Railway Photography

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

I'm travelling through Heysham to the Isle of Man next month and could take photos of the nuclear installations there, however I suspect the answer to a permission request is a flat 'no'. Fine, I'll respect that. Taking photographs is not a human right as some here seem to suggest.

Sorry again Mac, but taking photographs IS a right. You are letting yourself be "bullied" into submission by a "law" that doesn't exist - but that the police and Government would like to exist, but they know that they could never get such a Bill through Parliament - "stealth taxes" and now "stealth laws" !
First it's power staions/oil refineries, already we have the police trying to stop people photographing filming the police when they misbehave - of course soon you won't be allowed to take photos of MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament), or their duckhouses or moats.

You have every right to photograph Heysham nuclear power station - exercise that right ! or lose it ! Don't let anyone try and stop you - the Daily Mail would undoubtedly take up your case   

You say there isn't a law to prevent photography of security sensitive sites. Fair enough. But equally where is there a law that states '....taking photographs IS a right'? I merely suggest that, for an easy life, ask permission first. If the answer is 'no' then grumble by all means but respect that decision. As for taking photos of individuals, (be they MPs or just normal people!) a polite request is always best. I speak as a private citizen, paparazzi are a law unto themselves.

[moonrakerz]

[ But equally where is there a law that states '....taking photographs IS a right'?

THAT is the point - there doesn't have to be a Law which allows you to do something by right. That is one of the great freedoms of this fair land. It doesn't have a written constitution, your rights don't have to be written down.
But all these little "creeping" things are eating away at our rights and the majority just cow down and go along with it. There is already a large percentage of the population who believe that you have to ask permission to take someone's photograph - you don't. I agree that in some cases a request is the polite thing to do, in other cases it just isn't practical.
If I want to photograph Heysham power station who do I ask, the guy on the gate ?
I notice the Police have "warned" the Climate Camp that they will be filming and taking photos of them - why ? They don't seem to ask me when I am filmed on the High Street, in the station - even on the train.
Not that it seems to do much good - it was reported this week that one crime is solved for every thousand cameras !

[Tim]

I never said anything about confiscation or stopping photography, I merely pointed out that permission should be sought.

No problem with informing folk to avoid security confusion and a waste of police time etc or just as courtesty, but I don't like the idea of asking for permission to do something that legally you do not need permission to do.. 

[moonrakerz]

This may be of interest to the photographers out there:

http://www.dynaxdigital.com/index.php?topic=5662.0

[Lee]

I love the following quote, which is an excellent way of saying "We dont know whether this is going to work"  :

^We will report on these experiences through the Newsletter and if the majority of members find that the card does help, all well and good. If, on the other hand, the majority find it doesn^t work, or even exacerbates the situation, we will report that too."

^But personally, I don^t think the latter will be the case. I think it^s more likely that, in some circumstances, members will find the card helpful and, in other circumstances, they won^t.^

[Chris from Nailsea]

 

Well, with apologies to John Tracy, that quote was worthy of Sir Humphrey! 

[grahame]

A sign at Eastleigh - very clear and welcome (IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion)).   Thanks to Tim Hall on the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) Enthusiast group for permission to use his picture (slightly photoshopped to make it easier to read in our format)

[chuffed]

I am not expecting to see a similar notice at Blackpool North any time soon.

[paul7575]

It's nice to see it's just an update in the latest "house style", I have a shot of the same noticeboard from way back, around 2009 I think, which is coincidentally when this thread was last in use!   

It is very well positioned, at just the right place to be seen by the many enthusiasts who normally congregate at the up end of P2/3.

Paul

[Chris from Nailsea]

It's nice to see it's just an update in the latest "house style" ...

... except South Western Railway have forgotten how to spell 'visibility', while blatantly copying that previous version.