Board index PBase PaD Discussion Security Person: "Why are you taking pictures?"

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Security Person: "Why are you taking pictures?"

discuss photo-a-day projects

Are you treated with suspicion by anyone who thinks they have any sort of authority?

Yes
15
48%
No
11
35%
I am suspicious
5
16%

Total votes : 31


brianrodger
 
Posts: 2

Security Person: "Why are you taking pictures?"

Post Thu Jan 13, 2005 2:33 pm


Security Person: "Why are you taking pictures?"
Me: "It's a hobby"
SP: "You can't take them in the shopping center"
Me: "Why not?
SP: "Security of the shops"
Me: "I'm not taking a picture of the shops"
SP: "Put the camera away. You can go to the office and speak to the manager"
Me: "It's okay I have my picture for today, bye"

PAD entry http://www.pbase.com/image/38607303

gpaai
 
Posts: 904
Location: Irvine, California


Post Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:09 pm


This has happened to me on a couple of occasions. One store won't even let me through the door with my camera. And yes, there is even a bowling alley that kicked me out when I asked to shoot one of their chandeliers (sp?).

Gary
I love photoshopography.......

stormseye
 
Posts: 240

no kidding

Post Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:19 pm


I've been kicked out of more lobbies, atriums and shopping plazas than I can remember! Usually it's after I managed to take the photos I want so I just smile, nod and move along. Once I offered to show the guard the great pictures I got there, but apparently he wasn't a photography aficionado. I've kind of lost interest in such places now.

But I've even been asked to stop photographing while on public sidewalks! The most surprising was a camera shop owner who didn't like me takng pictures of the classic cameras he had in his window! I can't figure that one out at all. So I don't buy anything from him.

Plan your shot, and be quick about it!

8)
Last edited by stormseye on Fri Jan 14, 2005 8:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Bruce B

"I have always felt that it is HOW one sees
rather than WHAT one sees
that makes any photograph interesting."
- Michael A. Smith, 1999

senorcarnival
 
Posts: 54


Post Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:39 pm


I see it coming any day now that I've started taking daily pictures of a store going up in my area...
http://www.pbase.com/senorcarnival/searsgrand

+stormseye+
 

or this one

Post Fri Jan 14, 2005 9:52 am


Security Guard: "You can't take pictures of this building."

Me: "But I'm not taking pictures of this building, I'm taking pictures of the reflections of this building."

Security Guard: "Get outta here."

8)

matiasasun
 
Posts: 1493

Re: or this one

Post Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:49 am


It has happened to me several times. Even in small stores in small cities that live from turists. They didn´t let me take pictures of their handicraft because theye were afraiod somebody else would steal their designs.

At a supermartket one time a guy with an attitude almost called the cops because I was taking pictures of the meat stand. "War of prices" was their argument. So pictures there might be considered industrial espionage or something like that.

Airports? Security issues...

Walking down the streets? Hey! A general lives here so we have to check your pictures because we dont know you and those pictures might be used for criminal acts.

Protests? Cops dont want their faces in pictures. Looks like Chile is a small country. Most of these are applied both to normal people and press. So the general idea is that what they show remains "not that public" at the end of the day.

After all that, in just 3 years, I´ve realized that there might be always a person that will have a reason to argue why not take "that" photo. Sometimes they have reasonale arguments. Other times they dont. And not all places hace regulations of privacy, and even if there is a regulation, the guards usually dont know them. So we can get kicked out easily. Or -worse!- our gear can get damaged. My personal conclusion is:
a) Always be gentle. Asking first is a good idea sometimes. And
b) Measure your forces and the changes you have to win a reasonable discussion, a fight for your life or a runaway race.

Everyday life with a camera can become extrem when we least expect it.

By the way: Im suspicious.
Matias, Chile - http://www.pbase.com/matiasasun
Resources, HOWTOs, Samples and more! - http://pbasewiki.srijith.net/

wtrfalz
 
Posts: 24


Post Fri Jan 14, 2005 5:54 pm


It happened to me too! I was at starbucks taking a photo of a reflection in the window, and this family spoke to the worker-people and said they didnt like it and they came over to me and told me to stop. And unlike the rest of you, i DIDNT get a photo i liked :P lol

donna_lear
 
Posts: 65


Post Sat Jan 15, 2005 3:38 am


I've only been asked twice and one of those was when I was taking photos of a HazMat spill for the newspaper where I work. "You can't take photos here," by the owner of adjacent property. "Yes, I can. I'm on public property." "I'm going to call someone." "Go ahead." By that time I had the shots I needed and left, even though I was on public property and was right in what I told her.
Usually if I'm working, I tell people as I approach, who I am and why I'm there. I've rarely been challenged and have even been given permission to go much closer to dangerous situations than is probably safe.
The second time I was questioned was just the other day while I was taking shots of utility poles disappearing into fog. An elderly man and his wife pulled up behind me and asked if something was wrong and was that the reason I was photographing the power lines. I said no, explained what I was doing and showed him the shot (digital!) He grinned, said, "I LOVE this. Can I buy a print." I said yes. "GREAT!" he replied - and drove off. I have no idea who he was. I wonder if he's waiting for his print.

