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Thread: problems photographing city buildings, trains, etc

  1. #21

    Join Date
    Apr 2004
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    SF Bay Area, California, USA
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    problems photographing city buildings, trains, etc

    The NYC “tripod ordinance” is yet another urban legend ...
    Tripods are not mentioned anywhere in the NYC Charter or the Administrative
    Code (both finally are available on the New York State Legislature

    site
    , under the link “Laws of New York”; they're at the
    bottom of the page. Note that “tripod” doesn't appear anywhere
    on the permit application, either.

    Unfortunately, there is a law regulating photography. NYC Charter
    Sec 1301 gives authority to require permits for photography, and Sec.
    22-205 of the NYC Administrative Code makes it a crime to take a photograph
    without a permit. The law clearly was intended for commercial activities,
    but the way it reads to me, it would appear to cover
    any photography, including that by tourists with P&S cameras.
    Obviously, enforcement is quite selective. The law likely is soon to get
    tested, because it was the one under which filmmaker Rakesh Sharma recently
    was detained. The NYCLU have taken up the case, claiming the permit
    process is unconstitutional. The capricious enforcement might be the law's
    undoing.

    The Washington, DC Mall is under the jurisdiction of the NPS, so it's
    covered by Public Law 106-206: you don't need a permit unless you're
    working with models or props. Awareness of this wasn't too good the last
    time I asked, but the folks who issue the permits said they do not require
    them for noncommercial photography. This isn't quite the correct
    interpretation, but it might be better to be “noncommercial”
    than argue with the Park Police. Another option is to carry a copy of Pub.
    L. 106-206, as NANPA recommend.

  2. #22
    tim atherton's Avatar
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    Jul 1998
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    3,697

    problems photographing city buildings, trains, etc

    "The main problem for me is not knowing what new Homeland Security types of laws have been passed, or not."

    There are none.

    Most of the laws restricting photography are those already ion place - such as Park Service regulations (which are well documented) or those concerning certain military or nuclear facilities. All these have been in place for years. The Patriot Act etc includes no restrictions on photography - including photography of Federal Building etc.

    Ypu can find quite a few reference herewww.photopermit.org

    some links to various laws and regulations are in the forums,

    http://www.photopermit.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=6&sid=e91bd72b81ba5316a61c2cf06d5ca782 etc

    but scroll through the news listings as well, such as:

    http://www.photopermit.org/?cat=4&paged=3
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  3. #23

    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    San Francisco
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    628

    problems photographing city buildings, trains, etc

    Man, I hate this country. I can't even tell my no-photography-allowed stories, they make me so aggravated. No problems whatsoever in places like Burma and China, but try to set up a tripod in the US, and instantly you are a menace to society. It's hard for me to imagine a group of people that are LESS of a menace to society than the LF community.

    One time when I was tossed out of a public, city parking structure here in San Francisco, for setting up my tripod, it was evident to me that the fear was not that I was trouble, but that I was a liability. This was strictly because of the extra time it meant I would spend on city property, unnecessarily, increasing the likelihood that I would accidentally jump in front of a moving car and get run over (at 3mph), and then sue the city. Or accidentally throw myself off the 7th floor to a grisly death. Like so many other things, it's all the lawyers' fault!

  4. #24

    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Tamworth, Staffordshire. U.K.
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    1,167

    problems photographing city buildings, trains, etc

    So if you regard your country as part of "The Free World" what exactly are you free to do? PETE.

  5. #25

    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Baton Rouge, LA
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    2,428

    problems photographing city buildings, trains, etc

    > And once again, get a photo of those who bother you

    Try not to get shot while you do it. I am sure my Technika with the handgrip looks like a weapon of mass destruction to the average deputy.

  6. #26
    Moderator Ralph Barker's Avatar
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    Sep 1998
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    Rio Rancho, NM
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    problems photographing city buildings, trains, etc

    Ed - especially when you "pull the trigger" and the motor drive on that Technika makes its characteristic machinegun-like clackata-clackata-clackata sound as it swaps holders in and out of that big photo-assault magazine. ;-)

  7. #27

    problems photographing city buildings, trains, etc

    After reading these posts I was left wondering if these safety/security issues that are making your work difficult or impossible will influence -on the long run- what is being photographed (on large format) in the US? Will the consequences of the 'war on terror' shape the face of LF work in the years to come? Will we see more studio work? More landscapes shot outside of parks with rangers? What are the subjects one can still shoot without being hassled or having to go to preliminary paperwork to get clearance? Will photogs prefer travelling abroad to places without such heavy restrictions? Or will photogs just have to invest more time in getting permission prior to their shooting - and accept it as part of their job?

    FYI: I work in Holland, where (as of Jan 2005) we are required to identify us when asked by a police officer. You get fined something like 65 EUR for not carrying a legal ID or your passport. Whenever I plan to photograph potentially sensitive areas/objects/buildings I make a point of contacting the owners to get (written) permission and to establish some kind of 'less-than-formal' relationship. Once they know who you are and that you are a harmless idiot with outdated equipment and a boring hobby things tend to go frictionless. I often send them some low res scans of what we've shot afterwards with a word of thanks. Instead of finding this cumbersome, I see these inquiries as a possibillity to interest the 'owners' (mostly office people /institutions) in our work. In some case, I've even got access to areas that would have been off limit otherwise. Sometimes it is worth the effort of turning a potentially negative experience into a positive or even profitable one.
    - And whenever I feel a sudden urge to take the camera plus tripod for a spontaneous outing, I have a list of subjects I can photograph without permission.

  8. #28
    おせわに なります! Andrew O'Neill's Avatar
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    problems photographing city buildings, trains, etc

    Glad I live in Canada. I've never been told to stop taking photos on the street with tripod set up and backpack on the sidewalk. Vancouver police have often pulled up to me and said that I should keep an eye on my bag otherwise it'll be gone! When I was in the UK a few years ago, no worries whatsoever. I'd be curious to hear if Canuck LFers in other Canadian cities have had any problems.

  9. #29
    Abuser of God's Sunlight
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    brooklyn, nyc
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    problems photographing city buildings, trains, etc

    it's funny ... in NYC, which you'd think would be the epicenter of the war on terror, you'd practically have to be naked and singing opera while photographing before anyone even looked your way. there are so many people photographing here ... and filming, and doing public art and public performances and making commercials and movies and music videos and just plain making scenes, that one more goofball with a tripod hardly even registers.

  10. #30

    problems photographing city buildings, trains, etc

    I know in San Diego it's an infraction ($25 I think) to place ANY personal property on a sidewalk other than for purposes of loading/unloading a vehicle. Sorry, don't have the code handy, but I did look it up once. Really intended as part of the drive to criminalize homelessness, but whatever the original intentions it's broad enough to be useful, if not particularly painful, vs. tripods.

    Luckily the San Diego police are sufficiently understaffed they mostly don't have the time to screw around with stuff like this. The worst I've ever gotten from them was a couple minutes of questions and a "have a nice night". But they have known enough to ask leading questions to try to trap me into admitting commercial intent, which would absolutely require a permit.

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