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A strange day today. I was out this lunchtime taking pictures of local people sledging and playing in the snow for the live news feed and didn't have any problems. An hour later my missus pointed out a picture making the rounds on Facebook which looked like me (but with more hair) and holding the camera badly, taken literally around the corner from my house, of a man taking pictures in the snow. This man was probably a paedophile and needed a good kicking said many of the commenters as they happilly shared it over 300 times. I commented and tried to educate them that, wether they like it or not, it's NOT illegal to take pictures of kids in public and even publish them, (unless they are demed indecent) and he may just have been taking them as a record of the weather. I wasn't really getting anywhere and was called a paedo myself when I said I was happy to do it. After a big list of aggressive threats and comments about the man, a local 'Press Photographer' who's relative is the Chief Reporter on our local Newsquest rag piped up and asked for the picture and post to be removed as the person (not him he says) was just doing his job and is a genuine press photographer who shoots for a news agency and he had been asked to do some shots in that area. He went on to say that you DID need permission to shoot kids and no paper would publish them without names and details. I would of course ask, as a matter of courtesy if I was taking pictures close up, but as far as I'm aware I do not, and never have need permission shooting in, or from a public place no matter the age of the person. So... have i got it completely wrong, or has something changed.

At an airshow recently I got a shot of an Antonov An-30, a cargo plane with an old-fashioned glass nose. Could have been this very aircraft: My shot is a close-up from the nose from directly ahead. The aircraft was open to the public at the time and what I did not realise as I took my shot was that a boy had sat down in the nose seat. It takes you a moment to realise he's there, but his face is clearly visible through the central window. I got another shot from the same angle with the seat empty, but the shot with the boy in it has more impact: he provides a focal point that is missing in the other shot. I don't normally do people shots so I'm not very familiar with the ethics. My understanding is (correct me if I'm wrong) that you can take photos of people without their consent, provided that they are for editorial use only. But does this apply to children, or are the rules different where minors are concerned?