FEATURES: No 3

Security paranoia
(from Open Space)

Rodney Legg  writes of the new perils of walking with a purpose

Since 1970 I have published more than 500 circular walks in West Country magazines. What has changed over the past couple of years is that whereas I used to receive regular requests for enlargements of photographs of cottages and rural scenes, the magazines are now taken to task by aggrieved residents.

The classic arose from the last Somerset walk, set in deep-cut valleys immediately south of Bath, concerning Fortnight Farm in the highly desirable and prosperous parish of Combe Hay.
Why had I not asked permission to photograph their house, setting and dog Daisy on the lawn?
How did I know the Labrador's name?

The answer is firstly that I photograph buildings and their settings from the public highway, in this case a byway, and there is no copyright in either architecture or the layout of a garden. If, however, I wish to stray from the path or other public access land I would ask permission. On the course of a normal walk I use a couple of rolls of film so there would be considerable practical difficulties if I had to ask everyone for clearance. It is more than a matter of common courtesy.
Secondly, having barked initially, Daisy joined me on the path and permitted me to take the liberty of reading her identification tag.

Daisy on the lawn in the offending picture                  Photo Rodney Legg of Fortnight Farm.

As for the routes of the walks that we publish, we are criticised for compiling these from the map rather than seeking approval from farmers and other landowners. They tell me I haven't had the courtesy to tell them I would be walking across their land. Here I react by saying that if I drive along the A30 or A303 I don't contact those living beside the road for permission to pass their properties.

The situation becomes even more fraught as I am caught clipping overhanging vegetation with my secateurs. Even new stiles and gates are often set in almost impenetrable hedges without the bushes having been cut back. 'Trying to proceed along the Queen's highway,' is my standard response when asked what I am doing.

Law and custom
For the time being, I have law and custom on my side but security is the word that has overwhelmed all others. 'We are afraid it will lead to us being burgled,' said the Combe Hay lady.
My fear is that we are approaching a time when paranoia will prevail and it will become as unacceptable to photograph people's properties as it is to picture their children. Only a decade ago the latter was perfectly natural and normal and had been since the invention of the camera. Yet all that changed, almost overnight, without a single law being passed.

Rodney Legg


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