# Should photographing children in public be illegal?



## Ilovemycam (Jul 15, 2013)

Should photographing children in public should be illegal without the parents consent?

Define a child as any person under the age under 16.


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## cgipson1 (Jul 15, 2013)

oh great.. another one.

Did you miss that last blow up thread on this subject? lol!


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## runnah (Jul 15, 2013)

No because its impossible to enforce and sets a precedent the will lead to the banning of all public photographing. Where would you draw the line? No photos with kids in the background?

Personally I find photographing random kids among other things, to be a very boring subject.


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## Ilovemycam (Jul 15, 2013)

Ilovemycam said:


> Should photographing children in public should be illegal without the parents consent?
> 
> Define a child as any person under the age under 16.



Must have.

Nothing to blow up over. 

Either yes or no, everyone can have their opinion.


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## cgipson1 (Jul 15, 2013)

Ilovemycam said:


> Ilovemycam said:
> 
> 
> > Should photographing children in public should be illegal without the parents consent?
> ...



http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photographic-discussions/332633-shooting-kids-public-places.html


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## bentcountershaft (Jul 15, 2013)

runnah said:


> No because its impossible to enforce and sets a precedent the will lead to the banning of all public photographing. Where would you draw the line? No photos with kids in the background?



I'm not positive on this, but I think that is or at least was the exact situation in Australia.  Parents couldn't even shoot photos of their own children when other children were near.  I don't know if they fixed that or if I heard it from a bad source, but that is what I was told a few years ago.


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## runnah (Jul 15, 2013)

bentcountershaft said:


> I'm not positive on this, but I think that is or at least was the exact situation in Australia.  Parents couldn't even shoot photos of their own children when other children were near.  I don't know if they fixed that or if I heard it from a bad source, but that is what I was told a few years ago.




Anytime you let government makes laws they are ineffective and vague.

And really like all other laws its not going to stop people who are taking pictures for illegal reasons from doing so.


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## Tiller (Jul 15, 2013)

runnah said:


> Anytime you let government makes laws they are ineffective and vague.
> 
> And really like all other laws its not going to stop people who are taking pictures for illegal reasons from doing so.



^this


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## Derrel (Jul 15, 2013)

What we need is a good five-cent police state!


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## Designer (Jul 15, 2013)

This is not only very relaxed, but there are some who will fight tooth and nail to protect their right to photograph anything and anybody in public.  

Lots of stuff is already illegal, but it still happens.  

Laws can't protect everybody from everything.


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## danielklaer (Jul 15, 2013)

bentcountershaft said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> > No because its impossible to enforce and sets a precedent the will lead to the banning of all public photographing. Where would you draw the line? No photos with kids in the background?
> ...




Never heard that and am here?!? :S

Edit: Looked it up. Is this what you were thinking about Taking photographs and other images | ALRC 
The way I read that (I only skimmed as I am at work) it was raised as a concern but didn't get much support. Similar to what has happened everywhere I imagine.


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## e.rose (Jul 15, 2013)

Ilovemycam said:


> Nothing to blow up over.
> 
> Either yes or no, everyone can have their opinion.



BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!!!

DON'T YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?!?!?!

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!


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## Ilovemycam (Jul 15, 2013)

To give you the foundation of this poll...

This weekend I was at a block party at a Catholic church fundraiser. Was shooting candids. Some of them were kids, some not. The organizers hassled me lightly in the afternoon. Nothing concrete, just what is your name, what are you doing, where are you from, what do you do with the photos? Stayed a short time in the afternoon and left. Was just testing out a Widelux film cam...14 exposures was all I shot, maybe there 15 minutes.

Night time I go back with digital. Got off around 3 shots. Was there maybe 5 minutes or less. They came up to me and told me to leave or they will call the police. They said many parents complained about me earlier that afternoon. (Who is the pervert with the camera?) Since it was private property, I left. 

That is the life of the photog that shoots kids nowadays.


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## bentcountershaft (Jul 15, 2013)

danielklaer said:


> bentcountershaft said:
> 
> 
> > runnah said:
> ...



Thanks for clearing that up.  I knew I had heard of something like that, most likely some article blowing it way out of proportion and acting as if it was already written in stone or something.


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## KmH (Jul 15, 2013)

Ilovemycam said:


> *Should photographing children in public be illegal?*


No.

