FYI: photography in Germany

People

If a picture shows a person, or persons, you must not publish that pictures without that person's or persons', agreement. Period. How the picture was made (painting, sculpture, photography, holograph,...) and whether it is for commercial or editorial purposes, does not matter. There are, however, a few exceptions:

Personen des Zeitgeschehens, i.e. politicians, CEOs of large corporations, and celebrities, may be photographed without prior asking. There are also temporary Personen des Zeitgeschehens, e.g. the lawyer of a celebrity while the latter one is in court for some reason, and the judge of the court.

Exceptions to the exception: do not photograph the minor relatives of Personen des Zeitgeschehens without permission! This limitation was imposedabout 20 years ago when kidnapping celebrity kids was en vogue, lest future criminals can easily identify their targets.
Also, even Personen des Zeitgeschehens have a right to privacy. Avoid shooting the bundeskanzler with his pants down. Last year he filed a lawsuit against a journalist who had written that the bundeskanzler had his hair dyed.

You also do not need a permit is you photograph people who participate in a public gathering--soccer spectators, demonstrators, etc. Strictly speaking, "zooming in" on a single spectator is illegal, but law enforcement does it all the time at demonstrations.

You neither need a release if the person cannot be recognised in the picture. A characteristic haircut or even somewhat typical clothing my negate this, however. On the other side, this allows you to include people in you pictures. If you photograph Schloss Charlottenburg at 11.00h a.m., you need not ask all the tourists in front of it whether they agree to it.

Buildings

If it's intended to be permanent and visible from public ground, you can photograph it to your heart's content. This was clarified last year when Christo, the famous "wrapping artist", won a lawsuit against a postcard publisher who had sold post cards that showed the Berlin Reichstag in Christo's packaging. The court ruled that the publisher need compensate Christo for this because the art had not beenintended to be permanent; it also stated that using images of the wrapping for information purposes was still free.

This does not mean, of course, that you are free to photograph military or law enforcement structures! Keep your camera packed away in the proximity of barbed wire. Also, private institutions may wish to enforce their copyright; e.g.,a wordwide fast food chain usually asks PJs to leave on the grounds that the entire interior of their restaurant were copyrighted. (Afaik it even is.)

Feel free to mail me directly for further information.

Oliver,

Danke für Ihren Aufsatz!

This is an excellent piece to launch the new Travel Photography forum. Thank you for posting it.

One question: when I travelled in the DDR in the mid-80s it was illegal to photograph bridges and military/police installations. Is this still the case? Since 9/11 some bridges are offlimits for photography in the USA, so such restrictions still occur.

Tom, You may not have noticed, but the DDR does no longer exist now.

As reunification of Germany wasn't a merger but rather a takeover, East German laws went down the drain. If a structure is obviously military or law enforcement-related, keep your gear in the bag. Otherwise, if there are no signs reading Fotografie verboten, "no photographs", or a sign indicating the same, you're pretty much on the safe side.

As an example: Siemens, the large electronics company, bans photography everywhere on their premises for obvious reasons. If you photographs their buildings whie you're standing on public ground, they can do nothing about it--theard headquarters is the pink palace in the background you see on this site.

As another example, around Christmas 2002 I took a few pictures of the awful decoration inside a railway station. These pictures could have doubled as documents of the pillars and beams that held the roof and the walls of the station hall in place, and hence would have been great for a terrorist. Five meters behind me, two police officers were having a coffee. They didn't move an inch while I was taking the pictures and didn't stop me afterwards. [Nor was my phone wasn't bugged later, and afaict German intelligence isn't particularly interested in my mail :-) ]

And Tom, could be so kind to correct the numerous typos I made in the post and my first contribution? Thank you very much! If orthograpyhy's so lousy, you wonder whether the information in the text is correct, and I don't want to make people feel insecure. Afaik the contents of the posts contain no errors; I currently live in Germany, after all.

Oliver,

I cannot edit the posts once they have been made. However, I didn't feel a need to correct anything anyway.

And Michael, yes, I obviously know that the DDR no longer exists. My question was oriented at the fact that I encounted severe restrictions on photography in the East when I was there, and I was wondering if similar restrictions were put in place post Unification for similar structures.

This is a question for Oliver or anyone who may know. I am not german but live here in Germany. Where could i get a book on the law pertaining to photography. it would be better if it was in english but i can understand german. I know they have some strange laws and don't want to have any bother or have my gear taken from me by some over enthusiastic official.

check out this http://www.fotorecht.de/

cu Alex

Thank you, Alex, for the advice! I'm trying to make it clickable.

James, German laws aren't that strange in this area. Also, law enforcement officers tend to be rather well-trained in legal matters. For private security, the opposite's true.

For distinction: with the exception of Hesse and Hamburg, which are introducing new police uniforms, German law enforcement officers wear brown trousers, yellow shirts, and--if the weather requires so--a dark green leather jacket, green windbreaker, or green winter jacket; to these, a green tie is worn. Insignia are also green. Sometimes, a totally green uniform is worn. Shoes, belts, holsters, etc., are black.
So, if "it" wears something else, no matter how official it's looking, it's private security. If it's yellowish, yellowish-green, or green, it's official.