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Maybe its time to put that ban back into place, eh?
LOL!
I hope they do! It will be interesting to see if they do, though. They're in a bit of a quandary: Visitors obviously want to take pictures (and they've always been allowed to do so in other galleries). Letting them do it damages the flow and experience of the museum. But not letting them means guards telling visitors every 10 seconds that they can't -- a drag for both sides.
I suspect that they dropped the ban because guards were exhausted by fighting the tide on this one. In my opinion, it's worth the effort.
Hmm.. I took a photo in 2005 similar to yours:
http://flickr.com/photos/eliot/47495107/in/set-1035353/
Are you sure the ban has been in effect for several years?
On the other hand... I found it rather cool that guards weren't bugging me constantly if me and a friend wanted a photo by a statue. In the US, cameras are almost always forbidden from art galleries. I found in Europe that nearly no one cared. Strange reversal of social etiquette.
@eliot: Thanks for your comment (and the great photo!). As I recall, the ban has been in effect since sometime in 2005, but it might have been early 2006... "A couple of years," as I wrote above. Certainly at least a year.
I agree that it's great to be able to take photos in the galleries, and I often do; but wow... it was a really remarkable change in behavior from one week to another.
I've often speculated that the difference in rules between European and American museums might be because most European museums are public collections and most American museums are private. Perhaps private collections are more protective of the reproduction rights than public collections, in which the image belongs to the public domain? Just guessing.
I certainly don't advocate banning photography in museums outright. In the busiest galleries, though, I think that the ban is worthwhile; it really makes it possible to actually see and enjoy the works.
I wonder if it might be enough to post a bunch of signs saying "Please, No Photography" and not have the guards enforce it, with the idea that some people will ignore, or simply not see, these signs. Maybe it will cut down on the number of people shooting by half or a third, but every bit might help.
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