Photography - a basic human right?

I'm a big advocate of human rights. And free will. And photography. And respecting people. So I fail to understand why these four things cannot co-exist in a civilized society.

I went to a friend's dance show in Manchester back in April. Behind with me and my friends, my friend's relatives were sitting. They'd travelled all the way from Finland to see her dance in a performance at the Manchester Dance House.

Before the show started, a standard announcement was made: "Please note that no filming or flash photography are allowed during the show".

Flash off. Got it. So, with my chunky, beloved Canon I thus started snapping some flash-less shots of my friend dancing to the wonderfully choreographed piece performed by the Northern Ballet School-ers.

I was so impressed and moved by the visuals and emotion embedded in the dance, that I got a little lost in my snapping...

That is, up until a very stern-looking gentleman came and tapped me on the shoulder from behind. With a less than polite attitude he asked me to stop taking photos, or else he will proceed with taking my camera away from me. This was not so much a request as it was a direct threat.

I was utterly baffled. What a contrast to the ladies on stage dancing in their summerdresses singing happy Mamma Mia excerpts.

It's safe to say that the show was ruined for me from that point onwards.

In the intermission I found this gentleman and demanded an explanation. I would have understood if I had been breaking the rules (video/flash photography), but this was a student production, with proud parents, siblings and friends in the audience. It just didn't make sense. I wasn't allowed to take any photos?

Indeed, the gentleman (I really should stop calling him a gentleman at this point, as it is startlingly clear that this was not an accurate description of this chap) admitted that the announcement should be changed to "All forms of photography are strictly forbidden". For us commoners, this translates as "I don't care how proud you are or how many hundreds of pounds you have paid to come and see your sister/daughter dance, you will not get any photos for the family album, damnit!"

It turned out that the reason why all photography was forbidden, had nothing to do with disturbing the dancers during the show. It had to do with creative copyright. This seemed rather odd, given that this was a school, albeit having put together a professional-standard production.

After years of an exciting love-affair with photography, I am only starting to unravel the world of what is allowed and what isn't. My mother keeps on reminding me to always ask people's permission before posting pictures on the web (or even facebook). Also, thanks to my lovely boyfriend, Amateur Photographer magazine has taught me exactly how to end up with a lawsuit, penalty and/or police affair as a photographer.

On the one hand, I can see why I wouldn't want people posting pictures of me without my permission on the web. However, if someone was taking pictures of me (in a non-stalkery way, of course), I think I would be flattered, rather than offended.

The my photography has always been to get an alternative view on reality, and secondly, to capture beauty, in its many forms. It is safe to say that if someone prevents me from doing this, I get annoyed. I wish all photographers out there good luck in not getting caught in the intertangled web of photography copyright law, and I hope that people can respect the artistic licence that photographers are blessed with.