The Phantom of the Street Photographers
Number 10 Downing Street finally answered to the issue of photography in public places in the UK. Unfortunately the words do not add anything new or constructive to the discussion so far. London, 12th January 2009
I want to dedicate this photo to all those who likes photographing on the streets of the UK and loves freedom. Yesterday the Government issued a statement on photography in public place and they said… nothing and with some nice “political words”, Gordon Brown simply stated that photography in public places can be restricted in some “special” situation. The fact is that he did NOT described these situation, leaving the issue completely open.
We will continue to see policemen stopping the photographers with the excuse of terrorism, we will still feel the urge to ask if we are really free and I will still ask those I know if Security is more important than Freedom. Careful, though, it is just a rhetorical question!
In the end those like me, those who call themselves “Street Photographers” will still have to face the nice “Stop and Search”. It is not the end of the world, the pain is more inside, in the part of me that shouts that it is not fair, it is not correct! And it is NOT the fact that the Government is not taking a strong side on this issue, is that if we allow the small rights to be removed, sooner or later we will allow the Important rights to be suppressed, all in the name of Security. F**k security, the economic crisis is generating much more problems, let’s stop playing the ostrich, hiding our head under the sand!
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