Taking pictures of children at the park

Yes. Especially these days. It's very bad form to take a picture of anybody -- child or adult -- without that person's permission. In the case of a child, that permision must be secured from the parent or guradian pro tem. Except for breaking stories, even a news photographer won't take (or, at least, use) your picture without getting your permission first.

Agree.

Yes - I agree. It would spook me, and any thinking parent - sad but true. I also agree that it is very intrusive to photograph ANYONE without their permission.

i would most definitely be spooked, and If I noticed it, I'd speak to the person - if you could call it speaking...

I hope you're showing these responses to your BIL, Bromeliad. He could even be in danger if the child's guardian pro tem happens to be a big bruiser who decides he's so spooked by the attempt to click pics of his child that drastic measures should be taken.

Yeah, it's happened to us, I've been a bit hard-nosed about it (in fact, someone who may be reading this could attest to that), but in playground situations especially, nuh-uh.

Legally, no permission is required to take anyone's photo here in Canada. Permission is required to publish the photos. I spend a fair bit of time in parks and at the waterfront here with my dogs. I see lots of people taking photos of other people including children, sometimes without the other people being aware of the photog. I've never seen anyone 'freak' when they noticed pictures of their children being taken. It's not my personal style to take pix of children I don't know (partly because children don't interest me as photo subjects), but I know that 'freaking' would be seen as rather peculiar round here, and other people would probably speak up on behalf of the photographer.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

Two (real) situations:

I

Sozlet is playing in a park. The guy half of a couple was taking pictures, of trees, of water, and then trained his lens on the sozlet. I stiffened, girl half of the couple noticed, nudged guy, he was like "what?", she said something to him, he said, "Ohh...", they looked at me, and started to ask permission, I made an "it's OK, don't worry about it" motion with my hand. It could have been a well-honed act, I guess, but he seemed obviously clueless and well-intentioned.

II

Sozlet is playing in the playground. A guy shows up with a dog... not that unusual, lots of dog-walkers in the area. Didn't really rate another look. He stayed a while, though, dog-walkers usually pass through a bit more quickly. Was on my radar. Then he took out a camera. Sort of directed toward sozlet, hard to tell. I pointedly looked at him, waited to see what his reaction was. Nothing. I started to walk toward him. He glanced at me, then hurriedly put away his camera and walked in the opposite direction.

I think it is respectful to at least ask, and the act of asking itself will probably help allay fears.

Hmmm.. Happens all the time and no one ever seems to even notice.

I'd guess if there was a lone guy with a camera hanging around playgrounds people might freak a bit but if they are there with 3 or 4 other people??? Most people would just assume they are tourists.

M.A. - It may be "bad form" but there isn't any law requiring someone to get permission to photograph someone that is out in public view.

Well, we often go with our godchildren and children of friends to some playgrounds here - and that's my definitive best place for photos.

Because children usuall don't play alone, when others are around, so certainly there are a couple of "not ours" children on the films.

I never asked for permission, no one ever bothered. [Actually, I've never thought of it since I saw a pic in the gallery here.]

I really would like to know, if the legal rights for privacy in the USA require to ask for permission to take photos in public (not for comercial use, and I'm not speaking of copyright/"model release" etc).

Our local newspaper usually photographs twice yearly a week long (that's at the time of the local fun-fair and when the christmas market starts) people and especially children in the pedestrian areas.
These photos are published (mostly online as well), some persons are "circled", and if you call the paper's offices as one of these persons, you get some prize (all of my nephews/niece got one, btw).

But it's true, our laws might differ a lot to yours (they can't fingerprint you here without strong suspicion of being connected to a crime).

I don't really know what the law is here, but I agree that you need to ask the parent's permission.

What is so sad, is that when my son was a kid, a question like this probably would never have occurred to anyone.

The laws vary slightly from state to state but as a general rule of thumb if the person is out in public then their picture can be taken without any permission. The pictures can't be published or used for any type of commercial purpose without their permmission however.

If you took someone's picture by peeking into a window in their home or someplace where they have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" then you'd likely have some problems.

There have been some recent changes to many of the laws in this area because of people with these new cell phone cameras that have been using tham to take some um... "inappropriate" pics but there is a difference between "candid" photos and "voyuristic" photos.

I think - and don't quote me - but when there are 2 or more people in a photo to be published you must have permission.

As said, I never asked any of the adults there (some children are on their own, others accompanied by older youth - children are allowed here to be on their own). And I don't really think that this specific question has ever been broadly discussed here.

Anyone ever see "One Hour Photo?"

Anyway, what about standing at the playground, with a big weird grin, holding a bag of candy, wearing a clown suit, while the van is running on the curb? Is that wrong?

Is that your SOP, Slappy?

Fact is, most parks have surveillance cameras installed, especially in areas where children play.

What is..SOP?

Standard Operating Procedure
(old army jargon, not a cyber abbreviation)