
A couple of days ago, a reader sent this article in to us talking about the end street photography in Germany. Street photography in many areas has always been a bit of a murky subjects, but in general it has always been legal for someone to shoot images in public. But the problem talked about in the article was bound to happen.
With assistance from our buddy Thomas Ludwig of Cosyspeed, it can be clarified that street photography isn’t over, but a situation like this was bound to happen.
According to Mr. Ludwig, the article is about well known street photographer Espen Eichhöfer (member of photo agency ‘Ostkreuz’) who came along and took an image of a woman in Berlin. She saw it at an exhibition and became upset. So her lawyer filed a lawsuit and the first level a German court said that it was illegal and against the personal rights of women as stated in the law from 1907.
As a result, the photo can no longer be exhibited–and it doesn’t end there. Mr. Eichhöfer is now going to the next level and a higher court will have to decide if street photography is an art–and therefore if the process of taking images of strangers and publishing without permission is indeed legal.
More after the jump.
Continue reading…