Are you getting harrassed taking shots?

I love corny jokes!

Amy
--

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.



http://www.nyphotos.net ~ http://www.something-fishy.com/photography

Too Funny! But really nice shot too! I take it this is a morning shot? We spent some time in the little walkway to the right of your picture were the little trees are. That is also were the rent-a-cop was giving me the beef.
Ken
--
Happy to Photograph!
Ken
http://kennyb.smugmug.com

This was one of my favorites from that day.



--
Happy to Photograph!
Ken
http://kennyb.smugmug.com

The sidewalk in front of any embassy is not going to be soverign territory. It would cause major problems every day if anyone walking down the sidewalk, or even driving down the street (since property lines almost always are drawn down the middle of the street) left US jurisdiction and entered the jurisdiction of a foreign country with totally different laws.

The retail restriction is very common. I don't think there is a retailer that will let you photograph inside without prior consent. They also will harrass you if you bring in a tape recorder and talk into it a lot or write down a lot of prices. It is their competitors they are concerned about.

Of course with camera phones these days it would be fairly easy to take pictures of anything and be somewhat inconspicuous about it.

speedball said:

i got hassled by hired goons from the arab embassy in dc
when i walked on "thier" sidewalk

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pardon my ignorance but the "arab embassy?" is arab a new country? you cant be too sure, i mean they all do like alike (please dont flame me, that was most definately tongue in cheek) dont they

http://www.pbase.com/koiom

I can sort of understand the homeowner... I would certainly go out and question someone taking pictures of my house, lights or not. I wouldn't make a big case out of it but I would want to know who they were and what their purpose was.

That is the typical gov't answer to anything. You just need a frenzy of activity that looks like you are accomplishing something. It doesn't matter if it actually does anything useful. The subway searches are a great example of that. Totally useless but they had to do something after London.

The TSA is another. They are the biggest joke ever. They got 5x the personal at security that they used to but they don't do any better of a job, they just have 4x as many people standing around doing nothing. But the public has to know something is being done.

BobSmith said:

I can sort of understand the homeowner...

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I can sort of understand, too. But I wouldn't have been rude like he was. Maybe he had been drinking.

I would certainly go out

BobSmith said:

and question someone taking pictures of my house, lights or not.

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If I had a nice light show, I wouldn't question anyone taking pictures of it.

I

BobSmith said:

wouldn't make a big case out of it but I would want to know who
they were and what their purpose was.

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Most people probably don't like me photographing their house. That's why I don't ask. Everybody is paranoid or ready to jump on the first person that comes along. I have a right to take a picture of a house I like from public access for my own personal pleasure and not for any commercial purpose because it makes me feel good to look at it later. If it makes them feel bad, that is their problem.

I don't feel good when I look at that picture. And I don't want to get to know that neighbor. I wouldn't treat people that way. Somebody took a picture of the back of my house once from the alley, and I figured he was going to report me for something, but I never said a word and just waited for the ax to fall. What good would confronting him have done?

My people radar doesn't work any more. There are some really nice people out there, and I try to be kind and polite to people and give them the benefit of the doubt in questionable areas, but mostly I don't like to interact with anybody, any time, anywhere because I don't like most people any more. When I was young, I thought everybody was wonderful.

If people force their way into my life for one reason or another, sometimes I warm up to them. Normally I try to shut them out for the exact reason of the reaction I got from this young guy who yelled at a senior citizen who was standing on the sidewalk in the cold, in the dark, in my own block, taking a photo of his pretty Christmas lights which I wish I had had a nice husband who would have made my house pretty like that. I'm glad I didn't have someone like him for a husband. My husband was combative and got into unnecessary showdowns with people just for the thrill of making them feel bad or in anger. I'm glad I'm rid of him. I'm better off alone taking pictures of people's houses which in a different life, I would like to have lived in.

