Rainbow's End Emotions

[Andy Haruk]

Today I was in the Rainbow's End with my son. While we were waiting our turn I tried to catch some emotions. Any comments are greatly appreciated.

#1 Corkscrew Coaster


#2 Invader


#3 Bumper Boats. Big boys...


#4 Bumper Boats


#5 Fearfall. It's real fear!


#6 Dodgems

[weka2000]

Is this allowed?

Great work Andy but I do wonder what the law has to say about us taking photos of people in private places and then posting them.

Dont try this at a public swimming pool


The reason why I raise this is two fold

1) Is is legal for photographers to do so
2) as a parent would I want my kids posted all over the place with out my permission, and what recourse do I have agains the photographer and the website owner

I do the photography for the high school I work at, this issue has been raised.

[North of Auckland]

Is Rainbow's End classed as private, I mean it's a very public place like a stadium etc?

Does the law cover such places?

Anyway nice shots mate.

[Andy Haruk]

Is this allowed?

Great work Andy but I do wonder what the law has to say about us taking photos of people in private places and then posting them.

Dont try this at a public swimming pool


The reason why I raise this is two fold

1) Is is legal for photographers to do so
2) as a parent would I want my kids posted all over the place with out my permission, and what recourse do I have agains the photographer and the website owner

I do the photography for the high school I work at, this issue has been raised.

First of all, thank you for your comment and appreciation but you have puzzled me with your question

I was pretty sure that I didn't breach the law but after your question made an investigation. Initially I have tried to dig Privacy Act 1993, but unfortunately I don't have even a 3 month certificate in law and understood almost nothing. I could only find a definition of a public place:

Public place means a place that, at any material time, is open to or is being used by the public, whether free or on payment of a charge, and whether any owner or occupier of the place is lawfully entitled to exclude or eject any person from that place; and includes any aircraft, hovercraft, ship or ferry or other vessel, train, or vehicle carrying or available to carry passengers for reward

So, The Rainbow's End is a public place according the definition.
All other sources are indirect ones but created by law authorities either in NZ or other countries (Oz).
On the NetSafe site I have found an article "Privacy and Mobile Phone Cameras". There are some interesting places in it:

The Privacy Act only applies to “personal information�... So, the requirements of the Privacy Act would not apply where someone is photographing or filming a person in a way that means they are not identifiable. It is unlikely to be a collection of “personal information� under the Privacy Act.

The effect of section 56 is that a commercial photographer taking photos of a client in a studio would be bound by the privacy principles, but a parent taking photographs of their child at a school sports day would not. The personal trainer photographing others at the gym would be covered by the privacy principles, but the gym member doing the same would not be.

So if i as a member of public take photos in a public swimming pool i don't breach a Privacy Act.
In New Zealand Press Council website there is a case about taking photos in public place (Queen St in Auckland) and publishing it in newspaper. The case is quite complex but regarding taking photos in public place there is a court resolution:

Photographs taken in public places are able to be used without gaining the consent of their subject.

What about children? Is photograph of children special case? There is "Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989". It's also to hard to dig so I have satisfied by explanation based on Australian Law (I'm pretty sure that NZ law is almost the same as AU law).
Ther is very useful website "NSW Photo rights":

children are not afforded unique legislative protection when it comes to photographs, consent, privacy or defamation. As with adults you need a signed release for commercial use, but for non-commercial images — nothing.

And Google offered me a PDF document which is actually based on information of "NSW Photo Rights" web site but lives on NZ site of Joshua Corporation with some interesting paragraphs:

Q: Isn’t it Illegal to publish a person’s photo on a website or other media without their consent?
A:Only in Quebec or France. In every other country, including Australia, publication is fully legal, provided the following criteria are met:
(1) The pictures aren't defamatory;
(2) They aren't indecent, offensive or otherwise demean the people in them or;
(3) They aren't being used for a "commercial purpose"

Q: Can I stop people from taking photos of my children?
A: Only if the images are indecent or offensive. Otherwise children are not afforded any special protection under current law.
What can you do? Simply ask the photographer to stop. If they don't, then ask someone in authority (eg. a surf-lifesaver) to intervene.

After that I was totally satisfied that I haven't breach NZ law:
- The Rainbow's End is a public place
- Photos are not defamatory or offensive
- I don't use them for a "commercial purpose"
- No one asked me to stop taking pictures.

If parents of the kids or someone else who has appropriate rights ask me to remove these photos from my web site and this forum I will do that immediatly. Otherwise it's legal

As a commercial photograph you was asked about publishing photos and that is legal as well. But that's another case

Sorry guys for this huge and dry post. But I think it relates to all of us

[Andy Haruk]

Anyway nice shots mate.

Thanks Jack!

[Azza]

Sorry guys for this huge and dry post. But I think it relates to all of us

Great Information, Thanks for posting.

I love your pics...the dude in white at the back of the bumper boats...Love his expression

[chrisgin]

Sorry guys for this huge and dry post. But I think it relates to all of us

Yeah this information could be very useful if we ever find ourselves in a situation like this. Thanks for doing the research.

It's pretty confusing at times. Places can be public and private at the same time!

[weka2000]

Hey dont be sorry. Its something that we all need to know as our rights.

Bit like copyrights and who own them

[duncan]

excellent post Andy, some great expressions in there! - and very useful information added too.
Only thing I might add is that anywhere you're on private property they have a right to make their own rules & ask you not to take photographs (Railway stations / Airports / Shopping Malls etc, etc) I'd be curious to know if Rainbows End have a photography policy.

[Andy Haruk]

Thanks mates!

Duncan, yes, agreed. Once I've been stopped in Lollypops when I took an atempt to make a panorama. Manager came to me and informed that I can take photos of my kid (and any other ) but not the interior.

But I have seen no any pictogram with crossed camera in the Rainbow's End. There are hundreds and hundreds people with their cameras are taking photos in the park. Tens of them post their photos in Facebook etc, their blogs and other internet places. And no one approach me or any other person with their camera to stop us. And even I took a photo of a lady which was checking belts of castomers of "Fairfall". She just asked me to hold my camera very carefully when I am on the top