Come on, Baby, light that Fire!

Written by eklastic

This photo was taken at the signal fire event in Hilsenhain im Odenwald. The children of the village set the huge pile of wood alight.

I would like to continue a discussion about the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), the European law that came into existence in 2016. Are we allowed to take a photo of this? Obviously, this is a European Union discussion because it is really about the law. But if you have an input with a general point of view, please feel free to voice your opinion. I know that in the US it is usually said that there can be no expectation of privacy in public places (although this is not as clear-cut as one is often led to believe).

I am today more wary to take pictures of strangers, particularly children. The regulations make little distinction between taking the picture and publishing it. But in this case I think it is allowed as it was a public event, a performance if you will. However, I did single out this particular boy in this shot. I picked the shot where his face was least visible though, because I’m not completely sure about the actual law.

Any thoughts?

FOWC with Fandango: Torch

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9 thoughts on “Come on, Baby, light that Fire!”

  1. I have come to feel that if I want to take a shot for my own purposes, I’ll continue to do so. I might even share it within the four walls of our photo club. But I definitely wouldn’t put it on the net. I’m talking about children I guess. Adults can take their chances by being out in public on the whole, though I’ll always respect any requests. Our local workshop for people with learning disabilities forbids it, fot instance, and I woukldn’t dream of trying to ‘get away with it’. Your shot is fine. Even his/her mother might not know him from this shot! Oh, well, just maybe …

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  3. I will continue to take photos in public places and post them on my blog. However, there are apps that enable you to remove a person or people from a photo, and if I feel there is any privacy issue with the original photo, I might use the person removal functionality in those apps.

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    1. Thanks for chiming in. It sounds like a good personal policy. However, I have been accosted once or twice by people (whom I didn’t photograph, they were standing so far to the side that I never manage to capture them, nor did I want to). in both instances the people were quite aggressive. I retreated each time – no need for a confrontation over … well, nothing, really.

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      1. I’ve yet to have anyone object to being photographed but I am using my iPhone to take photos and maybe they don’t realize that I’m taking pictures of that they may be in the photo.

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      2. You might be right. Every one is holding a mobile in their hands these days and it is not as conspicuous as a camera. I only have a smallish bridge camera but people have assumed that I’m from the newspaper ( 🤣 ).

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