Been away for a couple of weeks, so apologies for coming late to this thread.
As far as the National Trust is concerned and my own experience of photographing on their sites in recent months, I can say that I have experienced no problems whatsoever on NT nature reserves such as Dunwich Heath, Wicken Fen, and the Farne Islands. I sought no special permits or access arrangements for professional photography. The Farne Islands are a good case in point - hundreds of photographers a day land there in the height of the seabird nesting season, most of them with tripods, and many for sure who sell their results through stock outlets. Me included. The Trust must surely be aware of this, but have never, to my knowledge, tried to restrict the practice or bring any legal case. So it appears that they do not lay any copyright claim on the landscape or the organisms that live in it. This would be consistent with the approach taken by English Nature, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Wildlife Trusts, etc. But I'd be interested to hear if others have experienced anything different (maybe there's an article in it). If you're taking up staff time or otherwise causing an inconvenience by your photographic activity then that's another matter and I think you should expect to pay for it - perhaps not as much as 2500 per day though. The NT policy does appear to be rather stricter at their building properties and formal gardens, where perhaps they feel their ownership is more clear cut and defensible. More in keeping with David Hoffman's experiences, an amateur photographer I know was recently pounced on by a zealous official for trying to photograph a bird in the gardens at Anglesey Abbey - he would have been using a tripod (if he had taken my advice!) and telephoto, so probably looked professional. I would agree that there is room for clarification of their policy on photography, for both their own staff and the visitors to their sites. The subject does crop up in the photography magazines from time to time, but I've never seen a definitive reply from the NT (only rather lame excuses about security considerations) so it could easily be costing them potential members and/or goodwill. You would think that clarification and perhaps some easing of restrictions would be in their own best interest. Chris Gomersall chris(at)c-gomersall.demon.co.uk =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