The government and businesses photograph children everyday without parental permission.


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## skieur (Jul 15, 2013)

NO!


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## Stevepwns (Jul 15, 2013)

Day Lilly-00959 by Jake aka Stevepwns, on Flickr


Is there something wrong with this?   I have no clue who these kids are but thought a young boy teaching his sister how to fish was cool.  Why would anyone want to outlaw this.  We all know what we should take or not.  Sometimes its ok to not think that the government should have the power to get rid of something because bad people abuse it.  You cant outlaw sick.... you just have to deal with it when it happens and do your best to prevent it.


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## Designer (Jul 15, 2013)

Not only do we have opinions here, but we have multiple opinions, often on the same day.  We have self-refuting and contradictory opinions, meaningless opinions, situational opinions, fuzzy opinions, warrantless opinions, wishy-washy opinions, and of course; unmovable opinions.

And you're welcome to all of them.


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## tirediron (Jul 15, 2013)

:roll:


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## sleist (Jul 15, 2013)

http://photos.stevemccurry.com.s3.amazonaws.com/sites/default/files/gallery/PERU-10027_2.jpg


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## Derrel (Jul 15, 2013)

Thread topics like this make me wanna' blow my brains out...


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)

Derrel said:


> Thread topics like this make me wanna' blow my brains out...
> 
> View attachment 50041



 Derrel wins 1 Internet.

Dude did you JUST go take that, or did you already have this?


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## Derrel (Jul 15, 2013)

I took it a while back with my iPhone using the low-rez backward-facing "selfie camera"...by the time I could find it in my 16,000 + iPhone snaps, you'd already bombarded the thread with even MORE-incredible banana pics!!!


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## ShooterJ (Jul 15, 2013)

Ilovemycam said:


> To give you the foundation of this poll...
> 
> This weekend I was at a block party at a Catholic church fundraiser. Was shooting candids. Some of them were kids, some not. The organizers hassled me lightly in the afternoon. Nothing concrete, just what is your name, what are you doing, where are you from, what do you do with the photos? Stayed a short time in the afternoon and left. Was just testing out a Widelux film cam...14 exposures was all I shot, maybe there 15 minutes.
> 
> ...



You asked if photographing children in public should be illegal as a result of an experience you had on private property. 

I'm quite surprised they didn't ask you to leave when it first bothered them. 

As for taking photos in public, no I don't believe it should be illegal. I personally don't have an interest in it. I have lots of kid pictures.. as a result of being asked to take them.

Don't really have an urge to go out and take photos of random kids.

That being said, as was stated in the previous disaster of a thread, a little bit of common courtesy will go a long way. Take that barrier out that prevents you from simply talking to people and putting them at ease about what you're doing.

Is it really difficult to approach a parent, show them what you have, tell them why and offer to give them some copies?

You could do this either before or after taking a shot... worst case scenario, they're not comfortable and you politely move on.  But if more photographers would just ASK, I think they'd find a lot less suspiscion and objection to it. 

#1 Problem I see in my line of work ... people SUCK at communicating .. yes, that includes photographers photographing strange people in public.


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)

Derrel said:


> I took it a while back with my iPhone using the low-rez backward-facing "selfie camera"...by the time I could find it in my 16,000 + iPhone snaps, you'd already bombarded the thread with even MORE-incredible banana pics!!!



hahaha... that's so awesome.  It's like FATE brought us together in our potassium-enriched wonder!!!


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)

Damnit.

I need more bananas.

Or maybe more monkeys.

I LIKE monkeys.




