In january an estimated 2,000 photographers gathered in Trafalgar Square for a protest against Police harassment organised by an organistaion called, I'm a Photographer, not a Terrorist (www.photographernotaterrorist.org). The organistaion decided to protest after a series of high profile detentions under the Terrorism Act, including an incident in which 7 armed Police detatined the famous Architectural Photographer Grant Smith in the city of London.
Photography and in particular street photography is more popular than ever. On flickr there is a site called HCSP - Hardcore Street Photography - that has nearly 36,000 members (www.flickr.com/groups/onthestreet/). However, street as an action invokes all modern cultures collective anxieties: Terrorism, Paedophillia, Intrusuion and Surveilliance. In fact to be a street photgrapher today Martin Parr described that you need "Obsession, dedication and balls".
There is no legal restriction on photography in public places and no presumption of privacy for individuals in a public place. However, decisions may be made locally to restrict photography, for example, in the protection of children. The argument of the protesting photographers is that Police are increasingly using this right in the form of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act to stop and occasionally detain photographers in seemly neutral situations.
This resriction on the street photography field would in some opinions destroy the purpose and kill its contribution to the photography industry as a whole. As London based photographer Stephen McLaren defines it street photography has to be a completely organic process "essentially a way of working in which you have to be open to what happens on the street, so, no props, no models, no setting up of shots, and you always use the avaliable light". At the same time most great photographers understand that great street photography works exactly because it operates on the boarderland between intrusion and observation. British photographer Stephen Gill gives his stance stating "I do think photographers have a social reponsibility, particularly when there is a conflict between wanting to photograph everything. So, I try to be very clear about what I am doing, I don't sneak around shooting, I tell them what I am doing and people tend to be OK with that"
