VIC Trespass and photography?

[nicoloks]

Hi All,

I'm an amatuer Nightscape photographer, that is I go out at various times of the night to take photos of interesting landscapes and objects generally using long exposure to capture the night sky.

I am a member of multiple social groups who share our work and lately I've become a little concerned with the level of care some members are taking to not stray onto private land without express permission from the owner/occupier. I've brought this up in one group and was more or less ignored. My main concerns are these actions will bring this genre of photography into bad stead and also sour the willingness of private land holders to grant access. I suppose my question is two fold;

1. Though Vic focussed, what are the legal risks by entering property without permission? Given the circumstances my understanding is it is not criminal, though those doing it can potentially be sued by the land holder. Is this correct? Are there examples of this and the costs involved?

2. A common sort of excuse I see is "I have no idea whose property it is, I'm sure they'd be fine with it". I'm not ok with it as eventually there will be more landholders who won't be ok with it. What is the best way in Vic to establish contact with a landholder to request permission assuming there is no obvious residence

 

[Tim W]

Good of you to have a care for doing the right thing.
However, while I see your point, you are not your sibling's keeper.

Stay out of private spaces, and you'll be fine.
What others do, that's on them.

To answer your questions....

1. Offences like Enter Enclosed Lands and (criminal) Trespass are in play.
Some areas also have place-specific offences - such as railway land, and airside at airports.
And yes, civil trespass, and (subject to facts) nuisance, are also in play.

2. The obvious ways - email them, write to them.
If you have spare money, then you could do property searches for anywhere that has sufficient artistic value.

 

[nicoloks]

Thanks for the reply Tim.

Wow, I had no idea criminal trespass could potentially apply. The way I had read a few of the "trespass for dummies" style break downs I took as needing to prove criminal intent for such a charge (which I wouldn't have thought would apply to someone taking landscape photography). I also didn't realise that different places had different offenses. Decomissioned railway is a very common subject, so that'll be an interesting one to bring up.

Likely my naivety to the subject, but I'd think the risk of civil action would be the significantly higher risk for someone entering private land to take photos. Do you (or anyone) know of any significant civil cases where people entering private property without permission (even if unintentionally) for seemingly benign reasons were sued successfully? If so, what were the financials around those rulings?

I think if I could bring up a few examples in my circles of the financial risk associated of being sued for trespass might give a few people enough to rethink.

I see your point about not being the keeper of others, I just fear a bit of an Instagram effect where people see a beautiful shot and then go out to replicate it without thought for anything else. My experience is this ruins it for everyone. I also used to fly camera drones for landscape photography years ago, that was until loads of people started using them very irresponsibility resulting in them becoming overwhelmingly demonised in the media and the hobby now has a very poor public profile.

 

[Alison Shaw]

Thanks for the reply Tim.

Wow, I had no idea criminal trespass could potentially apply. The way I had read a few of the "trespass for dummies" style break downs I took as needing to prove criminal intent for such a charge (which I wouldn't have thought would apply to someone taking landscape photography). I also didn't realise that different places had different offenses. Decomissioned railway is a very common subject, so that'll be an interesting one to bring up.

Likely my naivety to the subject, but I'd think the risk of civil action would be the significantly higher risk for someone entering private land to take photos. Do you (or anyone) know of any significant civil cases where people entering private property without permission (even if unintentionally) for seemingly benign reasons were sued successfully? If so, what were the financials around those rulings?

I think if I could bring up a few examples in my circles of the financial risk associated of being sued for trespass might give a few people enough to rethink.

I see your point about not being the keeper of others, I just fear a bit of an Instagram effect where people see a beautiful shot and then go out to replicate it without thought for anything else. My experience is this ruins it for everyone. I also used to fly camera drones for landscape photography years ago, that was until loads of people started using them very irresponsibility resulting in them becoming overwhelmingly demonised in the media and the hobby now has a very poor public profile.
[/QUOTE

 

[Alison Shaw]

Not a legal response, that's well out of my ability. Just a comment. I live on my farm in a very picturesque area of the Great Dividing Range. I'm next to a nature reserve and dread people coming onto my land. At the moment I have two adult bulls in my main herd and three young bulls in a different paddock. The adult bulls range over 50 or more acres. You wouldn't necessarily know they were in the same area until they came up to see you.
I carry a ridiculous amount of insurance in case someone gets hurt...

 

[nicoloks]

Totally appreciate the viewpoint Alison, I grew up on a sheep farm and the paddocks in which ewe's were lambing were 100% off limits. Just no way you'd ever know that without talking to whoever is legally occupying the land.

Not meaning to put words in your mouth, but what I find is that if you are able to strike up a conversation with the landholders I've not had one yet refuse my request to come onto their land at night to take photos. I was talking to a landholder only yesterday who have no problems with me coming on their land to take photos, their only concern was I notify them first as the area is known for snakes. The issue I see with a few of the members (overwhelmingly they are doing the right thing) of the photography groups I'm a part of is it can be next to impossible to establish who the landholder is without doing something like a title search. This is expensive and doesn't guarantee anything. Some take this barrier I feel as an excuse to side steep the courteous approach of asking permission.

Anyway, off piste there a little bit. I think all I can really do is make members aware of the risks they are taking by entering property without permission, both by legal recourse and potential dangers in the area.