My daughter wanted to go see if the people want to buy a copy of this picture. I'm leery of approaching them for fear they will get mad. They are very rich and could afford a professional photographer to take hundreds of shots of it. I wonder if they would be better than mine. Here is one version I have framed and on my wall because I like it so well, don't care if nobody else likes it. Also have a b/w version with just the red phone booth in color:



After reading this thread, I'm so mad. There is no freedom to be myself any more. I still hate that guard at the government installation when my dad came home from the war. We liked to take a Sunday drive at the place because it was scenic and historic, but we had to stop at the gate and get checked out. Every single time, we were queried, "Is there a camera in the car?" This thread makes me think of that guard who was only doing his job. Yeah, it wasn't the Russians yet. I don't know who the enemy to our country and government was then. There's always someone. For a long time during the cold war, that place was probably in the 1-20 list of a target for a Russian nuke strike. What the h* would a picture of anything there help them in targeting it more accurately? Their government certainly knew it was there and exactly how to get to it.

I am living in Jerusalem for half a year and I've taken plenty of photos. These are my experiences so far. How universal they are, I'm not sure.

• Palestinians and Israelis react differently to photos. Many Palestinians will ask you to take their photos, especially children! Of course women in a full veil are a different story, but a friendly wave can go a long way if the woman is shy and you're obviously not going to photograph her. Most Israelis don't care, but some Orthodox Jews really do not like to be in photos. However some don't mind at all, even when they are praying, which surprised me:

• Once I stayed the night in an amazing apartment which literally looks onto the Western Wall. I managed to take a few photos in the evening from the roof until a security guard from an adjoining building shouted angrily at me, saying no one was allowed to take photos from there -- or even to be on the roof! He was shouting so loud he must have assumed I was partially deaf. I asked him politely what the problem was with photographing holy sites, but he was in no mood to discuss the issue and threatened to call the police unless I left the roof immediately, friendly fellow that he was. It was a pity as it was a wonderful photographic site.

• Soldiers, whether Israeli or Palestinian, vary consdierably in their attitudes toward photos. Some like them, some don't. But no one has been offended by a friendly inquiry.

• Overall photography in Israel / Palestine can be a wonderfully rewarding experience. I keep on thinking that generally speaking people here are more open to photographs than they are in the West, including children and women:

Damon

Pov said:

You don't need a model release to take pictures of people, only if
you intend to use the photo for commercial gain. However, some
people will feel that their privacy is being invaded if you take
pictures of them or their kids, and some people will assume you are
a pedophile if you walk around taking pictures of children you
don't know. As a father I don't think I would feel comfortable
about a stranger taking pics of my kids.

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Ah ha. So, here we go...exactly what I'm talking about. A photographer who is willing to abdicate your rights because of concerns about invasion of privacy. Of course, I'm not suggesting that you do anything to make children in public uncomfortable, but if you're just snapping away and not interfering with, or even noticed by, the kids, then the parents should leave you alone.

Pov said:

I would tend to respect other people's feelings on this matter. If
they tell me they don't want to be photograpghed, I won't do it
even if I have a right to (although I may ask them to take a few
steps to get out of the frame).

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If someone asks me not to photograph something that I found interesting enough to photograph in the first place, I weigh my rights against theirs. On the flip side, if I was being photographed and I wasn't comfortable with it, but outside my rights to tell the person to stop, I would recognize my three options: (1) ask them politely to stop and accept a refusal with no further argument, (2) put up with it, or (3) leave.

My basic attitude towards photography, generally, is that if I'm legally allowed to see it with my eyes, and I'm in a public space, then I should also have the right to record it for my own personal enjoyment. The people I've talked to that are adamant about their children not being photographed usually play the pedophile card or some other imagined danger. I can't control what weird thoughts others may have, and I feel no pressing desire to take responsibility for those thoughts either. I have a lot of money invested in my camera equipment and I don't think it's fair that others should restrict me from enjoying it in the public parks where children play any more than the police should be allowed to restrict me from using it in legal ways.

Pov said:

Buildings, however, do not have privacy rights.

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Neither do people, in public. This doesn't mean you can make yourself a nuisance, but it does mean that others can't be nuisances to you.

thanks! i must be going blind, staring at these monitors all day...