The pet store was selling them for five cents a piece. I thought this was odd since they were normally a couple thousand dollars. I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth so I bought 200 of them. I like monkeys. 
I took my 200 monkeys home. I have a big car. I let one of them drive. His name was Sigmund. He was retarded. In fact, none of them were really bright. They kept punching themselves in the genitals. I laughed. They punched me in the genitals. I stopped laughing. 
I herded them into my room. They didn't adapt very well to their new environment. They would screech and hurl themselves off the couch at high speeds and slam into the wall. Although humorous at first, the spectacle lost its novelty halfway into it's third hour. 
Two hours later I found out why all the monkeys were so inexpensive; they all died. No apparent reason. They all just sort of dropped dead. Kinda like when you buy a goldfish and it dies five hours later. God damn cheap monkeys. 
I didn't know what to do. There were 200 dead monkeys lying all over my room; on the bed, in the dresser, hanging from my bookcase. It looked like I had 200 throw rugs. I tried to flush one down the toilet. It didn't work. It got stuck. Then I had one dead, wet monkey and one hundred ninety-nine dead, dry monkeys. 
I tried to pretend that they were just stuffed animals. That worked for awhile, that is until they began to decompose. It started to smell real bad. 
I had to pee but there was a dead monkey in my toilet and I didn't want to call a plumber. I was embarrassed. 
I tried to slow down the decomposition by freezing them. Unfortunately there was only enough room for two at a time, so I had to change them every 30 seconds. 
I also had to eat all the food in the freezer so it didn't go bad. 
I tried to burn them, but little did I know that my bed was flammable. I had to extinguish the fire. 
Then I had one dead, wet monkey in my toilet, two dead, frozen monkeys in my freezer, and one hundred ninety-seven dead, charred monkeys in a pile on my bed. The odour wasn't improving. 
I became agitated at my inability to dispose of the dead monkeys and I really had to use the bathroom. So I went and severely beat one of the monkeys. I felt better. 
I tried throwing them away but the garbage man said the city was not allowed to dispose of charred primates. I told him I had a wet one. He couldn't take it either. I didn't bother asking about the frozen ones. 
I finally arrived at a solution. I gave them out as Christmas gifts. My friends didn't quite know what to say. They pretended to like them, but I could tell they were lying. Ingrates. So I punched them in the genitals. I like monkeys.


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## amolitor (Jul 15, 2013)

Suddenly, I am very excited to read manaheim's book.


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## ShooterJ (Jul 15, 2013)

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

OK... nobody else should post... the monkey story wins the day.


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## Derrel (Jul 15, 2013)

WOW--that monkey story was so amazing, I feel like I need a.....




 ...Bud Light...


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)

amolitor said:


> Suddenly, I am very excited to read manaheim's book.



HAHAHAHAHAH....



ShooterJ said:


> :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:
> 
> OK... nobody else should post... the monkey story wins the day.



YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! 



Derrel said:


> WOW--that monkey story was so amazing, I feel like I need a.....
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 50043 ...Bud Light...



Oh hey....!!!


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)

You know, it's astonishing the crap you can find on the web...


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## ShooterJ (Jul 15, 2013)

You should put small children to bed with that story. :lmao:


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)




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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)

ShooterJ said:


> You should put small children to bed with that story. :lmao:



Trust me, I've read that story to my kids many times.  Last time it was me chasing them around the house reading it aloud while they screamed and did everything possible to stay away from me.

That's me, folks.  Raising tomorrows leadership... today.


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## ShooterJ (Jul 15, 2013)

manaheim said:


> ShooterJ said:
> 
> 
> > You should put small children to bed with that story. :lmao:
> ...



:lmao:


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## ShooterJ (Jul 15, 2013)

Ah hell... :lmao: Been sitting on the patio enjoying the weather while reading this.. and laughing my ass off.. and this group of kids went by looking at me funny.

I have this sudden urge to chase them down and share the monkey story.


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)

ShooterJ said:


> Ah hell... :lmao: Been sitting on the patio enjoying the weather while reading this.. and laughing my ass off.. and this group of kids went by looking at me funny.
> 
> I have this sudden urge to chase them down and share the monkey story.



I will personally give you 20 monkey points if you do it!


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)

Monkeys love bunnies.


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## ShooterJ (Jul 15, 2013)

I have a gun and badge too .. if they run I can pull rank. :lmao:


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)

Holy crap, this one is going to give me nightmares...


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## ShooterJ (Jul 15, 2013)

manaheim said:


> Holy crap, this one is going to give me nightmares...



Yes... that's a disturbing one.. lol


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)

I should write an app to do this so I can "manage" any other ridiculously controversial threads that need to die.


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## ShooterJ (Jul 15, 2013)

Can you imagine stepping out back with your morning coffee and seeing that in your yard?


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## manaheim (Jul 15, 2013)

I think I'd pretty much freak.


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## ShooterJ (Jul 15, 2013)

Yeah.. it'd ruin my day for sure. lol


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## terri (Jul 15, 2013)

Thread closed cuz Mana made me slip on a banana peel.   :x    Slob!

Not only that, the pink-bunny monkey picture is disgusting.


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