My question concerns the situation in Toronto but may apply to you too. I would like to go into a garage at dusk and photograph some city views from the top floor but I'm pretty sure that I wiill be confronted by security and perhaps understandably so. Is there a way of getting permission?
When I was 16 I thought my father the stupidest man in the world; when I reached 21, I was astounded by how much he had learned in just 5 years!
-appropriated from Mark Twain
I do this quite often. Never had a problem and never was confronted by security. You can either ask first or explain when (and if) security shows up. Asking first is less likely to work.Originally Posted by Richard K.
I have done this a few times and most always asked permission first, especially if I am using a tripod. I usually get that permission. The responses tend to be a variation of "Well you know we don't get up there very often, so we don't always really see what's going on". Wink, wink....
____________________________________________
Richard Wasserman
http://www.richardwasserman.net
http://richardwassermanphotographer.tumblr.com
Shoot first, ask permission later IMO, unless you can't get in by car without access. And even then, you can always walk in. I have a long history with parking garages because I am/used to be into speed skateboarding, and parking garages are the only hills in this part of Texas. In some ways they are better than natural hills...they even have elevators!
Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.
--A=B by Petkovšek et. al.
And don't climb up onto roofs without guardrails, like they do in Dallas... or did.
It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.
- Leigh
Since 911 this has become more problematic. My theory is shoot first-act and like your doing something normal and routine. If asked say there was nothing posted about "no photography".
Thanks,
Kirk
"Vocation to Solitude -- To deliver oneself up, to hand oneself over, entrust oneself completely to the silence of a wide landscape of woods and hills, or sea, or desert; to sit still while the sun comes up over the land and fills its silences with light." Thomas Merton
KIRK GITTINGS
WEBSITE
LIGHT+SPACE+STRUCTURE (blog)
Fortunately LF cameras look less like guns than 35mm with telephotos. Mostly I have not had problems - in Louisiana, we do not spend much on security. Did get run off fast trying to shoot off a parking garage in a high end mall in West Palm Beach. I think they were concerned about paparazzi.
Ed Richards
http://www.epr-art.com
Oddly I have had far more problems like this with a VC than with a DSLR.
Thanks,
Kirk
"Vocation to Solitude -- To deliver oneself up, to hand oneself over, entrust oneself completely to the silence of a wide landscape of woods and hills, or sea, or desert; to sit still while the sun comes up over the land and fills its silences with light." Thomas Merton
KIRK GITTINGS
WEBSITE
LIGHT+SPACE+STRUCTURE (blog)
Usually with a guard you can explain you're doing it for work, present yourself as a good citizen out to make a living, don't be superior -- show them respect and dignity -- and 99% of the time you'll be fine. It's not like you're hurting anything or causing a delay, and you are paying for the parking....
Rooftops can be excellent in some cities, in good light, you can get great long lens building details or even spy on people.
I ask for official permission less and less often because it is so easy for them to say no for insurance reasons or simply because it is easier... instead I just act like I know what I'm doing and work quickly and smoothly and get in, get out.
See ya 6am Sunday morning at the quarry ;-p
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