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Al
Blackwood, Wales, UK

I was out for a walk the other day, and stopped by a viaduct in my village. I saw a birds nest perched up under it, with lots of to-ing and fro-ing, so I got my camera out to maybe catch a few shots. I'd been there maybe three minutes I hear footstops behind me. First I was paranoid I was about to get mugged, but when I turned around and saw it was an "official" type I relaxed and said "Hi".

He just stands there, expressionless, staring at me. So I say "Can I help you?". "What are you doing?" says the goon. Stupid question, so I answer "Just taking some photos of that nest". "How long are you going to be here?" "erm... not long..." So goon stands there, behind me, not moving and expressionless, staring straight at me (not at my camera gear, at my face) for the next five minutes, by which time my paranoia got the better of me and I packed my camera away and went home for a cuppa. As I was walking away, he turned and left. Wierd and freaky. I can only imagine if that had been my girlfriend taking the photos....

Heaven knows what that was all about. And this is in a quiet little village in Wales, about 3 minutes away from my house.

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Al
Blackwood, Wales, UK

Do you really want to allow terrorists to take pictures and plan out their attacks? No, clearly we must outlaw picture taking.

Also, the 9/11 terrorists used american pilot schools, and some were enrolled in our colleges learning who knows what. clearly we cannot allow this and must close all of our schools immediately....

etc...

Ahhh, that's just the welsh!

Personally I would have told him that I was a time wasting excercise to occupy the security guard while a London Gang breaks into the nearby warehouse....

Only kidding

Gareth Cooper
--

'Science is what we dream of, technology is what we are stuck with' Douglas Adams

Google Earth?

Do a search for it, download it, install it, then look at the pentagon, New York, London, your house, etc.

--
Jim H.

I was harrassed by a security guard when i took this shot in Swindon, UK last year.

I was standing on a public footpath when i took it. The guard (not a native i might add) informed me that I wasn't allowed to take photo's of this building...I asked him if he could see it from the public footpath, he said yes, I said "then I can take the shot...what you gonna do about it? It's a public path, on a public right of way in a public place, in full public view". He said "I'll call the Police". I said " Go on then, they will laugh at you!" He got angry and demanded that I stopped, So I told him to Fook off and get a life. He wandered off and I returned the next day to take more photo's in his full sight and he left me alone.....the world is full of small minded job's worths. Normall I am quite polite...really.



http://www.pbase.com/gazzajagman/image/33556319

And yes the building does have ROT written on it!

Gareth Cooper

--

'Science is what we dream of, technology is what we are stuck with' Douglas Adams

Many people have taken photos of our last two homes. We're flattered. It's a free country.

Last year I was driving slow in my old car at a park near my home in bay area, california. I had my 10D and 100-400L on my lap as shotting birds is easier if you use your car as a blind. All of sudden I had a park ranger in a pick up truck behind me. So when I stop by to shoot some deer, she came out and started asking me what I was shooting, so I pointed at the deers. After that she kind of feel bad and even told me the times I should be there for better shoot. After that it hasn't happened.

Some of these restrictions are BS, IMHO. I have lived in other parts of the world where you have these kind of restrictions. Never could imagine US doind something like this. And from what I hear, they go after people using professional gear. What about those tiny cams like my FZ5 which goes to 432mm. And what about all the satellite imagery availabe over the web.

--
Bobby

http://bobbyz.smugmug.com

Tom K. said:

Many people have taken photos of our last two homes. We're
flattered. It's a free country.

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anybody found anything photogenic about my house. I'm too ashamed to post a photo of it. It's a 20's-style bungalow with a fireplace that could be a showplace if it were completely redone inside and out, keeping the architectural features faithful to the period. With a cottage garden and a couple of pergolas with roses climbing all over them, it could be a little showplace. I've kept ideas from magazines of what people have done with this type of old bungalow.

I'd be honored if anyone wanted to take pictures of it then.

I like your attitude and am happy for you that you are able to live in nice homes. As the saying goes, "Home is where your heart is."