WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Just a question with regards taking photo and video of vehicles and incidents.
I have been an armature photographer for some years now and looking at the pics and video on this forum,
the quality of footage is excellent (even via mobile phones).

Is it acceptable to take photos and videos of incidents and people (officers, Firies etc) and then publish these photos without getting a release from the people in the footage. (I believe so long as the images are not used in a commercial sense then it is ok, but if you know more, please clarify.)

I am very interested in obtaining photos of incidents etc and would like to hear from those in the media industry (who I know are members of this forum) about and information with regards freelance etc that is available in Perth.

Would there be an opening in any capacity for phtography and video footage of fires etc in Perth.

Just a general discussion point and peoples views would be appreciated.

Thanks

Jem wrote:Is it acceptable to take photos and videos of incidents and people (officers, Firies etc) and then publish these photos without getting a release from the people in the footage. (I believe so long as the images are not used in a commercial sense then it is ok, but if you know more, please clarify.)

G'day Jem,

We have a policy here that photos that contain people's faces are blurred so as not to identify them, the same goes for vehicles like unmarked police cars - we blur the registration plates.

Also, we ask that people only post photos that they have taken themselves, or obtain permission from the photographer if they want to post a picture that's not their own (identifying that they weren't the original photographer of course...)

A bit more information here -

http://warsug.info/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4736

http://warsug.info/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4208

Hope this helps...

And just to add, taking pictures in a public space is considered lawful under most circumstances, including peoples faces (obviously you still need to adhere to individual sites/forums guidelines like Zebedee has posted above). If someone was to come up to you after taking a picture as they happened to look in your direction and say "I don't want that picture published" they have no right to enforce it. If your walking around in public, you are in the public eye.

Of course it is rude however to flat out tell them that, so discretion is always advised. In this day and age where almost every person with a mobile phone is capable of having a camera of some sort, public pictures *should* be accepted by the general public. Those that don't accept it are just nieve.

The only times you don't take a picture is when the subject can NOT be seen from the public side of a location (street/pathway etc), and if directed by Police. ie over someone's fence or trespassing.