I was standing around in Times Square, taking photos of whatever and whoever, when this rather large fellow came up to me and said "Why did you take a photo of my wife"? I looked at him, and looked around and saw that his wife was rolling her eyes at him, clearly upset that he was acting this way. I asked him, "Who is your wife"? He pointed her out, and I replied, "Wow! her? Because she's a hottie!" He laughed and said "Yeah she is!" and so did she and thinks worked out...whew! True story!
I took pictures all over london yesterday, funniest thing was accidenting over the Banksy "One Nation Under CCTV" mural.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ched-CCTV.html
I visited 12 galleries all over the very big, and dangerous, city. Not once did I get a problem. In fact a nice old chinese guy saw me taking photo's of a building, when I was done (yep, when I was finished, not disturbing me) he came over and had a chat about the specific gallery and how famous it was. He must have lived in the area a long time.
A previous trip to London last year had me taking photo's of a rally (protest march). Maybe 20 photographers or more, and I took a group shot and a guy still came up to me hassling me that I'd taken his picture. Same as that story, he went over and over that I'd taken his picture and he didn't want me to and yet I couldn't even tell him out of the crowd. Developed my film, his face wasn't in there.
Neil,
It is experiences like the one you had because you were taking photos near a school, which make me hesitate to take photos of events with children. Last year I photographed the Dragon Boat Race and I was taking photos of some kids rehearsing before going on stage. They were hamming it up and having fun. A number of people were taking their photos. A police officer asked what I was up to, I told him I'm doing the same thing everyone is doing.
It is disheartening at how photographers are treated if there are kids nearby. Someone with a large format camera is not the right person to question, the pervs are using cell phone cameras or P&S cameras.
Navy Moose
I always love how they ask that “What are you up to?” Well officer, I’m holding a camera, aiming it at my subject, and pressing the shutter. So Mr Rocket Scientist, you tell me what you think I’m up to!Originally Posted by Navy Moose
God, some of these guys are as stupid as a bag of wet hair.
What is this "extra insurance" against? Looking like you've cooperated with the police? I think it's a better idea to take pictures of someone else's ass- that way, they can't identify you by them!
Brian Vuillemenot
Next time I'm going to say something like "Gee, lets see. Big black camera, black tripod, black backpack. I think I'm taking photographs". I hate to be disrespectful towards law enforcement, but some things should be obvious.
I agree with Cyrus, it's one thing to know our rights but the problem here is when the authority does not know it or choose to ignore it.
My question is, have anyone actually stood up to authorities(actual police officers and not mall security types) and what ensued. Did any one actually got arrested, film physically taken away, cards erased...or did officers back down...???
I like to think I will stand up to authority when I know I am right, but facing a crowd of angry whoever and a few officers staring you down, I don't know...
Robert
I have and so have others. There was a link posted here not so long ago about a cameraman effectively standing up to a cop in the UK, demanding to know by what law he was expected to stop filming. ENough people do that, and this habit of pointlessly hassling photographers will end.
One fellow who was a security guard had the nuts to ask for my social security number. I asked him to show me his social security number first. He then said I was on "private property" since the building technically owned that sidewalk (the property line extended in front of the building as it often does in NY) and I explained to him that there was still a public easement so I had every right to be there, etc etc. He ended up calling me a dirty name, so I said I was perfectly entitled to photograph everything including him, which I did. I have the photo here and will one day bother to print it.
Cops have been less of a problem for me. Theyre doing a job and tend to know the law and stick to it. I may disagree with the law (in the instances that it requires "permits" for example subject to unconstitutional rules, ie: rules that effectively make it impossible to actually get a permit) but I cant fault the cop for doing his job. However, there are many cases reported in which the cops were way out of hand. the best way to deal with that is to know your rights, and politely stick the them in a nonconfrontational manner, but in the end in the US you have the right to ask for a badge number and name -- in fact you can see the cop's badge number - and then you file a complaint noting carefully the time, date, location, and the cop's badge number. I have a case pending.
Mobs are something else. I wouldn't mess with a mob much since by definition they're not rational. I'd give them a good piece of my mind and then walk away.
There's a legal thing in that question - they're trying to get you to incriminate yourself if you're doing something "bad". Similarly, when they pull you over for speeding, they'll say "Do you know how fast you were going?" You're under no obligation to respond in the US. The rights answer is "Here's my driver's license; I'll let the judge decide how fast I was going."
In the photography case, the right answer is to ask another question: "I was exercising my legal, First Amendment Constitutional Right to take photographs, why do you ask?"
My situation wasn't quite the same as the 'found' events that are being described here, but the officer I was faced with was politely confrontational and very thorough about making sure I was legit.
I was on assignment, shooting an apartment complex for the architect. The photos included a view of the playground area and of course there were a few kids around while I got set up. They all seemed to disappear before I got to that one shot, so I thought 'No problems' I'll get the shot and finish the rest and no hassles with having to ask kids to leave the area while I made the image'.
About that time, here comes a deputy sheriff with lights blazing and a less than friendly but still professional attitude.
One of the moms had called the constabulary instead of talking with me or the apartment manager to see what was going on. (I guess I looked like the real pervert with a 4x5 view camera and super wide lens, bag, holders, dark cloth and hiding in plain sight in the middle of the parking lot...you know, all that covert stuff!)
Short story is, I had not only prepared with the manager, I also had insisted on a request letter from the architect (on his letterhead) with a specific shot list of what I had to capture and when I would be on site which also identified me as the photographer.
Deputy took a ten second look at that letter, got me involved in a very friendly conversation about photography and wished me the finest of days and good luck on the project, then left after offering me a really warm handshake and apology for the trouble.
I was in a situation where I could prepare like that and this was a really great guy with no agenda, just doing his job well. So, I was lucky that way.
Point being,...when you can prepare, do so and be friendly until the other guy proves he's a jerk.
The second part of that advice still stands even in a candid situation where you are just shooting for yourself. But, Cyrus is right. They are trained to try to get you to incriminate yourself, so stay cool and talk it out and take notes like crazy.
"One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude." Carl Sandburg
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