Can anyone tell me whether or not tripods are allowed at the Normandy Beaches memorial. I am thinking specifically of the massive graveyard? Also, when is the best time of the day to try and shoot Mont. St. Michelle from the mainland, morning or evening? Thanks for any replys.
It's been a few years since I've been to the American Cemetary at Colleville. The cemetary is actually on a bluff overlooking what would have been part of Omaha beach. There is actually a part of the beach that you can drive up to and park which is open to the public. It's about a mile or two east of the actual cemetary, but here you can do photos of the shale and there are still some of the breakwalls installed by the allies to facilitate unloading. (I forget the actual name of them)
In the cemetary itself I believe that as long as you speak with one of the caretakers beforehand and let them know what you will be doing that they will be perfectly happy with you, as long as care and respect is taken with regards to the markers and other visitors. My memory is of extremely helpful and kind workers.
I may be stating what everyone here knows when I say that the cemetary grounds are actually U.S. soil, and the employees are U.S. citizens working for some branch of the State Department. As such, English is the native tongue so if your french is bad, don't worry. There is a computerized database in the visitor's center with which they can look up available records regarding any relatives you may have had in the military.
Sorry for the long and rambling post; my father was in WWII and when my brother and I visited in 2000 I spent the day wandering around the grounds with tears in my eyes; it's an incredibly moving experience which I'm sure I failed to capture on film.
Have a great trip!
Randy.
On a formal point of view, Randy has a good point stating that US regulations apply to US memorials and cemeteries.
Taking pictures in a French cemetery is not strictly prohibited but certainly not authorised without asking for it... it might not be easy to find the person in charge ; ususally in a small village you should ask the communal administration "mairie".
There is no regulation prohibiting photographic tripods in France, but tripods being seen as the sole attribute of a professional photographer, this raises the question of a permit for commercial photography in some places... so you probably don't want to argue. British regulations are much more comfortable : as far as I understand, anything that can be seen from the public domain can be photographed... except may be military buildings ;-)
I wish that French regulations would be identical to British regulations ; the situation is extremely confused in France, every month we get news from cases in courts were French professional photographers have to fight in order to protect there rights to make a living...
As far as Mont Saint Michel is concerned, mainland is located south of the island which is connected to mainland by a jetty. So you'll have the choice of various lights all day round from morning to afternoon, no problem. Morning and afternoon will provide side ilumination.; depending on the season of course.
The usual caveat about Mont Saint Michel is : beware of the tide, the amplitude of the tide is one of the highest in the World (except Fundy's Bay, Nova Scotia, the world record), so you do not want to be caught if you go for a walk at low tide far from mainland.
I wish you a pleasant visit to Normandy.
OT -
tidal range of the the Severn Estuary between England and Wales is said to be second highest in world and generates regular bores in the river. World record surfing distance has just been smashed there...
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/4899262.stm
About French regulations regarding the rights to photography... in France.
There is an on-going discussion on galerie-photo.info.
For those of you who can read French, the discussion is here... but even for native French-speaking people, it is hard to follow the arcanes of French regulations...
www.galerie-photo.info/forum/read.php?f=2&i=356&t=356
Some obvious restrictions to photography are discussed : military facilities and nuclear plants (in France, more than 80% of our electricity is generated by nuclear plants).
At least, something is clear : the problems occur when you want to publish your images, formally it is hard to forbid you taking pictures from the public domain (well, downtown Paris is another story) if nobody outside your family and friends can see the images.
Posting images on a personal web site without any commercial contents is considered as a publication, so for this you formally need clearance from the owners of the buildings or estate that you show on your pictures. Taking into account the immense number of private web sites diplaying pictures of all kinds taken in France, I doubt that real limitations actually exist... except if somebody complains and starts an action in courts against you...
So my understanding is : feel free to take any pictures you wish, but be aware that posting them on your web site or in any other publication might require a formal clearance.
Just an additional word about pictures of Mont Saint Michel.
