Since 2018 when the General Data Protection Regulation took in effect in the European Union street photography or generally, photographing people, has become much more difficult. Unlike in the US where you give up your right to privacy when you are in a public place, in the EU you have a right to your own picture. This means that you cannot take photos of individuals of them without their (written) permission – it’s not even the about the publication, it’s the taking of photos that is forbidden. You can, for example, take the picture of a monument and there will always be people around and that is inevitable and allowed; you cannot single out individuals. I try, for the most part, to adhere to these rules in my photo blog (i.e. this one).
It’s more complicated with my other blog, Refugees Welcome, where I write about my experiences with refugees in the aftermath of 2015 and in particular, about the German and literacy classes I teach – first on a volunteer basis and for the last 6 or 7 years as paid teacher for the local adult education school. Since I sometimes write about personal experiences of the students and, on occasion, other teachers I never use any photos that show their faces, usually I try to illustrate the blog with a generic photo that fits with the issue at hand. I also do not use their real names but I have a list of what real name corresponds with a given name, so that the same person is always given the same alias. At one stage, a woman, who had learned German quickly, started reading my blog and I realised that it made me uncomfortable writing about her and her soon-to-be husband, so I stopped. On the one hand I became more careful what I wrote, less judgemental, possibly also trying to please them; on the other hand it prevented me from openly voicing my opinion which is not a good thing.
So far, this hasn’t lead to writer’s block but I’ve had periods where I wrote very little. I found after teaching now the sixth consecutive course, there is little new to write since I now seldom write about what goes on outside the classroom.
pictures imperfect blog 
Whoa! I had not even considered that photography regulations might be different in another country. I had thought about being cautious of cultural differences and religious reasons that people might not want to have their pictures taken. Thanks for making me aware of the EU standards.
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I always have my camera ready for an interesting shot, but a good warning, I should be more careful I suppose. Most of the photos I have with people are more coincidence when they get on the picture with no intention I was immediately drawn to this blog with the letters VHS being shown. We have the same abbreviation in Switzerland for our “Volkshochschule”
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I didn’t know about Volkshochschule in Switzerland.
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Crumbs. I had no idea about this. I have been doing a lot of street photography lately, most recently this morning at an event in the Spanish town where my daughter lives. I was doing do openly and nobody challenged me or even seemed bothered. I was once challenged in Germany, even though the people in the shot wouldn’t even have been recognised by their own families, so distant were they.
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I think photographes are more relaxed now, just after the rules took effect a lot of people were freaked out about it. But I have been accosted once by an elderly German woman at a Christmas market. She demanded that I show her the photos I had taken. I refused, told her it was just the lights, and she moved off but was very disgruntled.
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Ja, man muss immer aufpassen, was man über andere Leute schreibt. Das kann zu Missverständnis und Konflikt führen. Ist mir leider schon öfter passiert. Auch die Bestimmungen für das Posten von Fotos sind nicht immer verständlich.
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