I've been thinking about doing a year-long photography project I'll call "By the Ocean" and I finally decided to officially start it last week. But then on Saturday night, I had an unpleasant kerfuffle with a tourist that left me feeling uncertain about pursuing a documentary photography project. A couple of days of legal research confirmed what I already knew to be true, which is that the right of photographers to photograph people in public places is protected by the law. The project shall continue! If you don't want to be in it, just tell me. You don't need to threaten me, or impugn my intentions, or call me profane names. That approach doesn't work with anybody. You should've learned that in kindergarten. And, finally, neither civilians nor the police have the legal authority to demand that a photographer delete images from his/her camera.
Think about this: everybody on the beach in the above picture has a camera with them, even if it is just their smartphone, and they are all taking pictures and you are probably inadvertently included in lots of those photos taken by total strangers. To be in public is to be seen, and possibly photographed. And those pictures might get shared on facebook and twitter, and it is not against the law. The legal concept for this is that there can be no expectation of privacy on a public beach.
My photo documentary idea is nothing too original. I want to record the scenes at the beaches (mostly Chapoquoit) and harbors (mostly West Falmouth harbor) in Falmouth through the four seasons. So, for example, this photograph of Chapoquoit beach in late June with a crowd of people in swimsuits sitting in beach chairs is starkly different from the images I have of Chapoquoit in winter with people in parkas walking out on the frozen water.
Please come and talk to me if you see me on the beach with my camera and let me shoot a short video clip of you describing your experience of being near the ocean. I'm hoping to make regular videos about my progress with this project and it would be great to include your voice.
Monte