As I understand it, the law in the UK says that you are allowed to take pictures in public places but.
If you/your equipment causes an obstruction then you can be moved along by the police or security agents. Public liability insurance also comes into this equation and they can use the lack of it as reason to move you along as well.
Although you can take pictures of private property from a public place, as in a building/structure/animal etc., in order to use the images commercially they will need to be property released in the same way that pictures of people need to be model released.
As for permits to take pictures, that's at least partially true. We don't see much of it up here in the cold dark North, but it is a fact that in some parts of London, Trafalgar Square and the Royal Parks for instance, you can't take commercial pictures without a licence. They are obtainable and expensive. This isn't my own experience, just something I happened across whilst doing some research.
|