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Making pictures, minding one's own business


wpahnelas

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i don't believe i'm going out of my way to draw attention to my photographic

efforts. in fact, i may not be very good at it at all, but i go about

improving by taking photographs in all settings and circumstances, and

learning what works as i go along.

 

fair enough, right?

 

well, i believe i'll scream the next time a police officer or sheriff's deputy

arrives and asks me what i'm taking pictures of.

 

is it just me, or are others being investigated frequently, regularly for

walking around carrying a camera?

 

i'm told it's about the children, or 9/11. i was told by a shotgun-toting

corrections officer last weekend that i was too close to a prison -- and then

found my car had been investigated by deputies as an "abandoned vehicle".

 

there are some serious misperceptions about photgraphers and what we do. a 80-

200mm lens is a "high-powered zoom" which can take pictures through walls or

what's behind me.

 

someone who's out in 20-degree weather at the crack of dawn is suspected of

doing or plotting something terrible -- only, it seems, because i'm doing

something they themselves choose not to do. better to sit snugly in the

kitchen watching "good morning america," i suppose.

 

everything is posted, everywhere you go is private property. so is it

permissible to walk down the public streets and take pictures of what one sees

along the way? or does propriety and public safety require that i book an

african safari, or sit in my room and take pictures of myself masturbating?

 

can you tell i'm riled up and frustrated? how are you supposed to feel when a

police officer tells you how and when you should take photographs. well duh,

it's not like taking pictures at a kid's birthday party. it's not like i know

in advance about the shot i've "really got to have," so i can take it and haul

ass.

 

could you tell it just happened to me again today?

 

for the record, i'm not spying on anybody. in fact, i almost never take

photographs of people at all. and if i take a picture of a house, it's not

because i'm interested in the contents or the occupants. just the image,

ma'am...

 

does anybody else deal with this kind of harassment on a regular basis? if so,

what's the response that works best? i'm glad to explain myself to anyone who

asks, but not quite as deft when i'm simply confronted in a hostile way.

 

i apologize in advance if this is an age-old topic, and i'm so new to the

group that i'm not aware of it.

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There's no doubt that the U.S. is perilously close to fascism. It's not a Democratic/Republican or liberal/conservative thing. The entire system and all facets of leadership are leading toward fascism.

 

The solution is resistance.

 

Only you, as an individual, can decide whether it's worth the risks.

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I don't believe I've ever been asked what I'm taking pictures of other than a few times when shooting wildlife with a long lens (and that was just by interested members of the public).

 

The only time I was ever spoken to by a security person was when I was told I couldn't set up a tripod on the forecourt of a commercial building in NYC, but there was no problem with me standing there and taking pictures. They just didn't want someone obstucting the sidwalk with a tripod.

 

I've photographed in NYC quite a bit and in lots of other places, taking pictures in the street of people and buildings. Never a problem ever.

 

I suppose it may depend on how obvious you are. If you're wearing a red cape and shooting with a Speed Graphic, you probably attract more attention than if you dress like a tourist and use a smaller camera.

 

Maybe try to blend in more?

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Not me.

 

Maybe it's a regional and cultural thing, ie, I'm in rural NW Ohio (usually) and don't fit the profile of anybody who'd cause trouble.

 

I've occassionally been asked what I'm doing, but a few polite words and the LEOs are happy, and they go away and leave me alone. But getting stopped at all, or questioned at all, is very rare. I'm far more likely for somebody to stop and ask if I'm having car trouble.

 

It might also be that locally, I know a lot of people - including the local officers, and am on good terms with them. But I sure don't know all the officers in all the towns I visit.

 

So I don't know why I don't have more problems when shooting in public. Shrug.

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The best thing to do is follow through when you can.

 

I'm lucky to live in San Francisco, where artists generally find a reasonable ear.

 

I was at a public park downtown recently, shooting a doll that had been abandoned on the

ledge of a fountain. Officer came up to me, cursed at me and called me a pervert. I simply

got his badge number, walked to the park office, and reported him. I filled out a report,

which was followed up within a few weeks with a notice to me that the officer had been

spoken to about his inappropriate behavior, inviting me to use the park and photograph to

my heart's content.

 

People get carried away with "the children" and "the terrorists" and should be reminded at

every opportunity that the fear instilled in them by their government doesn't supersede

my civil liberties.

