Watching the tide come in | Windandsea Beach Sunset

I’ve been spending a lot of time shooting in La Jolla the past few weeks. There are so many beautiful and interesting details to explore along the water’s edge.  Also, the weather has been great and since its still technically “winter” (though you really can’t tell except in the evening when you might need a sweater) there aren’t all that many people out and about, especially on week nights. In a couple of months most of the beach towns will be nearly inaccessible due to the crowds (parking can be a brutal process around here) so I’m soaking up evenings at the beach whenever I can get them.

I captured the photo below last Friday evening, just as I was getting ready to leave.

1/30 sec at f/4, ISO 800

The photo above was shot handheld with my Canon 7D and Canon 24-105 L lens. Processing was done primarily in Lightroom with a bit of noise reduction in Topaz DeNoise (50% off through 3/31/14 using coupon code “mardenoise”).

The offer in this post has expired, but you can use coupon code “angandrieux” to get 15% off all Topaz Labs software anytime!

Did you know that taking photos like the one above is now illegal in Hungary?

Have you heard about the new civil code in Hungary that makes it illegal to take a photograph without obtaining permission from everybody in the photo. You can read the full article on Petapixel.

It makes me nervous for the future of photography. I can’t imagine traveling to a place with laws like that. It is next to impossible to photograph points of interest without sometimes (whether you’d like it or not) capturing other people in the scene.

Beyond personal privacy issues, there are more sinister aspects to this law that also prohibit photographing police. If they are acting inappropriately I doubt they’ll give a photographer permission to document it. If I were a citizen of Hungary this law would make me more than a little uncomfortable.

What do you think? Privacy vs. Freedom? Share your thoughts in the comments…

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