Many buildings at Mont Saint Michel are privately owned, but the owners cannot claim any restrictions against publications of pictures showing Mont Saint Michel as a whole. This is my understanding of current French jurisprudence, when a privately-owned estate is represented in an ensemble, the owners cannot claim any royalties on publishing a picture in which the estate is shown as a small fraction of an ensemble.
However visiting Mont Saint Michel if you focus on a particular home, things might be different, but the site being so famous, I doubt that the owner can really argue againts non-commercial publication of a picture of their home.
If you are in the U.S., where the law does allow publishing pictures of buildings without the owner's permission, I think it would be difficult for a French owner to make a claim against you. It is like first amendment claims - a Brit cannot sue you for for publishing work that is legal in the US but libelous in Britain. I would just be careful to not allow my pictures to be mirrored to local server farm in France.
I am curious - I have read that you cannot publish photographs of people taken on the street in France. Is this true?
Ed Richards
http://www.epr-art.com
I would just be careful to not allow my pictures to be mirrored to local server farm in France.
Thanks Ed, this does make sense. I assume that Canadian regulations would be sowewhat in-between British and US regulations ;-)
So it definitely means that a honest US visitor to Normandy will not be in trouble displaying his non-commercial images on his US-based web site. Except may be for nuclear installations ;-)
I have read that you cannot publish photographs of people taken on the street in France. Is this true?
I am embarrassed since I cannot give a definite answer. I would say : it is forbidden, but you have to check with all recent cases in court to check what you actually can or cannot do...
Again my understanding is, like for ensemble of buildings, if it is an ensemble of people, it is difficult to forbid you to display the image.
There was a case of a French photographer who had taken many portraits of people in the Paris Metro, the portfolio was stunning, but some of the people complained, and the case went to court.. I do not know what happened.
Another well-known case, involving Robert Doisneau in the last years of his life.
Doisneau was not as famous in the fifties as he became in the seventies and eighties. Just after the war he worked on assignment for the magazine Life, and on contract he made some of his most famous images of Paris...life, including Le baiser de l'hotel de ville.
Thirty years later, taking the new opportunities offered by a very restrictive law, a lady sued Doisneau arguing that she was the woman on the famous picture, and that the picture had been stolen.
Doisneau had to defend himself and disclose the fact that the picture was in fact arranged by two young actors he had paid for. He won in court but this was emblematic of the extreme claims by people trying to get money from unauthorised publications of their image. Doisneau could not work nowadays like he worked in the fifities when he made his most famous images, actually images for which he his now one of the most popular French photographer.
Another interesting situation was explained to the public in a conference by a prominent French archaeologist, Roger Agache,
www.imagesdepicardie.com/portrait/agache/index.htm
www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/memoire_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_4=AUTP&VALUE_4=agache
R. Agache is a pioneer in the technique of analysing low altitude photographs of the landscape to extract the remnants of ancient gallo-roman roads and buildings. When he started in the sixties with a friend as the pilot of a light aircraft, there was no special authorisation required and he could publish his work freely like any honest, non-profit, scientific work. Later on, severe restrictions were legally introduced ; among unexpected side effects, there was the question of unauthorised constructions made by people on their property without any permit (e.g. un-registered swimming pools, extensions to their home, etc) visible from the air in the archaelogist's scientific publications !!! so, again, if the regulations had been established and enforced in the sixties, he would never have started his work.
Sorry, it's me again. I found the information, and it is most interesting in a sense that French courts have recently ruled in favor of photographers in order to protect their freedom of artistic expression.
About portraits of people in the Paris Metro, the Court has ruled in favor of the photographer
www.droit-technologie.org/1_2.asp?actu_id=985
About excessive claims by owners of buildings displayed on a photography, again good news for photographers in France: « owners cannot claim exclusive rights on the image of their property »
www.droit-technologie.org/1_2.asp?actu_id=936
So, since 2004, things have evolved in France more in favor of the freedom for photographer, after many years of more restrictive regulations.
Good news ! Let's go and take pictures of Normandy beaches !! Normandy = Freedom ! Of course ! We'll never forget !!
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