Law Weblog

Photographing nativity plays is okay

Wednesday 15 December 2010 at 7:27 am | In News | Post Comment Parents up and down the UK being told yet again that they are not allowed to take pictures of their children’s school nativity play for ‘data protection reasons’.

The Data Protection Act does not stop anyone from taking photographs of family, friends, their pet dog or anyone else for that matter as long as the photos are for their own use. This includes the use of photos on websites such as Facebook and Flickr.

As long as you do not attempt to publish the photos to a wider audience or sell them on for financial reasons you should normally be fine to ‘snap away’. However it is advisable to obtain the permission of the individuals included in your photos where possible.

The Information Commissioner’s guidelines are here