Article 9

Article 9 in France forbids the photography of any person as the principal subject in a photograph without their permission.  Some compliment to Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andre Kertesz and the French tradition of street-photography, but the law was passed to prevent the paparazzi from harassing celebs and pros from using people's images for profit.  Many of my photographs had people in them, often as figures to give scale to buildings or to add points of interest to the images.  Granted, none of mine were being used for profit.  We spoke to a couple of local people whom we would have loved to have photographed, but after a chat it seems intrusive to ask, so we did not.  The top photo needed people for interest, and I smiled at the two girls, who returned the smile and carried on.  The red-headed woman was over the road, and was perfect for scale and a splash of colour; although she was not the subject, she is identifiable, whereas the woman in white is not, although she is the principal subject.  

The three boys plonked themselves down in front of a sea of people descending the steps of the Sacre-Coeur to eat their baguettes, and I nearly fell over them, so I photographed them.  They immediately posed, so I moved in close (less than a metre) with the fisheye and they leaned in, not expecting me to have this angle of view (these are crops) and were pleased by the result.  They got out their iPhones and pulled us into a selfie with all of them in front of the church.  It was a fun moment, but not a word was spoken in any language.  Also having fun in the Tuileries were the group of students from somewhere, and the photo would have been nothing without them.  Compare the Tuileries blog photo on the 29th Dec., Paris, Day 2 - Afternoon.  The two men in the bottom photo may have been street theatre acting out Manet's Dejeuner sur l'herbe, or they may have been SDF, but the younger man's physique would have graced any of the statues around Paris.  Perhaps Article 9 makes no difference, because although in the UK anyone can be photographed in public, in order to make a good photograph, they need to be prominent enough in the frame that they must realise they are being photographed, and the same courtesies apply in both countries.