]

Here's another...if the President's wife looks like this, just imagine what the models look like!

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I'm waiting for Petit Sarko (aka Blingkozy) to be dutifully kicked out. Hopefully Bruni will wake up from the spell induced by whatever she drank last year.

well, now there is at least one good reason to visit france 😉

Just, whatever you do, don't wear stripes like this:



Only English-speaking people on this side of the pond wear this thinking they'll be blending in. Oh, zey are so wrong.

 

[Roger Hicks]

A friend memorably summed up the choice in the last French presidential election: a male Margaret Thatcher and a female Tony Blair...

Cheers,

R.

 

[sebastel]

😛

please send my regards to your friend. thanks for a good laugh.

 

[Pherdinand]

liberte, egalite, sanite!

 

[sebastel]

recently, i taught a blackbird to sing the marseillaise. no joke!

 

[nico]

Here's another...if the President's wife looks like this, just imagine what the models look like!

... so you should visit Italy. M.me Bruni-Sarkoszy is italian 😉

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Who says Europe is always bad for us?

The Euro, human rights, freedom to travel between countries, the choice to live and work anywhere, employment legislation...

Only the Daily Mail readers would think Europe is 'bad for us'. Likely because they don't like garlic.

 

[ZeissFan]

That is good news to hear. I remember when that was first passed and thought it one of the more ridiculous laws -- and cruelly ironic considering that Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Andre Keretz, Brassai and so many others were known for their street scenes.

From what I've been reading, it seems that untrained police in the U.K. have made life very difficult for photographers.

And the imprisoning of this fellow certainly can't help.

In some U.S. cities, photographers go unnoticed. Certainly in Pittsburgh, I've not had a problem shooting. In addition to an art institute, there are numerous colleges here, and it's common to see students out and about shooting photos on the street. I think it's a good sign that we don't hear about police harassing them.

 

[Kin Lau]

Only English-speaking people on this side of the pond wear this thinking they'll be blending in. Oh, zey are so wrong.

Where's Waldo?

 

[allen_a_george]

That's good to hear.

But it doesn't help those photographing and publishing work of people in Quebec. In Quebec, a lot of legal decisions draw on the French civil code, and you certainly have to watch yourself if you're doing a lot of street/public photography.

Montreal Mirror: Shot without consent

I'm sure that unless you're making a real nuisance or drawing undue attention to yourself this won't be an issue, but it's something to keep in mind.

 

[Roger Hicks]

That's good to hear.

But it doesn't help those photographing and publishing work of people in Quebec. In Quebec, a lot of legal decisions draw on the French civil code, and you certainly have to watch yourself if you're doing a lot of street/public photography.

Montreal Mirror: Shot without consent

I'm sure that unless you're making a real nuisance or drawing undue attention to yourself this won't be an issue, but it's something to keep in mind.

Dear Allen,

Very true, but as I understand it, case law is not completely irrelevant in either France or Qébec, and decisions in kindred jurisdictions are often treated as persuasive, if not binding.

Cheers,

R.

 

[mhv]

Roger, that's some very good news because Québec's "right to image" legistlation, which led to a similar situation following the Supreme Court case involving Gilbert Duclos has for origins the French legislation. If the French are changing their minds, then maybe it's time for us to do the same.