M2- Write a report explaining the legal and ethical issues around your photography shoot.

I have been given a brief to take images to describe Doncaster in a positive way. In order to do this I will need to discuss the legal and ethical issues that I will need to consider for the locations that I will be taking the images in Doncaster. I will need to follow these rules and regulations so I can prevent anything serious from happening. Things that I will need to consider are things like; taking shots of the public, private property, harassment, invasion of privacy, data protection act etc. 

The first legal issue that I will need to consider will be about taking images in public places. As long as you are not causing any harassment or acts of terrorism, you are allowed to take images of people in public places legal despite people believing that this is ethically incorrect. This means that I am allowed to take images of people in public places without their consent. I will ask people for consent if I was to take images of people in the public as I believe that it is ethically correct to do so. I will also be allowed to take images of buildings without the owners permission to do so providing I was in a public place taking the image. I would not be able to do this if I was in a private place not owned by myself e.g. shopping centers, car parks, play areas etc. I would need to consider this issue for my shots at the train station, lakeside, near the church in Doncaster and at the water fountains near cast. 

Another legal consideration that I need to consider will be about images of landmark attractions. Landmark attractions can be taken but cannot be used for commercial purposes. This is because the landmarks will have press teams who get given permission to take photographs for commercial reason. Some landmark attractions also ban people from taking images and posting them on social media. this is because they could attract unwanted attention terrorists or thieves. 

For my photoshoot, I am within legal right to take the images that I want to take due to the locations which I am taking the photos in. I am taking my images in Doncaster train station, Doncaster town center, Lakeside, Dunsville and in Frenchgate in Doncaster. these are all public places which means I am in my right to take the images that I intend on taking without legal action being taken. However, if I want to take images that I didn't plan to taker which are in private spaces, I would need permission to take the images. I will not need permission from people in the background if they aren't recognisable in the photograph. if this is not the case, they will need to sign a model release form which would then allow me to take images of them. 

At the Frenchgate in Doncaster, it would usually require more background image research as their is a bigger chance of having people in the background as Frenchgate is a very closed space with a lot of people which means you would need to make sure you re in a space where their will be less people so you don't have to waste any time signing model release forms. Educational photography doesn't require a charge at the Frenchgate in Doncaster so I wouldn't be obliged to pay a fee if I took images in the Frenchgate. 

There will also be some ethical issues that I will need to consider. The ethical issues in photography I created by society and what is morally right or wrong. This means that we need to be careful to ensure that our photography is morally right for the viewers and whilst we are taking the images. For example, if we are in a public space where we are legally allowed to take an image but is morally wrong because you will be interfering with somebodies everyday life, you should leave the image and take it at a different time. A famous photographer whose ethics are often questioned by society is Brice Gilden. Bruce Gilden takes images of people in the public in the streets of New York without their consent. Legally this is correctly but is seen wrong morally by society. Bruce Gilden said himself "I have no ethics." this could prove that Bruce Gilden's number one priority is getting good portrait images and doesn't care about the public who he is taking images off. Bruce Gilden also has other techniques to take images, he will stand in a crowd and when the public aren't looking he will take images of them with the flash on so they look shocked when he takes the images. This proves that ethics can also be an invasion of privacy which isn't a legal issues but is seen as morally wrong by society. 

I will need to think about ethics when taking my images. This means that I don't want to disturb the general public image because I don't want to attract a bad audience. I will need to take images when people aren't recognizable if they are in the background. This is because I believe that it is morally wrong to take images of people without their consent where they are recognizable. If somebody is in the way of the shot that I want to take, I will not yell at people asking them to move as I believe it is morally wrong. I will instead wait for them to move and then take the images. If people are in the background where and I don't want them to be in the image, I will edit them out of the image on Adobe Lightroom.

In conclusion, my report has discussed both legal and ethical issues that needed to be researched surrounding my photoshoot. The legal issues convey the different type of laws that I will need to consider. The ethical issues convey the different type of morals I will need to consider.