Ever been kicked out or confronted because of photography?

[rds]

When I was living in Dublin in the early 80s a friend visited from Canada. We took a day trip to Belfast, and he took a picture of a security checkpoint. The guards confronted us with weapons drawn and the whole nine yards (very intimidating for apair of naive 16 year-olds!!)They were worried that he was casing the area for the IRA, and made him promise not to develop the film until he got back to Canada.

[MrPogo]

There are actually some very serious legal issues about that in the UK.

It's illegal to photograph judges, witnesses, members of the jury, minors who have anything to do with any court case and anyone who's photograph may lead to these minors being identified, complainants of sexual assaults (and the identification issue again), and anyone the judge has simply ruled can't be photographed, so if any of the above had happened to walk out of the building while you were taking pictures you could have been sent to prison.

Similarly it's illegal to take any photograph inside a court building (which can extend to exterior shots when the door happens to be open and you're angled to look inside, if they really want to be picky about it).


Paul(UK) wrote:

I was taking photos around my home town when I had not long had my 20D.

We have a fairly new court house. My father was taking photos of the front (with his E-1) when a security guard came out and asked him to clear off.

I thought it was a public place so after the guard had gone back in to his desk I went up and took some photos too.

The guard was back out again quickly shouting and waving his arms. My 20D was on continuous drive so I just pointed it at him and got lots of lovely close ups of a irate guard.

I have been asked to leave shopping centres, but sometimes when you tell them it's for personal use (which in my case is true) they are fine.

I can understand the security implications of certain locations, but other than that, why do they want to prevent you from taking photos in seeming public places.?

Do they think you will make money from it?

[Watchin]

Keeping off the political soap box and the security soap box...

One summer day I went to a local Golf club, talked with the
management, got thier okay to shoot on the grounds. I
explained that I was just practicing shooting golf pictures
as I was to do a tournement shoot the following week.
A paid gig (I thought, another story..) and needed to
practice some of my timings on people at the tee, in a
trap and on the green.

No problem said management but with one limitation
"You cannot go onto the course, you must always shoot from
the out-of-bounds or pathways."

I thought about it, realized that those were the same
conditions I was going to have the following week, so
okay we're off!

After about 2 hours of shooting I'm down in the weeds
shooting up at a tee when a "lady" comes roaring down
in a golf cart (she was roaring not the cart :{o ).
"Just what do you think you are doing? You have one hell
of a nerve taking pictures without permission!"

In a calm (surprised even myself) manner I explained the
ground rules and said I'd delete her parties pictures from
the set right then... She proceeded to berate me and yell
more and more.

Finally I shut her up with "Your name please? (click)
Your address please? (click) Your lawyers name please?
(click) You have passed over the threshold of reasonableness.
I am now keeping these photographs as evidence and will
contact your legal representative after I have filed charges
of mental abuse, verbal asault, and defamation of character.
If you wish copies of any photographs for
legal reasons or otherwise the fee is $1000 per 8x10.
Here is my card, if I do not recieve a written letter of
apology within 10 days I will proceed." She huffed and
puffed, refused to answer my questions, tore up my card,
and stormed back up to the tee in the now silent golf cart.

I turned away, and walked back to the club house, informed
the manager that I had deleted all shots
(I didn't need them at that point as I had seen what I needed),
and that he had one of the most obnoxious members I'd
ever seen on a golf course. He didn't ask for details
just mumbled "You should work here on some days."

The one question I thought about later...
"Who did she think SHE was??"

[eric s]

Ok, this is a slight (but I think) interesting digression.
MrPogo's comment reminded me of a story someone gave about the danger that cell phones with cameras can cause.

It is illegal to take cameras into a voting booth with you. The reason is very simple. If you can't "prove" you voted in a specific way, you can't sell your vote. But with a camera on your cell phone it is very easy to "sneak" a camera into the voting both and document your vote. In fact, someone did this and posted the pictures to show that it could be done. They showed the paper ballet (filled out) and then him feeding it into the machine which tallies it.

I never really thought about the "why" of the no cameras, but it makes some sense.

Eric

[BillDrew]

Good storey Watchin - but what else did you expect, you were on HER planet.