We didn't need dialogue. We had faces!
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This forum and others, as well as the trade publications, are filled with horror stories

regarding official intervention in photographer's activities. Some of these even involve

hours-long detentions, illegal equipment seizures, and multiple incidents of intimidation

over a period of time.

 

While many of these incidents are certainly egregious violations of individual rights, I have

long suspected that many circumstances progress from inconvenient vigilance to

unpleasant (and potentially illegal) intimidation to disturbing oppression due to

unnecessary escalation on the part of the photographer involved.

 

I got the opportunity to test this theory for the first time on Tuesday morning, when, after

much consideration, I decided to take a few shots of the unique facade of the J.J. Pickle

Federal Office Building in downtown Austin from a parking lot across the street.

 

While I was working a gentleman in a suit pulled his vehicle into the lot, emerged, and

headed toward the federal building. A few moments later, a young man wearing a tan

uniform, a sidearm, a GSA ID card, and a badge that read "Security Enforcement Officer"

approached me as I was collapsing my monopod and walking across the parking lot. In

contrast to the participants described in many similar accounts on the internet he was

polite, courteous, and actually seemed a little nervous throughout.

 

He said (as best I can remember), "We noticed you were taking some pictures of the

building. What exactly were you photographing?"

 

I explained that I had taken some shots of the pattern of elongated, hexagonal windows

on the building's facade.

 

He asked, "Is it digital? Do you mind if I take a look, just to make sure you don't have any

of our security in them?" I thought that was interesting and telling: we was apparently

specifically interested in ensuring that no images of their security protocols would be

disseminated to the public, something which IS illegal at airports. I also realized that this

was the first point of decision at which one might choose to escalate the situation. I

suspect that many immediately object to such investigation, which typically one's legal

right, but do so without sufficient decorum.

 

I decided instead to show him a few a frames, as well as some similar photos of other

structures I had taken that morning, in order to demonstrate that I did not merely set out

to photograph the Fed building. He said, "Great. Thanks." and extended his hand. I shook

it and he began to walk away, speaking into his shoulder-mounted radio transceiver.

 

After a few yards, he turned around, came back, and said, "Let me just get your

name...they're really sensitive about this kind of thing." (That last statement, I felt,

underscored his status as a contracted security guard.)

 

Okay, point of decision #2. Again, I suspect many vociferously refuse, rather than politely

responding affirmatively or otherwise. I decided, again in the interest of non-escalation,

to comply, despite having no legal obligation to do so. I offered him my business card,

explaining that my website would demonstrate that this is, in fact, my daily pursuit. He

thanked me again, wished me a good day, and I continued on my way.

 

In retrospect, part of me wishes I hadn't been quite so forthcoming (though still

exceedingly polite), particularly when I made the slightly eerie discovery that the first

visitor to my website the next day had an IP address that resolved to the DHS at a

Washington street address; I have no idea what, if any, future implications that might

have. Even so, I genuinely believe that my calm, respectful demeanor and openness kept

this situation from becoming much worse.

 

I strongly recommend reading both the pamphlet "The Photographer's Right" and the book

"Legal Handbook for Photographers" by Bert P. Krages for more advice on this sort of

situation. http://www.krages.com/bpkphoto.htm

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I brought this subject up a few months ago, and a few people treated me as though I was a total paranoid idiot. Perhaps those who read the experiences others have had with this issue might consider rethinking their position.

 

The last experience I had of this nature was in August '07 while vacationing in Charleston, S.C. I was attempting to take a picture of a building at the Port of Charleston. It's actually just the brick facade of an old mill building that has been left standing/preserved due to it's historical value. I was standing on a sidewalk about to shoot when a security guard began yelling at me, telling me it was against the law to shoot pictures of "any building on Federal property". I basically told him he didn't know what he was talking about...walked to the middle of the street and snapped off 4 or 5 shot while he was attempting to get my license plate number. I came back the next day, but this time I approached the security guard (not the same one), gave him an account of what I had been told the previous day. We had a very respectful exchange, and in the end...he related that as long as I shot the building from public property...I was perfectly within my rights - I just could not stand on the Port property and take the shots. I then walked to the middle of the street to shoot...and he began yelling that I had to go to the sidewalk on "the other side of the street" to shoot. I ignored the guy...took my pictures and left without further incident.

 

I left...feeling as Lex stated, that the U.S. is dangerously close to Fascism. And... to quote Lex once again, I believe that the only way this can be resolved is through resistance. If we practice blind obedience when we know that we're being stripped of our Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms...then we'll bear the blame should it all come tumbling down.

 

One of the founding fathers (I'm thinking Jefferson) said, "The people should not fear their government...the government should fear their people".

 

Whether they fear me or not...I'd just like to see the government abide by the law of the land...and leave me the hell alone while I'm doing so as well.

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I can sympathize, William. I've been approached by law enforcement only a couple of times. Both times I was just asked to move on but it was very annoying. I was standing along a public street in both instances, breaking no laws that I'm aware of and I didn't think either instance warranted asking me to leave. One time it happened while I was shooting fireworks! (Only terrorists do that, ya know)

 

My "crime", I guess, was doing it from atop a hill in a residential neighborhood, with a long lens, far from the crowds.

 

I wanted to add I've also been interrupted by other, rude photographers too. Once I was taking photos in the Great Smoky Mtns. National Park (Cades Cove) and had found some Amanita Muscaria mushrooms poking out of a bed of pine needles.

 

The park was crowded that day and a couple (male & female) jumped out of their car and got *between* me and the mushrooms so THEY could take pictures of them too. They didn't say anything - no "excuse me", nothing. They may as well have said "Get the hell out of the way!" because that was the upshot. I just stood there, aghast, 'til they finally left.

 

That same day I almost inadvertently caused a traffic accident simply because I had a big, white Canon lens on my camera and the people driving by assumed that, because I was walking along the side of the road with such a big camera and lens, there simply HAD to be a bear!

 

One car slammed on its breaks, causing a chain-reaction for a long way back. Fortunately nobody hit anyone else. We used to call them "Bear Jams" - for bear-induced traffic jams. Except this time there was no bear at all.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said people just don't understand photographers and what they do.

 

As for what to do in the future, all you really can do is be polite and respectful towards law enforcement. Doing anything else will just end up doing more harm than good.

 

Robert's advice about the legal handbook is very good. I also share Lex's concern about the direction this country's been heading lately as well.

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Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve

neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

 

I love this quote and this why Robert, I would not show security my images, besides it bad

for my business as an information broker. I would not be escalating anything. I would

politely say no.

 

So what is more dangerous a terrorist with a bomb or photographer with a loaded camera.

Terrorism can motivate with fear for a short time, but photography is forever and can

change the hearts and the minds of the people. I think of the coverage of 9/11, Vietnam

and Ken State.

 

So without a doubt a photographer is a greater national threat than a terrorist.<div>00OW5V-41870984.jpg.018a8e7d2303515237978ed70c2a8318.jpg</div>

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I, for one, do NOT think John is a "paranoid idiot". In fact, at the risk of sounding overly

paranoid myself, I must admit that I posted such a detailed account of my experience with

a dual purpose. One, of course, was to offer advice to whomever might be reading this

thread, but I also felt there was value in making a detailed written record of this incident

in a public forum (as recommended in "The Photographer's Right", I might add) should

any further difficulty arise.

 

Additionally, I currently teach several continuing ed classes at UT Austin, and I've been

thinking about trying to connect with someone at the ACLU or the Texas Civil Rights

Project to see if we can put together a workshop on handling this sort of issue.

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Ralph, as I said, I now kind of wish I had not offered up all the info I did. I got a little

freaked the next when I saw that someone in a DC office of the DHS had visited my site;

somehow I didn't expect it to get "passed up", but I probably should have.

 

Anyway, my theory is that many photographer's do not politely decline, as you suggest,

but become immediately and vocally indignant. Had I declined, but done so as courteously

as possible, I think the situation would've ended much the same way, given the demeanor

of the guard I was dealing with.

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Not too long ago I was in the town of Kennebunkport, Me. and asked to move on after a while. They have a 10 minute limit (or less, fuzzy now?) to be able pull over and take snaps of Walker Point, the Bush residence. Interestingly enough, a few years before that, the former Prez. was the graduation speaker at Lafayette College, and it was my 30th reunion. I got to meet him and shake hands and have him take a photo with my teenage daughter. There was obvious security, but I guess it was a controlled environment, so more "friendly". I too bristle at fascism, but it is a kooky world at times, no ?

Just and old poop's recollections ...

Jim M.

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"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety"- Benjamin Franklin.

 

Ralph, I have a bumper sticker on my car with that quotation. Thanks for offering it for all to see.

 

Thank you Robert...and all who have shared their experiences. It's sad to say that I fear my fellow citizens reluctance to stand up for their rights, far more than I fear the government that is abusing them. Without OUR assistance...their agenda can't be successful. Too often our rights aren't being taken from us...we're giving them up without an ounce of resistance. The founding fathers would roll in their graves...

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Even though I have been paranoid about some law enforcement officer butting in while I am shooting it has never happened in the U.S. I did however have a security guard stop me from filming the exterior of the Hilton in Cancun. He just flat told me to stop and could he see the photos. I was shooting 35mm and he let it go. It was Mexico so I saw fit to obey his wishes as I was a guest at the hotel and country. He took my room number for reference.

 

I used to carry a copy of the Photographer's Right, but wonder if an over zealous police officer would pay any attention to it?

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I have been approached by ordinary people on the street, but never by law enforcement or security personnel. Only in one instance did the person, a homeowner, seem suspicious of my activity. Actually, I can think of a few instances in which the person seemed suspicious of me. While I feel pretty sure I am within my legal rights to take these pictures, I prefer not to make a big deal about it. Instead, I usually introduce myself and identify myself as an amateur photographer. I keep thinking I will put together a small album of my pictures to show individuals who approach me about my photography.

These days I steer clear of sensitive sites; at the same time, I am not particularly interested in photographing them, so my legal right to photograph them is a non-issue. One last thing: I photograph openly, without trying to hide my actions. There doesn't appear to be anything clandestine in my activity. In rereading what I've written, I realize it begs the point about being harrassed unfairly for a legal activity. Like William Pahnelas, I would be frustrated a lot by such harrassment.

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Jim, my family and I were in Kennebunkport during Bush,Sr.'s time in office...took some shots at Walker's Point (some with Barbara and Millie the pet pooch in them) and then ended up in town. We were about to begin the long trip back to Tennessee, when I saw a young woman wearing a shirt that said, "I'm on the President's team". She looked so familiar..and then it came to me. It was the Presiden'ts daughter Dorothy, and I remembered that she and the Prez both played on a softball team during the summers in Kennebunkport...thus the t-shirt. My son immediately became excited and asked, "Dad, can I run over and shake her hand?". I suggested that he not RUN OVER THERE...as those guys standing by with dark glasses were Secret Service Agents...would put him face first to the pavement. I suggested that walking slowly to her...might be a better way to meet her. He did...he met her, shook her hand and all was well. But I'll have to say that even in those days, I found it rather amazing that access to the President's daughter was so easy. The streets were absolutely packed with tourists that day...everyone elbow to elbow. I doubt that it would have been so easy for him to have met the Bush twins under such circumstances...but then, there's those accounts of the twins running drunk and naked through the halls of a South American hotel...with SS nowhere in sight...so who knows!
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It's not just photography. I did my dissertation in the early 1980s on birds in urban

environments. My field work consisted of walking down the middle of neighborhood

streets recording all of the birds I saw to the end of the backyards on either side. Of

course, I used binoculars. Despite delivering hundreds of flyers to each and every home in

my study areas, and despite being in full view mid-morning for months on end, the calls

to the police never ended. The highlight came one very cold January morning as I was

looking between houses at some birds in a small tree; suddenly the front door of the

house flew open, an elderly gentleman came running out, very angry, and he was dressed

only in his underwear. He shouted down at me, "Here, I'll give you a better look!" I wish I

had been carrying a camera.

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Things have changed allot since 911, but even before then you had to be careful what you were shooting at. Some people dont like their pictures taken unless you ask.

 

Some people dont like their pictures taken period ! It's not only 911 it's also the Internet.Suppose somebody took a picture of you in an uncompromising situation and posted it on the Web. Would you be very happy ? Unfortunately that's what allot of photographers do ! I'm sure you heard of the Papaprazzi. These guys give photographers a bad name.

 

I'm seriuosly thinking about getting a point-and-shoot despite its limitations. I never been pulled over like you, but I had armed security guards run out of buldings and order me to stop shooting and move away. It sure doesn't feel good sometimes, not like in the old days.

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