I guess it had to happen sooner or later. Tiimari is a chain of retail shops in Finland, selling home decoration and arts and craft items. (Emphasizing cheap prizes and not quality I might add.) I had today some time to spend with the daughters, and Tiimari is (or used to be) a wonderland for them.
To escape boredom I took photographs of the objects on display in the store. There were all kinds of items with interesting shapes and colors, in principle endless opporturnities for taking photographs.
But almost immediately a salesperson approached and said that it is forbidden to take photographs in the shop. She wasn't too aggressive about it, so I didn't start to argue. I put the camera away without further problems.
Of course, the right to take photographs is a somewhat problematic area. Tiimari shops are public places, so I can take photographs there. On the other hand, they can select their customers, and thus in principle they can deny access to photographers if they wish.
What I was disappointed was the attitude towards photographers. I feel that the shops would benefit from the publicity if people would take photographs of the items and tell others about them. But there is of course the possibility of "espionage", someone taking photographs of the items on sale and trying to copy the concept. However, I don't see much sense in this kind of thinking in relation to a cheap retail shop such as Tiimari.
Photographers are being harassed everywhere. This was the first outright denial of taking photographs for me, though. Probably because I have mainly been interested in nature and landscape photography. But it may be that there will be more and more problems for photographers in the future.
The photograph shown here was taken today in a Tiimari shop. It isn't great as a photograph, but I decided to post it on principle anyway.
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Will you wait for us a little, outside the door?
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4 comments:
Photography in a public place is allowed by the law (it is a part of freedom of speech and a constitutional right) in Finland. Tiimari (or any other store for that matter) can not forbid photography in their premises.
A good overview can be read (for example, in Finnish) in http://oikeusjakohtuus.blogspot.com/2007/05/vartijat-valokuvaaminen-ja-kansalaisten.html
I've also written about the matter in http://randomfire.fierymill.net/archives/2009/02/18/photography-is-a-human-right/
Thanks for pointing these links out. There has been some discussion about this topic also at the Kemppinen blog every once in a while.
If I wouldn't have had my children with me and wouldn't have had the need to fetch another children from a hobby, I would have started to discuss the topic with the salesperson. But at this occasion I didn't want to raise the issue.
In my understanding, a public place is not the same as a publicly accessible place. E.g. a shop is a private space which is open to the public but this doesn't make it a public place.
There has been a lot of discussion about this in Finland recently, especially related to hospitals.
But even hospitals can't forbid taking photographs on their premises. Hospitals do have the right to restrict taking photographs in such places where it can offend the right of individuals to privacy, but for example waiting rooms are public places.
Shops, shopping malls, restaurants, streets, parks etc. are public places where anyone can take photographs without any kind of advance permission or censorship.
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