Photographers Need to Know Their Legal Rights

Since 9/11, photographers have suffered increasing harassment for doing photography that is perfectly legal. Frequently, the person doing the harassing is doing so out of well-intended ignorance of the law.

Nowhere was this more evident that during the events of 9/11, when firefighters and law enforcement made every attempt to stop photographers from taking photographs, even though it was legal to do so. Author David Friend's excellent book Watching the World Change chronicles the stealth and subterfuge that photographers used to get on the site and work. Imagine all of the award-winning photographs we are blessed with that would never have been taken had photographers simply yielded to authority. In New York today, it is illegal to take photographs of bridges, a stupid law considering that anyone can see them.

It is entirely possible that as a professional or semi-professional photographer you could find yourself in a confrontation with a law enforcement officer, property owner, or private citizen attempting to force you to stop taking pictures, insisting that you erase your photographs, or attempting to confiscate your equipment. What can you do?

There are two excellent free sources of information on this subject that will give every photographer a basic understanding of their rights. The first is a publication called Legal Rights of Photographers by Andrew Kantor . The other is The Photographer's Right by attorney Bert P. Krages II  . Download them, read them, and keep them with you when you're in the field.