I was reading an article (at 4am this morning since I can’t sleep) about how in London (my second home) it has become difficult to take public photos with a Digital SLR (my second hobby btw). This stems back from a campaign launched in February with the Metropolitan Police. Essentially it was urging citizens to contact the Metropolitan Police if they saw “odd” photographers. So I thought to myself, ok what is the definition of odd? And then asked myself, ok let’s say I wanted to report this where would I go? And voila on the Metropolitan Police’s website there is a place to report suspicious activity.

And when I went there, the guidance on cameras was, “Camera – Terrorists need information. Observation and surveillance help terrorists plan attacks. Have you seen anyone taking pictures of security arrangements?” That makes complete sense, if someone was photographing security arrangements I would probably agree that they should be stopped and spoken with.

However, there seems to be some confusion among the police and the local Public Community Support Officers (PCSOs). People are regularly being stopped, questioned, and occasionally informed that they cannot take public photos. That used to be my favorite pasttime in London, taking random photos in Trafalgar Square or on the street, but now apparently it carries the risks that I would be stopped and questioned, or possibly searched for taking pictures in public, in a public place, of public people. I can’t believe that impromptu street photography has gone this way, and I thought this article must have been mistaken. But sure enough, today there was an opinion piece in the Guardian discussing this very interesting predicament.

So at 4AM in the morning, it still seems that I can be very topical. And with that, I am off to go back to bed.