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Should visitors be allowed to take photographs in galleries or does it annoy other visitors and damage artefacts? Rebecca Atkinson reports
A recent Martin Parr photograph of a group of tourists with cameras glued to their faces at Gaudí’s Park Güell in Barcelona suggests that there is something rather tasteless about taking pictures of art.

As Parr has himself written, it is as though the urge to photographically record an experience has overtaken the act of actually looking and appreciating – of enjoying the experience in the here and now.

But do the two have to be mutually exclusive, or can photography help people engage with artworks, museum collections and historical sites? A recent Museums Journal online poll showed that 83% of people felt visitors should be allowed to take photographs in galleries, and many of the comments mirrored this sentiment.



“I can see that some museums might wish to stop all photography in order to maintain an atmosphere, but in general we are surely behind the times to restrict photography and limit our own exposure through this on social media sites,” one voter wrote.

An increasing number of people have a camera with them at all times, most commonly embedded in their mobile phone. And it’s never been easier to share photographs with friends, family or indeed the whole world via text message, email and social media websites – and many museums are seizing the opportunity to be part of that.

Gone are the days where the first thing visitors saw when they walked into any museum was a “no cameras” sign. Today, many organisations have relaxed their photography policies and allow visitors to take pictures.

In some cases photography is not only allowed but actively encouraged by musems, with visitors asked to post their images on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London holds regular Flickr challenges, while London Transport Museum includes details of how to share photographs on signage across its galleries.

Dartmouth Museum in Devon started to allow non-commercial visitor photography earlier this year. Tim Trent, a volunteer at the Devon museum, says: “The policy change was based on the difficulty of enforcing a no photography rule coupled with a desire to become friendlier.

"Our opinion is that the visitor always comes first wherever possible; we want to encourage more visitors, and allowing photography is a small and uncontroversial step on that road.”

There is also a growing awareness that far from detracting from the “museum experience”, taking a photograph can actually add to it. Research carried out by Elee Kirk, a freelance museum educator, as part of her PhD at the University of Leicester found that photography not only helps children remember what they have seen, it also changes their experience of the museum, helping them to focus their own and their parents’ attention onto the things that interest them and giving them a more active visit.

For adults too, taking a photograph of an object or artwork can help them engage with it better. “It’s phenomenally important that visitors not only have access to collections but also have a way to gather knowledge and ideas by taking pictures,” says Sam Lackey, a curator at the Hepworth Wakefield, which allows photography across its galleries.

Visitor photography can bring benefits to museums as well as visitors. Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London received hundreds of photographs from visitors after it encouraged them to share their snaps of a temporary sculpture installation by Phlilp Haas on display in its grounds over the summer.

Using images taken by visitors

Stuart Leech, the gallery’s digital communications officer, says that retweeting people’s comments and images can be a great way to generate interest and promote an exhibition or display.

“As a small team it’s also great having our visitors creating content for us as we don’t always have the time to think up good social media ideas,” he adds.

A few miles away, an overstuffed walrus on display at the Horniman Museum and Gardens is the most photographed object in the collection. But digital media manager Adrian Murphy says that other photographs posted online offer him and his colleagues a unique perspective on what objects visitors find intellectually and emotionally engaging.

Despite its advocates, visitor photography remains a contentious issue in some quarters, with copyright and licensing particular issues for art museums. 

The Penlee House Gallery and Museum in Penzance, for example, does not allow photography because many of the paintings on display are still in copyright. Like other venues, works loaned to the gallery carry different stipulations about photography – making a blanket ban easier to enforce for staff.

Elsewhere, most organisations that allow photography tend to restrict this to permanent collections in order to adhere to loan agreements and protect contemporary artists’ intellectual property rights.

At the Hepworth Wakefield, Lackey says differing loan agreements have largely been addressed by working with its partner galleries. Tate, for example, has relaxed its policy and now works on an artist-by-artist basis rather than forbidding photography altogether.

“We are trying to make everything more accessible, and though there are certain times when we can’t allow photography because of external loan agreements, our ambition is to allow it across the galleries,” she says.

At Derby Museum and Art Gallery, photography was prohibited in the Joseph Wright gallery to prevent the publication of images of museum objects without permission. But the recent use of QR codes and augmented reality in that gallery make it difficult for room attendants to know what people are using their phones for, and mean this rule is no longer enforced. 

Copyright and conservation issues

Jonathan Wallis, assistant head of museums at Derby, says the risk of people using photographs for commercial gain is fairly low, although it does happen. But he says: “Is the value that museums get from licencing the use of images of greater worth than they would gain from the free publicity of images of their collections and galleries plastered all over the web?”

Copyright is not the only reasons visitor photography is banned at the National Galleries of Scotland. Its website states that: “Repeated exposure to flash photography can, over time, bleach works out and cause colours to fade.”

The National Galleries of Scotland is not alone in harbouring such concerns – non-flash photography is normally the only type allowed by visitors because of the perceived damage a flash poses to certain objects.

But in a 2010 article, retired research scientist Martin Evans suggests this could be a red herring. Evans writes that the “trifling damage” potentially caused to light-sensitive objects by flash photography could be fully offset by closing the gallery and turning off the lights a few minutes early. He suggests that museums that want to prohibit flash photography change their wording “and no longer use the flawed excuse that the ban is ‘to protect the exhibits’.”

But conservation is not the only problem with flash photography. Trent from Dart-mouth Museum says: “We don’t like flash. That’s not because of the alleged light damage. It’s because it annoys the bejesus out of other visitors.”

Flashes can be distracting, and Trent’s comments suggest that there is still a feeling (possibly from visitors themselves) that taking photographs is anti-social. But Danny Birchall, web editor at the Wellcome Collection, says it depends what you think people are using their cameras for.

“Taking photographs in a gallery might be seen as anti-social in one context, but it might be very social in terms of what people do with those photographs,” Birchall says. “On one hand, they are walking around with their camera out, but on the other they are sharing those photographs and talking to other people about what they’ve seen or experienced.”

The rise of image-sharing websites such as Pinterest, and Facebook’s increased focus on photographs, mean that allowing visitor photography could soon become the norm.

The National Portrait Gallery in London told Museums Journal that as a result of “public opinion being largely in favour of photography within galleries” it is now reviewing its policy on the issue.

As more organisations pull down the “no photography” signs, wider debate is now needed about copyright to ensure museums and galleries are able to give visitors access to their collections in new ways.

Photo stories

From MA website

Oliver Green:
A blanket ban on photography in a museum or gallery is both pointless and unfriendly. Art galleries in particular are still absurdly restrictive about this and usually cite dubious conservation and copyright reasons for a complete ban. Is there any evidence of photography causing museums a real problem?

Anonymous: I work in a public museum that restricts the use of cameras in specific galleries as a result of copyright restrictions. I don’t really see that there is any way to get around this, and do believe that it is important for museums and galleries to be seen to be honouring contractual agreements with artists in every possible way. The internet is the perfect resource for finding photographs of famous works; the museum should provide the opportunity to marvel at the real thing.

From LinkedIn

Esther Doornbusch: Please no! People taking pictures are obstructing other visitors and they’re not really watching the objects.

Nicole Hungerford:
Taking photographs is usually not a huge problem. Gallery lighting is usually not sufficient for a publication quality photo. Most visitors don’t mind waiting a few seconds while someone else takes a quick pic. And many scholars need photos when travelling around the world doing research.

From Twitter

@BlaenavonWHC
as so many cameras are on phones how do you stop them? Anything photosensitive should be protected

@Tiggerlet I think a ban would work well for other reasons. So often I see people taking pics aimlessly & not actually look at art


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