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During my recent trip via many European countries I have come across phrase “Photography Forbidden” far too many times. Museums, churches, castles and in one case a public street display these signs. I have inquired on many occasions “why?” only to receive very long winded and meaningless answers. The only credible answer I received was in Krakow’s Wawel castle: the castle displays a lot of light sensitive paintings and finishings. Bright flashes damage the paint and it is far to difficult to explain and enforce “No flash photography” so they ban every kind of photography - just in case.
In one place I was referred to ministry of Art and Culture to get a photo permit. Seriously, who, as a tourist, would ever bother with that and yet the staff were very serious that is the way to go.
Some places would have you buy their brochures and thus they feel their business model is threatened if you take your own photos. In these places I’ve offered to buy their brochure if they still let me take photographs. Only 1 (ONE) operator agreed to such deal.
Far more successful is a practice of a fee based license: when you purchase your entry tickets you pay small additional fee to get a one off photo/video license. I think that is the most sensible approach and it works well for both sides.
Naturally, the point and shoot, small camera owners disregard all these signs and requests and fire away with blinding flashes playing ignorance. However if you own a DSLR no one treats you on the same level.
As I renew my ACMP membership for this year I wonder how many professional and amateur photographs face the same issues. Happy clicking and watch the “forbidden zones”. And please if there are paintings involved obey these directives. I want my kids and eventually grandchildren and generations after them enjoy the works of art I can look at!
October 31st, 2007
I’ve reworked the website’s template to accommodate few new features. From the point of the viewer I am using now much bigger images on the home page to give a better representation for my photography. This was the most requested feature by many visitors to my photo blog.
Also there are some major visual changes such as fluid layout allowing for the page to stretch, depending on your monitor resolution. In addition there are some nice graphical touches to the album view. I hope you like the new look.
December 28th, 2006
Who will be our first member? Are you game enough?
I have added Forum feature to the web site with a good selection of topics. I will add more features and subjects to match suggestions or requests. The forum is based on the one of the most popular implementations on the Internet - the phpBB.
June 16th, 2006
Welcome. I am hoping this website will grow as my photo gallery and will serve some useful purpose for you, the Internet visitor. I am a passionate photographer. I have been taking photos for as long as I remember. I used to take photos with my father's Zorki camera. I cannot tell you how old it was, but it took pictures and that was all that mattered. I was probably only 8 at the time. Later on the Zorki went into the land of all things forgotten and I have progressed to all new Zenit E. I had a lot of fun with these old soviet cameras and I took 1000s of black and white photos of my family and friends. Sadly I have very little to show from this period - migration took a high price. Once I've arrived in Australia I purchased Canon SLR, a camera that never ever failed me. I've entered digital photography era with a Sony DSC-707. In its own rights a very fine camera but it had limits, thus I have recently upgraded to Canon 30D. A very exciting camera indeed. What's next? Time will tell.
June 7th, 2006
The Digital Photo website has a dual purpose. Firstly, it is an on-line gallery of my photographic works . Secondly it is a valuable resource for all photographers.Devoted to photography using digital techniques it contains articles on techniques, galleries and presentations.
The directory of services, suppliers and photography links should help both beginners and advanced photographers in locating information and resources relating to photography.
Future plans include camera reviews, articles, software reviews, tips, tutorials, image retouching and classified.
If you are into fine art photography, black and white, color photographs or simply snapshots you should find many interesting references on the Digital Photo website.
Are you superstitious? First post on this website was made on 6th of the 6th, 2006 at 6:06:06
June 6th, 2006
