“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.” The origins of this famous quote don’t appear to be known. People have suggested it came from Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Scout movement), John Muir (found of the Sierra Club) and Chief Seattle (a Native American who reportedly made a speech that included, “Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints” in the mid-1850s), among others. Whatever the case, walkers, climbers, backpackers and cavers have been using it for years.
So yeah. “Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.” But what if you’re not allowed to take pictures? Well, not legally, anyway…
See that picture above? It’s an absolutely fine photo to take (it’s also a good one to use for a blog. And for free, no less! All hail Pexels.com!). But if it had been taken at nighttime and used for anything but personal reasons? Totally against the law. The reason for that all has to do with France’s unusual view on European copyright for certain outdoor artistic works. Take a look…
Now, as mentioned in the video, this law is very loosely, if ever enforced. This is why, if you Google images of EIFFEL TOWER NIGHT, you get lots and lots of hits. Of course, some of the photos seen in that search may have been taken by people and entities that requested permission or maybe paid some sort of royalties to take that shot. But I’m guessing most were not.
The thing is, even if they’re not arresting people for distributing nighttime pictures of it right now, who’s to say that they won’t start enforcing the law tomorrow?
So yeah…just an interesting tidbit I found.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
1 comment
Interesting. This sort of stuff is one reason I enjoy your this blog. There are many other tourist attractions that have non-photo rules but not always “law” but this has to be the most famous.