jude_53
 
Posts: 383


Post Sat Jan 15, 2005 4:09 am


I've only taken a few sporatic photos of reflections in store front windows. But I did get stopped by the police recently when I parked the car on a street not far from where I live to take photos in the dark in the fog.. amazing pinkish golden light all around. Apparently someone had called the police because.. well, that color is caused by the huge and massive amounts of lighting comign off the prison about 1/16th of a mile from there.
Luckily i knew the cop (it pays to live in a small town sometimes), told him it was just fog pics and showed him the last photo. I, of course, had some of the prison in there, I'm glad he didn't ask to look at all of them. The truth is, I was terrified after because I reallized they could take my camera away and never give it back. This is the new America, ya know..

oh.. and unfortunately there are tons of old run-down factories and yummy buildings to take pics of.. but they are all so close to the prison I can't even begin to get near them with a camera.. :(

dwinge
 
Posts: 47


Post Sat Jan 15, 2005 12:54 pm


I have been asked several times as to why I was taking photos, a few times all they asked was "Who are you working for?" I was stopped twice, once at an oil refinery at night (I was NOT on public property) and once at a department store. Friends that have been with me have commented on my willingness to step over the boundries, I almost always step over the line, climb the fence or go under the gate to get a shot. Only one instance really stands out in my mind was when I was in a public square and a woman approched me, angry, accusing me of taking photos of her daughter, I showed her my photos, they were all of flowers nearby, in reality, anyone in public is fair game, there are no privacy laws in the Constitution and we are in reality being photographed everywhere. In most stores, any bank, any sporting event, parade, concert, a gathering of any kind, and once a day I try to remember to look up in the sky and smile for my satallite photo.
David

stormseye
 
Posts: 240


Post Sat Jan 15, 2005 1:01 pm


dwinge wrote:...once a day I try to remember to look up in the sky and smile for my satallite photo.
David


:D Ha ha! I'll have to remember to smile for John Ashcroft too!
Bruce B

"I have always felt that it is HOW one sees
rather than WHAT one sees
that makes any photograph interesting."
- Michael A. Smith, 1999

donna_lear
 
Posts: 65


Post Sat Jan 15, 2005 4:25 pm


Jude, if you really wanted to photograph the old buildings, unless they're owned by the state or somehow connected with prison property, you could try contacting the owner and getting permission to be there. Finding the owner is a matter of public record and probably online through the state department of assessments. You just need an address to search - or map coordinates.
Security issues, interference with police, fire or ambulance people can all get you in trouble, but for the most part, as long as you're on public property, there's no law preventing taking photos or a reason to have your camera confiscated. I was threatened once with that years ago - pre-digital days - by police who claimed I wasn't allowed to take shots of a raid on a house. Well - yes, I was; well within my rights, in fact. I was on public property, across the street and not interfering with the police or any arrests. No juveniles were involved. When they ran at me, I dropped my camera through the window of the car, told the person inside to roll up the windows and lock the doors. We had a 'friendly' discussion and the deputies went back to doing what they should have been doing instead of yelling at me.

annayu
 
Posts: 488


Post Sun Jan 16, 2005 1:50 pm


The police are very unsuspicious in Sweden. The one and only time I got it trouble with the law was when I was lying on the bus lane during a demonstration, trying to get a good shot. A cop on a horse came up sneaking behind me and blew a trumpet into my ear "YOU ARE GOING TO GET RUN OVER IF YOU CONTINUE LYING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET"
I asked him politely if he could help by keeping the busses on the other lane, then he gave me a mean look and left.......
:D

cynthia1122
 
Posts: 16


Post Sun Jan 16, 2005 2:24 pm


Everyone thinks I am weird because when ever I go anywhere I just have to take my camera with me.... :lol:

dlselvidge
 
Posts: 2


Post Wed Jan 26, 2005 9:30 am


I've been approached by police while on the sidewalk in downtown Dallas and told to stop photographing a building. The officer didn't seem to be in the mood to discuss and I've seen the Rodney King video, so I just left. He followed me down the street to make sure I didn't come back. Definitely made me feel uncomfortable and unwelcome.

Later, I did email the Dallas City Council and eventually received a reply from the Police Chief citing "security concerns". All I can say to that is "What a steaming pile of BS!" After getting that letter, I sent them another email letting them know that I was disappointed in that response and that if security WAS truly a concern they should be more worried about the structural plans and other detailed information available through the public library.

FWIW, stores, malls are private property and your activities while on those premises is subject to their restrictions, posted or not. You can stand on the public sidewalk and take all the pictures you like from the outside. How you respond if confronted while doing so is up to you. You may have the right to take pictures, but is that right worth getting beat up by an overzealous rent-a-cop?

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