A new Manifesto Club report, by the director of Belfast Exposed photography gallery, Pauline Hadaway, finds growing regulation of photographing children.
One children's organisation told sports clubs to use 'illustrations or models' of children rather than photos. Another recommended that clubs remove pictures of children playing sport or receiving trophies from their websites.
Parents have been told that they can photograph their children at an event but only 'against a wall/fence/hedge where they are sure that no other child is in the photo'.
The Child Protection in Sport Unit recommended that photographers focus on particular parts of the body: 'photographs of children in a pool would be appropriate if shot poolside from waist or shoulder up'.
Even children's photographs of each other are being censored. Hadaway says that her gallery was advised to apply a 'code of behaviour contract' to its children's photography course:
'At the start of each workshop, children would be briefed against taking inappropriate images of their classmates, with tutors identifying those poses and parts of the body which were out of bounds. It's hard to imagine a more disheartening and dismal method of introducing young people to photography, and a more numbing effect on joy and creativity.'
Hadaway argues that the justification for restrictions on citizen photography are far-fetched:
'The Child Protection in Sport Unit claims that photos of kids playing sport could be "adapted for inappropriate use" (such as online porn), or used by paedophiles to "groom that child for abuse". These arguments are fantastical: when have photos of children playing football been used in this way?'
She warns that 'no-go' subjects mean a dangerous restriction of citizen photography:
'My own gallery's archive includes photos of unruly children, kicking balls around streets, swinging off lamp posts, performing to camera for their mates, dozing in pushchairs, or taking part in public protests and parades. It is important - both for the family photo album, and the historic record - that people are able to take spontaneous photographs of public life, whether of children or any other contemporary touchy subjects. We need to stop this self-censorship.'
Notes to editors:
No Photography will be published by the Manifesto Club, on Thursday 17 September. To obtain an advance copy of this report, email Josie.Appleton@manifestoclub.com or contact 0779 1032740
The Manifesto Club campaigns against the hyperregulation of everyday life, including campaigns against vetting, booze bans and speech codes. www.manifestoclub.com
Belfast Exposed is a gallery of contemporary photography, which also maintains a substantial archive of citizen photography recording the life of the city over three turbulent decades. www.belfastexposed.org; Contact Kiri Barker (Publicity manager) 02890230965; kiri@belfastexposed.org
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