Political correctness gone mad? Over zealous staff? Protecting children? Plain stupidity or nothing more than a ploy to make a few quid?

A Derby man claims he was told by staff at a public open air ice rink to stop taking photos of his two children ice skating because it contravened the Child Protection Act. Full Story Here.

The management at the ice rink claim that the reason he was told to stop was because he was on the ice. Now if that’s true, then fair enough, there’s clearly a health and safety issue with someone is walking around a sheet of ice, eye to the viewfinder not watching where they are going amongst ice skaters. But there are so many stories similar to this where over zealous and ignorant staff and even the police make outrageous erroneous statements with claims that they are protecting children.

It’s stories like this that make photographers paranoid because the obvious implication is that anyone with a camera is a potential paedophile. What a paedophile would want with pictures of kids in thick padded coats and balaclavas is beyond me but them I’m not a paedophile. However, stories like this highlight the effect that media hype and propaganda have on everyday activities. It is a ridiculous belief to think that children are being protected by not allowing a parent to take a photograph of their children enjoying themselves.

And even if the man was taking photos of other people and other kids skating. Well so what! Photography is allowed in public places and you can take photos of anyone in a public place. You can even publish the images for editorial use although you can’t use them for advertising purposes without a model release but that’s to do with different financial and legal issues issues. The media hype and ‘do gooder’ self righteous attitude of the ignorant and ill informed merely serves to polarise the argument and as photographers we have to be careful to avoid unnecessary confrontation.

Of course good manners and common sense should prevail and if somebody indicates that they don’t want to be photographed you should respect that. Not that you can’t continue to do so legally but you are risking a punch on the nose if you do and if you persist you could potentially be charged with harrassment.

In a country that has more CCTV cameras per head of population than any other country in the world, it is ridiculous notion that anyone is protected by banning the capture of images in a public place.

But I digress. The one thing in this story that convinces me that the ban has nothing whatsoever to do with protecting children is the offer from the ice rink to sell him photos of his own kids that are taken by a professional photographer at the ice rink.

So back to the original question.

Political correctness gone mad? Over zealous staff? Protecting children? Plain stupidity or nothing more than a ploy to make a few quid?