Abstract:
In August 2010, around 700 photographers gathered at the Rocks in Sydney to protest against restrictions on photography in public space. An image of the event shows the opera house in the background surrounded by placards with slogans like ‘Photographers not Predators’ and ‘Capture the Moment not the Photographer’. There are as many cameras as people, and both professional and amateur photographers wear bright purple T-shirts proclaiming ‘I’m a Photographer not a Criminal’. In the age of the camera phone, where everyone is some kind of photographer, such a message may seem unnecessary. And yet today photography in public space is increasingly greeted with suspicion, and there are numerous stories of photographers who have been hassled, threatened or even arrested while attempting to go about their work. In a similar protest in January 2010, a group called ‘I’m a Photographer, not a Terrorist’ rallied 2000 photographers in Trafalgar Square to demonstrate against police harassment of photographers in the United Kingdom.
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