[Linux-aus] Photos at conferences

[Michael Davies]

On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 8:24 AM, Cameron Simpson <cs at zip.com.au> wrote:
> On 21Jan2014 08:28, Simon Lyall <simon at darkmere.gen.nz> wrote:
>>
>> My question is what are we trying to prevent here?
>> Is it:
>>
>> (a) Somebody sticking a camera in somebody's face and taking multiple
>> close-ups when they don't want to be bothered:
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonlyall/11855040993/in/set-72157639586990105
>>
>> (b) Pictures of a single attendees taken from a distance:
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonlyall/11854994473/in/set-72157639586990105
>>
>> (c) Pictures of several people taken from a distance:
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonlyall/11855547076/in/set-72157639586990105
>
> I would think all of these 3.
>
>> (d) Medium shot of people sitting at talks, featuring dozens of
>>      easily-identifyable people:
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonlyall/11799143773/in/set-72157639497006444
>
> And probably this 4th.
>
> I know personally some people who _never_ like to be photographed.
>
> While this may prevent them from giving public talks, it should not be a bar to attendance.
>
> So I would say:
>
>   aside from a speaker actively giving a talk, if the person will
>   be identifiable, ask them before photographing

So I disagree with this perspective - it's not feasible to yell out to
200 people saying "Can I photograph you all now?".

I feel that photography adds something to our conference - it provides
a record of the wonderful time we had together, hopefully capturing
the excitement and feel of the event.  If you look at the public
photostreams recording LCA2014
(https://lca2014.linux.org.au/wiki/Photos) they are great record of
the event!

I am also very much in support of those individuals who do not like to
be photographed at all.  We don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable at
our events.  Anything that violates the "Be excellent to each other"
mantra is not cool and won't be tolerated.

There's far less photography that goes on now at LCA due to a) a very
small number of individuals doing the wrong thing with cameras in the
past, and b) people overreacting. This makes me sad.

If you're in a public space you can be legally photographed without
your permission.  That's the law of the land.  But as a community,
let's aim for something higher than that, respecting individuals by
respecting their wishes not to have close-up photography if they so
wish.  But let's "not throw the baby out with the bath water" by
banning photography altogether or banning crowd shots that help record
linux.conf.au year-to-year as a fantastic free and open source
community event.

Hope this helps,

Michael...
-- 
Michael Davies   michael at the-davies.net