Right to photograph buildings

[paulr]

B... but I remain curious about a lot of people in this thread: If a stranger walked up to your camera, and – while totally ignoring you, and asking no permission – reached out and applied a movement or two, removed the film holder for a curious inspection...

I hope you're joking. Have you been there? It's run as semi-public space. Wide open, and anyone can go there. It's a private school, but this is only nominally true. In 2012 Harvard received over $600 million in federal money. This is actually a substantial decline from previous years. Needless to say, the school is already to some degree on your payroll.

Anyway, everyone is free to ask for all the permission they'd like. I happen to think there's enough bureaucracy thrust upon me, so I tend to avoid seeking out additional samples. And in these matters, I find it pragmatically helpful to follow QT's principle of favoring forgiveness over permission. But to each his or her own.

[Kirk Gittings]

To me the question is pretty simple. If it is posted no photography or no photography without a permit, fine, otherwise I go ahead and make images till someone stops me. Anyone who owns a building visibly accessible from public or physically easily accessible in a normal manner (say without jumping a fence) who actually cares about this issue and doesn't post restrictions........

[MrJim]

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_ca...=1&oi=scholarr

Section C might be of interest. From a technical point of view...

[Heroique]

I find it pragmatically helpful to follow QT's principle of favoring forgiveness over permission. But to each his or her own.

Yes, and as I mentioned, being prepared to ask for forgiveness (in lieu of seeking permission) is a strategy I like, but “scoff-laws” (count me among them) can do better than that. See my post #4 for examples of “what goes a long way” w/ security people. My main experience is these people leave me alone w/ a little stroking, and I get my shot – I don’t lose it by asking forgiveness and leaving at the first sign of trouble. I take that step when it appears they “mean business,” or show the first signs persistence. Call it a matter of reading people and circumstances to get what you want, or at least as much as possible.

BTW, my “stranger who touches your camera” example was not aimed at Harvard, but means to “turn the tables” when it comes to security in a suggestive way. Don’t take it as a joke, but don’t take it too seriously, either. ;^)

[Peter De Smidt]

I have had people come up and look under the darkcloth on a setup camera without asking permission. They were a family of Japanese tourists who where visiting a waterfall in Munising. Sure, I was a little surprised, but it didn't bother me at all.

[nimo956]

Just to give people an update I did email Harvard and MIT Media Relations. I've heard back from MIT, but not Harvard. Basically, as long as the images are for personal use and not for sale or publication, then you are free to shoot away at whatever you'd like. I'd imagine the same goes for Harvard as well, so I'll just go there and start taking pictures and hope for the best. I think it will help that I still look like a student :/

[Photojeep]

In a related incident: I am the media technologies department chair of a community college in Nevada and recently received a call from a campus administrator because of an incident of a student walking into a common area and setting up a tripod, directly in front of her desk, and photographed a skylight in the roof of the building. When the administrator tried asking her who she was and what class she was in the student acted very rude and basically ignored her and left. When the administrator called me she, while being very nice, wanted me to know that photography on campus was not allowed unless we told her office prior to the event. When I said telling her was impossible because we sent our 1000+ students out daily to take pictures she was aghast. She told me no less than 10 times photos weren't allowed before she finally said that it wasn't officially illegal but she didn't want it to happen. Now I was aghast. Neither of us raised our voice but as soon as she admitted there was no actual prohibition to photographs on campus she realized she had no leg to stand on and quickly ended the call, all the while trying to re-establish a non-existant prohibition.

In this particular case the student was in the wrong, in my mind, for setting up her tripod directly in front of the administrator's desk. But only because of her rude and boorish behavior, not because she "violated" a rule that existed only in the mind of this administrator.

I treated it as an opportunity to remind students of their responsibility to simply behave in a professional and respectful manner.

Best,
PJ

[Jim Andrada]

@Nimo

That's the spirit! I think we ALL look like students, only some of us are more "mature" students than others.

[nimo956]

I heard back from Harvard and was surprised to be declined! They said you need a permit for any professional shoot (which I'm not doing), and no tripods or lighting are allowed. I should have just followed the principle of "favoring forgiveness over permission." Still, I could just go there and hope they don't catch me

[QT Luong]

You see, the problem with asking is that once they say no, you cannot pretend anymore that you didn't know it was not authorized.