When Bush came to town (H, not W) about 15 years ago, I got out my 400mm lens and tripod and set up my tripod in a park he was going to go by. Was standing about when noticed a guy in a dark suit with a thing stuck in his ear coming toward me. I stepped aside and asked if he wanted to look through the viewfinder. He took a look, and walked off without a word or a change of expression.

[Steve K]

Watchin wrote:

...

After about 2 hours of shooting I'm down in the weeds
shooting up at a tee when a "lady" comes roaring down
in a golf cart (she was roaring not the cart :{o ).
"Just what do you think you are doing? You have one heck
of a nerve taking pictures without permission!"

In a calm (surprised even myself) manner I explained the
ground rules and said I'd delete her parties pictures from
the set right then... She proceeded to berate me and yell
more and more.

...

Good story.

There is a similar golf course scene in the movie "Falling Down" with Michael Douglas, including a pretty satisfying conclusion. A pretty good flick IMHO.

- Steve K.

[jsiladi]

Steve K wrote:

Watchin wrote:

Good story.

There is a similar golf course scene in the movie "Falling Down" with Michael Douglas, including a pretty satisfying conclusion. A pretty good flick IMHO.

- Steve K.

Now I'm going to have to rent the movie again.. I couldn't care less about golf but I loved what he did to the smartass folks in the fast food joint...

Watchin.. I would have offered that nut nothing.. Nice Merc in your avatar btw.. 49?? Yours???

Jeff

[calr]

I've had two experiences, neither of which is earth shattering. There is a large shopping mall about 10 miles Southeast of Portland, OR called Clakamas Town Center. In the food court area is a hot dog on stick place. It's the one where the employees wear those stupid red and yellow costumes (uniforms) and the stupid looking tall red/yellow hats. Anyway, as part of an assignment for a class I was taking, I was shooting just a small portion of their neon sign. There was nothing in the pictures to identify any person or business. An employee of the hot dog place saw me and came out and asked if I had permission from mall security. I said no and she asked me to stop. I was already done so it wasn't a problem.

More recently, I was going into the Portland Classical Chinese Garden with camera and tripod in hand and was stopped at the gate and told I could not bring the tripod in without a permit. The camera was fine but not the tripod! I had to walk two blocks to the Garden business office and fill out a form stating that the pictures would not be used for commercial purposes and not posted on the web. They gave me a copy of the form which I took back to the garden entrance where they kindly let me and my tripod in. As it turned out, I only used the tripod for one or two of about 36 shots!

Cal Rasmussen

[Watchin]

Okay Bill - but I still want to know who let HER planet collide with my world? :shock:

See even the secret service is more reasonable than some people...
(if it was W I would have been afraid you had a gun
too... :| OOPS there go the politics, sorry )

Steve K - thanks for the pointer to the movie, don't know if
I've ever seen that one..guess I'm going to rent it now!

Jeff - yeah I LOVE that car, but unfortunately it ain't mine
It's a 50 Merc base with a lot of mods, and a fantastic interior as well.
It belongs to a gentleman up in New Hampshire. It was one
of the first shots I did when I got back into photography after
a 25 year hiatus (sp?).

Thanks for the kind words.

Cal - I've often wondered about the times I've seen "No flash photography" signs posted,
but I never saw a "No tripods" sign.
What is interesting is that they made you agree to not post or
use the photos if you had a tripod, but if you had not taken it in
and still taken photos with the camera with no agreement..
That's gotta be the most twisted logic I've ever seen.

Greg - aka Watchin oWo the world go by, trying to get a picture.

[Trout Guy]

I think it was 1989 in Washington, DC; It was Spring and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. I was inside the Lincoln Memorial taking available light photos, had a tripod set up with my humongous Pentax 6X7. A lady park ranger accused me of being a professional due to the size of the camera and the gear. I explained to her I was just a citizen who wanted to take a photo, she did not believe me until I told her I just liked expensive photo gear and then she happened to notice the business card attached to my LowePro bag; it was my Fed. Gov't. business card as I had not yet retired. She let me alone but did inspect my tripod to make sure the spikes were in:blah:

TG