Photography is under attack. Across the country it that seems anyone with a camera is being targeted as a potential terrorist, whether amateur or professional, whether landscape, architectural or street photographer.
Not only is it corrosive of press freedom but creation of the collective visual history of our country is extinguished by anti-terrorist legislation designed to protect the heritage it prevents us recording.
This campaign is for everyone who values visual imagery, not just photographers.
We must work together now to stop this before photography becomes a part of history rather than a way of recording it.
With a huge police operation, thousands of troops, private security and new legal powers taking over parts of London during the upcoming Olympic & Paralympic games, the PHNAT campaign will be closely monitoring the experiences of photographers, both amateur and professional, around the events & sites.
We want to hear from you any experiences or incidents, positive or negative, that you’ve had photographing around the olympic site in the run up to or during the games, or otherwise in connection with the olympics (increased stops with olympics given as a reason etc).
Help us track the impact of London 2012 on press freedom & the right to photograph, share this page and if you or anyone you know has issues, please let us know. Email us at olympics@photographernotaterrorist.org *
* – Please note, we cannot give any form of legal advice regarding any incidents, we are just collating accounts.
On World Press Freedom Day 2011, photographers and PHNAT supporters converged on London’s City Hall to highlight the harassment of photographers by security guards on privately owned but publicly accessible areas of London and hand our letter in to the Mayor. As well as the photographs and interview in the original article we want to share this video report of the action courtesy of Videojournalist Jason N Parkinson:
A glimpse of attitudes to photography of many city security guards:
Video & text from the London Street Photography Festival.
On Tuesday 21 June 2011 six photographers were assigned different areas of the City to photograph. Some used tripods, some went hand held, one set up a 5 x 4.
All were instructed to keep to public land and photograph the area as they would on a normal day. The event aimed to test the policing of public and private space by private security firms and their reaction to photographers.
All six photographers were stopped on at least one occasion. Three encounters led to police intervention.
This is what happened.
Directed and Produced by Hannah White for the London Street Photography Festival Edited by Stuart York
Many thanks to:
Tim Bowditch Leona Chaliha Ana Galanou Michael Grieve David Hoffman Chris Ogilvie Pennie Quinton Liam Ricketts Toby Smith Grant Smith Camilla Webster Philip Wolmuth Stuart York
In 1961, Eisenhower warned of the “unwarranted influence” of the “military industrial complex”. He and Roosevelt believed fear was dangerous. Thomas Jefferson said, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”. We are deprived of that vigilance if we cannot show a record. If we must “prove”…”reasonable excuse” (s76), that presumption of guilt is a police state. Roosevelt remarked, “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on”. With many ropes and many knots, we might help each other to hang on. Good luck to all.
Graham Mantle is a (tourist) Photographer, Not a Terrorist
Whilst it’s nice being a part of the digital era, I always love taking out the Polaroid camera for that low saturation blurred vintage look! Keep shooting and keep being creative, capture the moment with whatever you have to hand!
Big camera, big lens = terrorist. I walk around emblazoned with logos telling people how to get in touch with me, I hand them cards with my contact details on, yet I’m still regularly told that “you can’t take pictures ‘ere mate, I’ll call the police if you don’t stop it”
I have made this portrait in an effort to help the cause and protest against the ever tightening restrictions being imposed upon photographers nation wide. I study Documentary Photography at Newport University, and am becoming increasingly worried about the measures the police are taking in order to maintain a hold over the public and strip photographers of one of the most candid forms of the medium.
