I live on a dead end road and go the the end of it to see if any wildlife is available to shoot.
There are some large estates back there.
I was in the turnaround shooting some foliage out the window and an old lady in a Mercedes comes to the end of her driveway to check her mail and leave. She looks at me in a pompous way and makes sure I see her dialing her phone.
I ignore and continue. I leave and see follows. I see some crows in a pasture and pull off to shoot. She stops. Geesh!
The next thing I know two cruisers are there checking my ID as she watches from a-far.
Whats up officer? Oh the lady calls about you taking pictures of her property. ( I did not mention it but I was not taking pictures of her land)
Is that against the law? No, but we had to respond to the call and as far as I'm concerned you can continue to take all the photos you want. Are you going to inform the caller. Yes. What a coot!
It happens. Just get used to it and have your explanation ready for the police. They have people pointing cameras at them all the time now. They will usually be understanding as long as you don't act bizarre or too defensive.
I was on a airplane a year or so ago and just snapped a picture of a little kid sitting across the aisle. His parents went ballistic, accusing me of some pretty terrible things. They finally sat back down without any violence (came close), but when we arrived it turns out they had asked the captain to call the police and they were waiting for me. I explained, the parents became hysterical again, and the police ended up escorting me to baggage claim to make sure I was safe from this guy.
There is just something about a camera that sets some people off.
I was rousted out by a San Francisco police officer one afternoon as I stood in the public right of way on a road running behind San Francisco International Airport and took photos of planes taking off. Granted, this was perhaps six months after 9/11 and everyone was pretty paranoid, especially around airports, but the guy was way out of bounds. I decided not to make an issue since he threatened to give me a ticket that I would then have had to argue in court. I have better things to do with my time so I jumped in my legally parked car and took off. Of course, I found a nearby parking lot next to a small lagoon and pulled out my camera again. Such is life...
nathanlake wrote:
...I was on a airplane a year or so ago and just snapped a picture of a little kid sitting across the aisle. His parents went ballistic, accusing me of some pretty terrible things... There is just something about a camera that sets some people off.
In my experience, a man taking photos of children is instantly suspect in this era where child sexual abuse is so often in the news. I've begun avoiding places where children hang out, taking advantage instead of the opportunity to shoot my friend's kids. That works well for everyone. I simply got too many dirty looks when I pulled out my camera when kids were around. One woman challenged me in an urban setting with dozens of folks around. I was shooting pretty much everything happening, but she was incensed that I might have taken a photo of her teenage daughter. I scanned through my photos as she watched and erased the single photo that included her daughter. I thought it wise to avoid a confrontation. Yes, this is the world in which we live.
carlsbadbum wrote:
People don't like getting their candid pictures taken, they think you're going to do something bad. Welcome to the 21st century.
Who can blame them. Look at what shows up on the internet now days. Look at from their point. How would you feel seeing a stranger taking pictures of your teenage daughter?
Consider what happened recently in north San Diego county and Orange County CA.
A bunch of pics of HS water polo players were found on many different gay mens web sites. Certainly, everyone was outraged and rightly so. However, this makes my job/hobby much more difficult. I have been shooting WP and swimming events for HS and college for about 3 years now. The parents at my local HS know me, so no big deal there but whenever I go to other schools I fear that I will receive many "evil eyes" from parents because of this story.
God forbid that I somehow get an image that shows a boys swimsuit with him walking around on the deck. Even more so with girls WP as I shoot that too because my daughter is a HS player.
Mickey wrote:
Who can blame them. Look at what shows up on the internet now days. Look at from their point. How would you feel seeing a stranger taking pictures of your teenage daughter?
The problem isn't that someone would like to know what you're doing. A good photographer should be willing to explain what's going on and show what is being shot. (Chimping isn't that energy consuming, is it?)
It's the (sometimes) automatic escalation into downright hostility that irks me to no end. Well, reading stories like this. I haven't been in a position like this yet, and I hope I never will, but what the hell is wrong with simply walking up to a photographer first and ASKING what (s)he is photographing before either going ape or surreptiously calling in law enforcement?
Tentacle wrote:
what the hell is wrong with simply walking up to a photographer first and ASKING what (s)he is photographing before either going ape or surreptiously calling in law enforcement?
<sarcasm>but haven't you seen those movies where some serial killer is acting suspiciously and kills anyone who asks about it?!!</sarcasm>
Really, it may be a bit of passive agression, or simply wanting to cause trouble for someone without going to much effort.
but haven't you seen those movies where some serial killer is acting suspiciously and kills anyone who asks about it?!!
Really, it may be a bit of passive agression, or simply wanting to cause trouble for someone without going to much effort.
I think it's the civilian equivalent of pulling rank. Some people seem to believe that it's OK to bypass being civilized and directly go for overtly and agressively claiming ones rights.
These would be the same "concerned citizens" that serve on the board of a homeowners association controlling the landscaping and appearance of your home.
Otherwise known as the "Concrete Nazis"
Tentacle wrote:
[
I think it's the civilian equivalent of pulling rank. Some people seem to believe that it's OK to bypass being civilized and directly go for overtly and agressively claiming ones rights.
Law enforcement has to walk a very fine line these days. Balancing our right to photograph from publicly accessible land versus protecting public safety cannot be an easy task. Of course the officers were obliged to respond to the property owner's call and they did so promptly. I would be happy to know the local PD was on their toes.
Sounds to me like the police knew and respected your rights as a photographer. Also something to be thankful of as there are too many stories out there of confrontations between police and photographers that do not go quite as smoothly as yours did.
This does not stike me as a big deal at all. I'd rather people be a little more cautious than not. If I wrote a post for everytime I've been stopped shooting there would have to be a new forum.
You really have to draw the line somewhere, I think taking a picture of someone without asking them is highly rude, and an invasion of privacy in a way. I feel bad for celebs :-(
BenV wrote:
You really have to draw the line somewhere, I think taking a picture of someone without asking them is highly rude, and an invasion of privacy in a way. I feel bad for celebs :-(
I also think it is rude, but that does not make it illegal. The deCorcia case is an example of presumably current legal interpretation.
I understood therock to be photographing foliage and landscape, not the lady who called the sheriff. While getting way off topic is nothing new around here, I think we should keep in mind that "old lady in a Mercedes" was not even being photographed. Even if she had been the subject of therock's photos, she still would not have any expectation of privacy from therock's vantage point on a public road. Regardless, I think this is just a example of the inevitable consequence of getting out of bed in the morning and interacting with the world. Sometimes you get pissed off and sometimes you piss someone else off. But hopefully, at the end of the day, you end up back home safely to wonder why.
I commend the "old lady" for taking action. See saw something suspicious, and instead of ignoring it, she had it investigated.
Like I said before, if a house would have been robbed everyone in her neighborhood would have been pissed because she didn't do anything!
Did it really inconvenience "the rock" that much to answer a couple of questions about what he was doing? Be glad someone was looking out for their neighbors.
