New Rules governing photography and filmmaking in New York go into effect August 13th.
The city calls it this way.
The actual regulations are here.

It appears that public opposition and input have resulted in a substantial turnaround by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting. Changes from earlier proposals can be considered a major victory for civil liberties, artistic expression, and democratic action in our city. We hope the new rules will clarify to police and security personnel the people’s right to take pictures in New York without harassment and free from burdensome demands for permits or insurance. While it’s unfortunate that the rules are still written in difficult legalese, a crucial added paragraph addresses many of our primary concerns:

Page 2 of the regulations states that:
’standing on a street, walkway of a bridge, sidewalk, or other pedestrian passageway while using a handheld device and not otherwise asserting exclusive use by any means, including physical or verbal, is not activity that requires a permit. ‘
See Chapter 9, Section 9-01 (b) Required and Optional Permits (1) a. (ii)

‘Handheld devices’ are elsewhere defined as INCLUDING tripods, hand-carried microphones, and hand-held lights. See section 9-02 (a) paragraph (3)

The key change over the previous proposal rests in the word ‘otherwise’ which confirms that one’s mere presence with a camera and tripod does not constitute the ‘assertion of exclusive control’ over the sidewalk, street, etc.

The city’s initial proposal of absurdly restrictive regulations sparked an extraordinary outpouring of dissent including a Picture New York petition that reached 35,000 signatures in just a few weeks. It was signed not only by New York luminaries including filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker and musician/photographer Patti Smith but by some of the world’s most renowned photo-journalists, including members of the Magnum Photos agency which linked to Picture New York’s petition on its Paris-based website.

MOFTB can be commended for recognizing the importance of these freedoms to the public and reversing what many considered to be an untenable, unenforceable position. The new rules put the MOFTB back in the business of regulating larger, mostly commercial shoots that have long been their realm of legitimate governance.

The campaign against these regulations was an astonishingly effective demonstration of democracy in action. Picture New York would like to thank all of those who participated. In part because the regulations themselves are still not easy to understand, and in part because of a general climate in which people’s basic rights are often under fire, we expect that conflicts on the street may well continue. The key will be to assure that these rules are understood and obeyed by police and security personnel.

For now, we celebrate a crucial victory and encourage all photographers to know and insist upon their hard-fought rights.

photo courtesy: Tracy Collins

The new rules governing photography and filming in New York have been posted by The Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting and will go into affect in less than 30 days.

Picture New York is still looking the regulations over, but our initial impression is that the voice of the people has had a profound effect in improving them over previous versions. More soon.

We have not seen revised regulations from the city. But in the meantime, the First Amendment is still in place and Photojojo has written up The Ten Legal Commandments of Photography.
Their disclosure:
We have to point out that even though we’re smart and awesome and devastatingly attractive, we’re not lawyers. None of this should be construed as legal advice. If you have a legal issue, get in touch with a lawyer.
Very sensible.

UPDATE: Attorney Bert Krages has posted a downloadable guide, The Photographer’s Right. It’s loosely based on the Bust Card and the Know Your Rights pamphlet put out by the ACLU, meant to be carried in your wallet.

photo courtesy of photojojo

There’s been a number of incidents for photographers around the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn. After a California video artist and art teacher was stopped there by an officer of the MTA, a group met (including some Picture New York folks and a number of Brooklyn’s photobloggers) and did their thing one snowy afternoon in February.

In a different incident later that month,
“You can’t photograph that! It’s private property!!” rang out across the public sidewalk. Photographer Tracy Collins (a.k.a. threecee) refers to this occasion as another episode of “You Can’t Photograph That.”

photo courtesy of threecee

Tis The Season: N.Y.P.D. Style: a Greenpoint blogger gives us a photo essay of the decorations in her neighborhood, and the tale of her detention and questioning by the police while taking Santa’s picture.

Meanwhile back in the city . . . the public hearing about proposed regulations on street photography. Despite the slushy weather, indie filmmakers, press photographers, activists, a schoolteacher, and other New Yorkers turned out for about an hour of testimony. Speaker Quinn’s office and the National Press Photographer’s Association sent representatives, and the rest of us just spoke for ourselves. We’ve linked to the testimony we have copies of, and hope to bring you video of some of the others in the near future.

The Village Voice covered it.

We won’t know until sometime in the new year what the MOFTB will decide to do in terms of amending their camera permits proposal one more time. Stay tuned . . .

Photo credit: dietrich

Thursday December 13 is the deadline for public comment on the most recent version of camera regulations proposed by the Mayor’s Office of Film. Thursday at 10am is also the public hearing, where you can testify into the public record. We hear the time limit is 3-5 minutes. You can contact MOFTB to reserve a spot, or just show up before 10am and sign up.

Picture New York is concerned about the needlessly opaque language in the new regulations, and even more concerned about what will happen when this all shakes out on the street. MOFTB bases need for a permit on the concept of obstruction but
does not make clear in the actual rules that the mere presence of a filmmaker or photographer, even with a tripod, does not constitute an ‘obstruction.’

Perhaps you noted the recent ruling about someone standing on the sidewalk who was arrested. New York State’s highest court threw out the conviction but it took a few years to get through the courts. We’d like to avoid this kind of situation.

Picture New York is calling for an affirmative statement in the final rules that mere occupancy of the sidewalk is not “asserting exclusive control” and does not constitute obstruction — especially when it comes to a person exercising their 1st Amendment right to photograph on public streets.

The NYCLU filed another lawsuit last week on behalf of a person with a camera, unlawfully handcuffed and detained in July for taking pictures. Check it out here.

A recent town meeting with the MOFTB gave little indication that they respect the tradition of street photography in New York or see the right to take pictures as a basic, protected freedom.

It’s clear that our collective effort this summer resulted in the rollback of the first misguided attempt at regulation, but we don’t want to rest on our laurels when there’s a chance to make the situation better, more clear, and not a threat to civil liberties. We’d like everyone to keep in mind that this is about far more than the film industry in NYC — it’s about the 1st Amendment.

photo credit: Donna Tine

Basing need for a permit on whether a filmmaker/photographer actually creates an obstruction is vastly preferable to previous criteria and I commend you for moving in that direction. However, I am seriously concerned that some of the new language is unduly complicated and ambiguous, and that this will lead to problems on the street. For that reason, I consider the regulations to be currently unacceptable. (more…)

National Press Photographers Association, Inc.
The Society of Professional Photojournalists
Statement delivered to the Mayor’s Office of Film hearing
December 13, 2007

Good morning my name is Mickey Osterreicher. I am General Counsel for the National Press Photographers Association an organization consisting of 10,000 members that was originally founded in 1946 and is dedicated to the (more…)

To everyone in this room who has a video camera, a still camera, or a cell-phone camera: If a police officer stops you and says, “You can’t take a picture here” or “Put away the camera and move on,” please get the officer’s name and shield number, and call 311. Direct your call to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and register your complaint. You have the constitutional right to carry a camera and use it. (more…)

TESTIMONY OF CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER CHRISTINE C. QUINN
Film Permitting Rules
Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting
December 13, 2007 (more…)