Page 8 - Australian Photography - September 2017

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KEN DUNCAN’S FIGHT FOR
PHOTOGRAPHY RIGHTS MOVES
TO NSW PREMIER’S OFFICE

AVING recently encouraged Sydney’s pho-
tographers to boycott Vivid festival, photog-
Hrapher Ken Duncan has now set his sights on Premier required to get permits from the City of Sydney, Barangaroo Delivery
Gladys Berejiklian’s office. Authority, Property NSW, Roads and Maritime Services or the Syd-
Some two years after he was nearly arrested in Barangaroo for ney Wildlife Authority, depending on where they were taking images.
taking images, and having received a promise from then premier The current amnesty around photography during the annual
Mike Baird that an investigation into regulation of photography Vivid festival is compounding the problem, believes Mr Duncan.
in public areas would happen, Mr Duncan says he is increasingly “You have this Jekyll and Hyde situation where the local au-
frustrated that little progress appears to have been made. thorities are willing to turn a blind eye to photographers shoot-
“It’s like entering a roundabout, going round and round,” ing during Vivid, while the rest of the time it’s illegal,” he said.
he said. “There’s been endless meetings that go nowhere.” “What I’m asking for is simple,” continued Mr Duncan. “If pho-
The renowned landscape photographer has now appealed to tographers are not creating any more impact or wanting any more
Gladys Berejiklian to pick up where Baird finished, starting with access than the general public there should be no fees or permits.”
re-establishing a working group to investigate onerous restrictions He is hopeful that Premier Berejiklian will take ownership of
on enthusiast photographers in Sydney Harbour. The group ap- the problem, and commit to ‘keeping the lights on year round’.
pears to have been disbanded once Berejiklian took office. But if that doesn’t happen, Mr Duncan is stealing himself for a
Under current legislation, including the Environment Protec- fight. “If worse comes to worse, I’ll do a rally,” he said.
tion and Biodiversity Conservation Act and Heritage Act, com- Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, a spokesperson said the NSW
mercial filming or photography requires approval in many areas government is “committed to supporting photographers”.
around NSW from various levels of government and authorities. There was a “need for guidelines to be simple, practical and user-
However these rules often lead to confusion with enthusiast friendly” but the spokesperson insisted commercial photography
photographers potentially swept up by restrictions intended could never be entirely regulation free.
for professionals. A “whole-of-government protocol is being considered to man-
Mr Duncan said the restrictions were so oppressive that in one age requests by low-impact commercial photographers to use
stretch along the Sydney Harbour foreshore photographers could be State Government land,” they said.

THE CITOGRAPH 35 IS A 35MM LENS THAT’S ALWAYS IN FOCUS

BRINGING the stripped-back aesthetic a new meaning, German lens manufacturer
C.P. Goerz has unveiled a new lens called the Citograph 35, a 35mm f/8 lens that
promises to be “always in focus”. Cito means spontaneous in Latin.
Aimed at street photographers looking to capture ‘fleeting, decisive moments,’
the lens features a fixed focus set to the hyperfocal distance point, with everything
at nine feet or more from the lens in focus. The company even say “hip-firing” is
possible with the camera, since you know the shot will always be in focus.
Weighing only 120 grams, the new lens is particularly compact, and “one of the
thinnest lenses in the world,” according to the company. It’ll be available for Nikon,
Canon Sony, Leica M, Micro Four Thirds, and Fuji cameras.
The lens is currently available on Kickstarter for a pledge of $220.

| 8 | SEPTEMBER 2017 | AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM