Photographer's Rights Protest NYC

[tim_atherton9]

FORWARD:

 

We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Photographer's Rights Protest:

Sunday, June 6. 1 PM.

Meeting at the info booth, main floor of Grand Central Terminal.

 

This will be a peaceful demonstration against the MTA's proposed

Photography Ban, conducted in the spirit of Rosa Parks. We will

simply

ride through Manhattan with our cameras, taking as many photographs

as

we please, of whatever we please. This is a completely legal protest,

as

photography within the subway system has not yet been banned (even

though the police seem to have been told otherwise). The proposed ban

of

photography in the subway system will only serve to compromise

security

instead of increasing it. Furthermore, it is "Too little too late",

as

key information about the subway system is easily available in

numerous

books, magazine articles, and websites.

 

Read the FAQ page for a lis of further points on why this proposed

ban

is, to state it simply, an incredibly dumb idea.

 

Come on time with your camera and if you choose to make one, a witty

sign. The mere act of taking photos is protest enough in and of

itself.

 

Total duration of this protest will be approximately 1 to 1.5 hours.

However, you are encouraged to continuing photographing within the

NYC

subway system whenever you so desire, whether or not the ban is

approved.

 

Routing will be as follows:

4/5/6 from GCT to 14th street.

L cross town to 8th av.

A/C/E to Penn Station

Walk through penn station to 1/2/3/9

North to Times Square, 7 or S back to GCT

End offical protest, perhaps by walking by MTA HQ at 347 madison av

(right near GCT), to take some nice photos of the neighborhood and

perhaps drop off a signed petition.

 

This is YOUR protest. make it as big as possible by spreading the

word

to as many NYC Photography and transit related web boards as

possible.

Notify media outlets. Spread the word in every direction you can

imagine.

 

http://photographersrights.mtude.com/

 

 

(original Photo.net post here)

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=008JYc

[alec1]

Since when is LF Photography using a tripod permitted w/o prior approval in the subway system?

[brian_ellis3]

In the spirit of Rosa Parks? I hope you aren't saying that anywhere outside of photography groups, plenty of people would take offense (and rightfully so IMHO) at your attempt to equate the loss of your "right" to take pictures in the subway system with Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement.

[cálico]

It WILL happen because the government is using the SUPPOSED perceived threat of terrorism to instill fear in all of us to take away as many of our constitutional rights as we ALLOW. If, for example, we start bickering amongst ourselves and finding minor faults in what one person says or in the manner something is said, then that person is simply part of the system that would take our rights away, willingly or not.

 

How utterly STUPID AND IGNORANT is the public not to realize that if someone takes photos of a bridge or some monumnet it should not be perceived as a possible act of terrorism; if any terrorist REALLY wanted photos or bluerprints of some bridge, building or monumnet, don't you think that can be found in either a library or the Internet? (Now I understand why Captain Kirk said, "Beam me up, Scotty, there's no sign of intelligent life here").

 

Look, the movement to ban guns, for example, was initiated during the 1800s by the wealthy who were afraid that the poor would rise up in arms. Now, the "Powers that be" within the government are only looking out for big business interests and the rich. Why are we giving in to them? Why should we give in to those who would take our constitutional rights away?

 

The threat of terrorism may be very real but it is blown well out of proportion and it is a deliberate ploy to take our rights away! I don't know how else I can say, repeat and reiterate this. Wake up everyonem and realize that this is only madness. When those in power have no viable solution, they clamor to take away our rights. That only shows the ineptitude of our elected politicians.

 

If cameras are banned on subways, are they also going to ban the cameras installed a few decades ago to protect the public when police on stations were removed? OR, will they continue their surveillance over us (reminiscent of Big Brother...) and prevent us from using our cameras? Remember the incident with Rodney King anyone? I also recall a case where some police went heywire during the late 70/early 80s and an amateur photographer took photos which later clearly contradicted the police statements on what happened, where many civilians were injured by policemen who ran rampant in a public park....! What would've happened in those cases if the use of cameras had been outlawed????

 

What's going to prevent them from later preventing us from using our cameras in public, or at the beach or.....

[andre_noble4]

Police State.

[jeffrey_abelson]

From today's NY Times:

 

Ban on Subway Photography Prompts Underground Protest

By ALAN FEUER

 

At a protest by photographers, you see things like a guy taking pictures of a guy taking pictures of a few more guys taking pictures of one another.

 

There was such a protest yesterday, but it might take hundreds of pages to describe it, given all the pictures that were taken, each one worth at least a thousand words.

 

Advertisement

 

 

The photographers - about 100 of them - gathered to express their outrage at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's proposed ban on taking pictures in the subway system. Meeting at Grand Central Terminal, they rode the trains for upward of an hour, shutters clicking, flashes popping, in a filmed rebuke to the idea that photography is somehow a national security threat.

 

"The point is really to make everyday people wake up and realize that photographers are not terrorists," said Joe Anastasio, who organized the event. "In the last few years, photographers near anything vaguely important have been getting harassed."

 

Mr. Anastasio went on to tell the story of a friend who took his wife's picture near the Whitestone Bridge, only to be called in for questioning by the police. He told another of a man caught snapping pictures at a Metro-North station who was interrogated for nearly two hours by authorities at the scene.

 

"The paranoia," he said, "has gone a little too far."

 

The transit authority's proposal, posted on its Web site, says the agency is planning to adopt "a general prohibition against photography and videotaping in the system." The agency is soliciting public comment on the ban and plans to vote on the proposal in the next few months.

 

"It's a security measure," said a spokeswoman for the agency, Deirdre Parker. "It was suggested by the N.Y.P.D."

 

Mr. Anastasio and his fellow photographers said it was ridiculous that pictures of the subway might somehow make the trains unsafe. After all, they said, there are thousands of subway photographs already on the Internet.

 

"The subway is so well documented that what's the point?" asked Jean Miele, a fine art and commercial photographer. "This sort of thing makes us less free, not safer."

 

Infuriated that his photographic rights might in fact be curtailed, Mr. Anastasio sent messages to several friends, asking them to show up yesterday to photograph the subway. They did - with Nikons, Leicas, Canons and such. There were an $8,000 digital job and a cheap mini that showed a nudie picture through its viewfinder.

 

When a downtown No. 6 train arrived, the photographers began to cheer. They boarded in a herd and held their cameras up, taking pictures of other hands holding cameras up.

 

At the 14th Street station, they split into two groups, stood against the walls and photographed each other across a corridor. This had varying effects on the people passing by. One woman fixed her hair before she ran the gantlet; another covered her face.

 

One guy said to his buddy, "Hey, what's with all the paparazzi?"

 

His buddy said, "Dunno, I think it must be you."

 

There was a tense moment when the crowd decided it would photograph a transit police dispatch station at 14th Street. A startled officer came out and suggested that they leave.

 

"You didn't say 'Cheese!' " one of the cheekier photographers said.

 

When an L train finally arrived, they tried taking pictures of the motorman. He was not keen on this idea, however, and blocked his window with an advertising circular.

 

Many of the photographers said they planned to post their pictures on the Internet - Jared Skolnick, for example, who takes pictures of the subway on his cellphone and then displays them online.

 

"I've learned that so many crazy things can happen on the subway," said Mr. Skolnick, who paused and then added, "including this."

[jeffrey_abelson]

I forgot to add: power to the people!<p>

<img src=http://www.jalook.com/fun/subway.jpg align=center>

<p>

Shot in 2001 at 207th Street A Station (you can see my reflection in the widow)

[wyverndude]

I wish I could have been there. (see my earlier post: <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=007Z7B">"Building Paranoia"</a>).

<P>

The concept is utterly ludicrous; and reflects the sheer ignorance of the authorities that propose such things. Outlaw photography, and only outlaws will be photographers -anybody who you can <B>see</B> using a camera is not a terrorist; obviously.

<P>Any terrorist who thought he needed more pictures than he can already get would use an eyeglasses camera, or a baseball cap camera, or a cellphone camera, or a PDA camera; or any of any number of easily concealed cameras, readily available... if they can't figure that out, then they're even dumber than the MTA.