Taking personal photos

[tommer]

We will visit Desire for our first time in June of 2012. We understand that photos are not allowed, but we would like to have at least a few taken of the two of us. Is this permitted if we are careful that no others are anywhere in the background? Can other visitors take it or would it need to be done by staff?

[Headstone]

Yes you can do this. I have taken some special shots for another couple in the past plus personal ones for ourselves. For ones of the resort itself you best be up around 730 when there are fewer people up. During the afternoon at the beach you may be able to take a few of each other in the water but you best be on one of the beds at the north end.

[ottawa_cuple]

On our first trip to Desire in Decmber 2007, one of the entertainment coordinators actually took our photo for us on a lounger beside the pool.

On subsequent trips to Desire, we have taken photos of ourselves, both in and around the pool, and on the beach and the beach beds using a digital point-n-shoot, making sure no one else was in the photo, and have not had an issue.

This Christmas we saw an entertainment coordinator telling a man, who had a digital SLR with a zoom lens, and was preparing to take photos of his wife in the pool, to put his camera away. He said he was only going to take close-ups of his wife, but the entertainment coordinator insisted.

Every time we've been there, we've seen people taking photos of themselves and their friends in the evening, at the lobby bar.

The official Desire rule about photography is "Taking photos or videos in public areas is NOT permitted." but it doesn't seem to be consistantly enforced.

As Headstone says, the north end of the beach is a good place to take photos, but we'd also suggest if you go up to the jacuzzi lounge when it first opens at 1 pm, you are likely to find yourselves the only ones up there and if no one else is around, I doubt there'd be a problem with you taking photos of yourselves or pre-arranging for another couple to go up with you and take some of the two of you together with your camera (especially if you offered to return the favour using their camera).

[eddieandjojo]

I will be the first one to go up to a person with a camera or cell phone if they appear to be taking pictures or a video....did it this past trip. If I get any sort of push back, the camera will be going in the water! There is no gray area here! I guarantee you that I'm not the only one who is enforcing these rules....

Want to take pictures, get your ass up early and knock yourself out when nobody else is in the background. Or simply take pics in the privacy of your room, friends room, etc...

Sorry, not trying to be difficult but privacy of our lifestyle and that of our friends is very important to me.

[Cali_desire_cpl]

Each tri we take many pictures. We do not take any by the pool, jacuzzi disco, or playroom when people are naked. We do not take pictures with anyone else in them without their permission. We always take pics of our "group" and we only share them with members of the group. We never "publish" our on any websites or online photo albums. We only take "those" kind of pics in private areas where no one else is around.

[miranda]

We saw many cameras and many photos being taken during our recent trip at all times of the day and night.

One gal was openly video taping the aerobics at the pool but once the staff saw this they asked her to put it away.

One guy was taking all sorts of photos in the disco at night (of the general crowd) and even had the nerve to take the camera into the playroom, which was pretty full of guests, as well as into the bathroom.

On the beach there were plenty of vanilla folks trying to get photo ops of all of us on the beach, playing volley ball and just basically hanging out on the beach doing what we all do - lazing, talking, drinking, and enjoying our beach vacation. The Security Staff were awesome about approaching these camera wielding folks, ensuring that the photos had been deleted from their cameras and 'escorting' them along their way.

As someone mentioned on here before, with the electronics and cell phones people have with the camera functions, you can bet that there are plenty of photos of just about any one of us at the resort at any time and place.

We, unfortunately, don't have many photos us our Desire vacations because don't want to be the cause of any confrontations from any one.

Yeah, we can say we aren't going to publish the photos anywhere and we can say we aren't taking photos of anyone else and we don't want anyone else in our pictures but we all have to sign a waiver when we check-in stating that we won't bring our cameras out and take pictures.

So what's 'your word' worth if you sign that form and still take the photos in the public areas of the resort?

[Powderfinger]

Making folks delete pics from their cameras really doesn't accomplish too much. If they don't take many more pics and overwrite all those files, all deleted pics can be recovered in a matter of seconds, and there's a whole lot of software out there to let them accomplish that.....

"....but we all have to sign a waiver when we check-in stating that we won't bring our cameras out and take pictures. "
LOL, we do? I know my wife does the signing when we check in, although they may make me sign something.....I can't read that tiny print unless they hold it ten feet away, so I don't think I've ever read any of it!

[oldseadog]

Seeing anyone with a camera, or a phone nowadays, in a nude environment, makes me very uncomfortable, and I have seen an SLR in the pool at HBR just seconds after a picure was taken
I have seen photos taken in the Disco at Desire, complained to Valentina, and seen exactly nothing done about it.

Bottom line, be polite and leave the camera/phone out of sight unless there is no-one else around.

[Ricardo3]

We just ask another couples to take us photos with our camera. This makes people feel more relax
Also ask to some staff members to help us to get good picture memories of our vacations

When we take pictures we make sure that nobody were in the background