Photographing on the side of the road.

[Greg]

Most of the time when shooting with my 11x14, it is from the back of my SUV on the side of the road. Trunk open and camera set up not all that far from the vehicle. If able to pull completely off the road, never a problem. Town roads here in New England, never a problem. But if I am parked on the side of a main (with Route#) road, several times Police have stopped and politely I was told to pack it up and move on... with the clear implication of doing that RIGHT NOW! A real bummer when one spends 20+ minutes setting up the shot and then are told to move on "now". Talked with our local Police and they recommended that I place a red cone behind the driver's side of the vehicle. So I heeded their advice for the past year, and boy does it work.... patrol cars now just drive by me. Sometimes they slow down and wave!

[domaz]

Good idea. Sometimes all it takes is looking "official". Put on a high visibility vest and you may get even less attention, someone might figure you are a surveyor, just doing your job.

[faberryman]

Good idea. Sometimes all it takes is looking "official". Put on a high visibility vest and you may get even less attention, someone might figure you are a surveyor, just doing your job.

Good advice. Maybe have your wife out there with a vest and a Slow sign on a pole too.

[Greg]

Good idea. Sometimes all it takes is looking "official". Put on a high visibility vest and you may get even less attention, someone might figure you are a surveyor, just doing your job.

Great comment, will absolutely the next time I'm out there by the side of the road wear my vest which I actually always carry in the car.
thanks.

[Leszek Vogt]

Ha ha ha, I kind of had to chuckle at your experience in contrast with AK. There are still many spots where you'll photograph for over 30 min. and no cars might drive by. There were several occasions when I saw no police for over a week. Anyway, it's still the last frontier.

To underline the lack of traffic, I'd like to share this small story. I was driving a motorcoach with tourists around Lake Kluane (Yukon) on the way to Skagway. At one point a view of the lake/beach opened up and I noticed a mama bear and an offspring in the water chewing on the twig. By the time it crystallized what I saw, I drove behind this hill - totally obscuring the view. Well, I backed it up to the original spot and sat there for about 5 min. till everyone aboard had a chance to take a pic (including me :>). I'm not familiar with anyplace (except Antarctica, perhaps) that one could pull this off without some massive consequences.

Les

[Willie]

Good advice. Maybe have your wife out there with a vest and a Slow sign on a pole too.

Put two shovels into the ground sticking up near a flaggers pole and you can probably stay parked for a week.

[AJ Edmondson]

Never work around here!!! Unless there are at least five guys standing around watching there is no way you will make anyone believe it is a work crew.

[j.e.simmons]

I’ve found that a cone and a safety vest let me get away with a lot. I used to carry a clipboard, but I now find that my iPad loaded with Expodev for exposure calculations works just as well.

[pepeguitarra]

Never work around here!!! Unless there are at least five guys standing around watching there is no way you will make anyone believe it is a work crew.

A public employee work crew!! (..standing and watching!!). Very funny.

[Vaughn]

A public employee work crew!! (..standing and watching!!). Very funny.

My dad had to go in front of the LA Board of Supervisors to defend one of his men. Some powerful asshole had seen the worker standing along the street leaning on his shovel and wanted him fired. The police had told the workers not to start work until rush hour traffic finished. The board then passes a rule saying Superintendents could not come before the Board to defend their workers anymore. My dad was happy to retire after 30 years at 56.

But I worked for the feds on a 'work crew' for ten seasons. We had fun, but we worked our butts off.