40 to 40 Day 1 - It's not a Crime.
Well, it's just 40 days until I turn 40, so have decided to celibrate by counting down and shooting a new picture every day. And just to make it more challenging, I'm giving myself a max time of just 40 min out of my normal day to do this.
So it's 40 to 40 in 40.
So what is "It's not a Crime"?
Increasing concerns about terrorism, paedophilia, health and safety, personal privacy and plain old paranoia about pretty much anything Her Majesty’s subjects get up to has resulted in a deep mistrust of photographers.
Police routinely invoke anti-terror legislation to prevent photographers from carrying out their work, and photojournalists are constantly filmed at public gatherings and their details kept on an ever-growing database.
Tourists, particularly foreign tourists, are also targeted by police, as was the case with an Austrian father and son recently who made the mistake of photographing a building of an extremely sensitive nature—Walthamstow bus station.
Put simply, Britain has become a no-photo zone, and so if you fail to comply, you may find yourself liable to attack, arrest or harassment.
Recognising that Britain is not the only country where such a draconian anti-photographer culture is developing, the British Journal of Photography is beginning an international visual campaign to raise awareness.
Over the next year they hope to gather thousands of self-portraits of
photographers-professional and amateur—from around the world,
each holding up a white card with the words, ‘Not a crime’ or ‘I am not a terrorist’.
This is my Portrait
Web Site for It's Not a Crime
View 40 to 40 on Flickr