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VincenzoF [deleted] says:
This pisses me off so much I can't begin to tell you. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Posted 80 months ago.
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Happens to me often and in many different locales throughout Manhattan. Returns yet again to the "seeing to be doing something" approach to security even if it's totally ineffectual and irritating. You're correct that there's no point in arguing with the security staff (I often do purely to garner amusing 'more than me jobs wuff' quotes), but feel it's their bosses and Powers That Be that the ire should be directed towards.
Nice shot, btw. There's a 'You can't take photos here' group somewhere...
Originally posted 80 months ago.
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birdw0rks edited this topic 80 months ago.
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The smaller a person's sphere of influence, the more likely they are to exert power over it. A janitor totally lost his shit on me yesterday because I took a photo inside an elevator.
Posted 80 months ago.
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did he clean it up?
Posted 80 months ago.
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yeah, at the Staten Island ferry terminal its the same thing. I sneak photos when I can and stop when told to. I once had to remind a security gaurd that he can tell me to stop taking photos but he cannot take my photos away nor make me delete them. The cops then approached us and just asked me to stop and agreed with me that he cannot make me erase my photos. Im still gonna keep taking shots though.
Posted 80 months ago.
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Sometimes I wonder what stops the real terrorists from using their camera phones to take their informational images...
Posted 80 months ago.
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my first shot in nyc last week was a sequential row of concrete columns outside la guardia at the taxi stand. before i could look at the highlights data of the shot a police officer was there asking me what i was shooting. i showed him the shot, he asked me why i took it, i replied that i liked progression of the columns. 'oh, is this an art thing?' he asked without any trace of irony. 'well, i guess that depends on who is looking at it,' i responded. he politely but firmly asked me to refrain from shooting anymore pictures at the airport - and then to enjoy my time in New York.
ive been hassled by security types before but this is the first time i took no exception. NYC has been a target, and is a target. I didnt feel like this was a petty authority teabag thing, this was someone trying to make sure his city and his community wasnt hurt again. mebbe i read too much into it, but that was my impression.
Posted 80 months ago.
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VincenzoF [deleted] says:
NYC has been a target, and is a target. I didnt feel like this was a petty authority teabag thing, this was someone trying to make sure his city and his community wasnt hurt again.
I don't buy that for one damned minute (no offense, fubuki). In fact, I think that's what they hope you'll feel and just stop doing whatever it is that they don't want you doing.
I've never been stopped for taking pictures anywhere, and I'll be damned if I'll just smile and politely allow them to stop me. Hell, half my photostream is subway shots... What would I take pictures of if one of these guys started breaking my cahones? :-)
Posted 80 months ago.
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no offense taken and thats why i couched what i said that it was solely my impression. but i have been stopped, by local and federal security types, many times. i know the difference between someone trying to nut on me because they have the authority and someone who is just making sure nothing is amiss.
hopefully you wont be accosted and asked about your business, but when it happens and they ask for your identification - hand them your license - you are required to now by recent supreme court decision - and say 'here are my papers (add the german accent for effect).
Posted 80 months ago.
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Eh, Samsung just came out with an 8 megapixel cameraphone. The days of security through obscurity are dead.
Posted 80 months ago.
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I just find the equation of photographers and possible terrorists as peculiarly inane. By the very fact of lifting your camera to your eye in public, you are drawing attention to yourself, which is not what terrorists do.
The security argument is that by taking photographs we might be "casing the joint" - searching for weak spots where we might break in or place our explosives.
But clearly a real terrorist who wants to case a joint is going to do so surreptitiously with his cameraphone (good point, LarimdaME) assuming he needs a camera at all. He's certainly not going to stand there with a fucking great Canon waiting for the sun to come out from behind a cloud....
I'm afraid that four years later, Ty, I've got no time for politicians and bureaucrats who restrict civil behaviour because they want to be seen to be doing something about security. A ban on photography did not save the London underground from attack, did not save the Spanish train system from attack, and contributes nothing to making New York safer.
It just places decent cops like the one you met and otherwise genial security men in the invidious position of having to harrass ordinary citizens who they must know in their hearts represent no threat whatsoever.
Posted 80 months ago.
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part of the difference in experiences is subtle. like Vincenzo, rarely have I been stopped. of course, it helps that we're NYC natives or vets of the streets with that extra sense of smarts. it also helps if photogs can learn to buddy up, act as screens, lookouts, provide mutual support, or at least do the Winogrand/Meyerowitz thing.
Posted 80 months ago.
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'vets of the streets with that extra sense of smarts'
Posted 80 months ago.
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Last time I tried to take a picture in Grand Central with a tripod I happened to have on me that day, a cop almost tackled me.
You know because taking pictures of pretty sunshine coming in through pretty windows is conducive to terrorist attacks.
Posted 80 months ago.
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tampen, i didnt see my comments as apologizing for the security regime's paranoia against public photography. i was saying that my experience with a NYC cop was actually genial and his concern seemed professional and sincere to me. in any other town, including my own, i would have been less conciliatory.
imho.
Posted 80 months ago.
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Haha, I suppose he did.
More to the point, he threatened to "write up" people who actually own offices in the building because I took one photo inside an elevator. Thank God he didn't find out why I was doing it -- to test the light for a 30-minute photoshoot in said elevator.
Originally posted 80 months ago.
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Ryan Brenizer edited this topic 80 months ago.
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VincenzoF [deleted] says:
Last time I tried to take a picture in Grand Central with a tripod I happened to have on me that day, a cop almost tackled me.
In fairness, that's a completely different story. In NYC you aren't allowed to use a tripod pretty much anywhere without a permit...
And Ryan... What were you shooting for 30 minutes in an elevator? Is the new business idea something that we should all shield our children from? lol
Posted 80 months ago.
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"Sometimes I wonder what stops the real terrorists from using their camera phones to take their informational images..."
Nothing of course. With everyone carrying around some sort of small electronic device, be it cell phone, ipod, blackberry, or whatever, it's perfectly easy to take a lousy photo even when dozens of cops are around.
Someone with a big SLR looking for an artistic shot is the only one that's going to attract anyone's attention.
I really like my Sony P200 camera because it's about the size of a cell phone and looks like one from a distance. Theoretically my DSLR has better image quality, but the P200 goes anywhere.
Posted 80 months ago.
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Last weekend I took a bunch of photos of the same new ferry terminal, and was just waiting for security to come and harrass me. I was lucky though and got my shots!
Posted 80 months ago.
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txmx .2 [deleted] says:
best info :
www.krages.com/phoright.htm
Originally posted 80 months ago.
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txmx .2 edited this topic 80 months ago.
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A model. I need to process those images … now … so you'll see what I ended up with soon. I think they would have come out much better if I could have used the elevator.
Posted 80 months ago.
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And yes, I got stopped by the MILITARY for taking this tripod shot in Grand Central:
Posted 80 months ago.
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IS combined with camera technique, stealth, ...
sep wheat from chaff & reduce radar noise m.o. -
authorities mistakenly believe that making it uncomfy for photogs to operate will reduce our activity and make it easier to spot potential terrorists taking certain types of pics. but mistakenly assumes that tourists don't take same types of pics.
Posted 80 months ago.
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Well, here's a great written about street photography:
http://194.100.88.243/petteri/pont/How_to/hd_Lesson_3/_Shoot_the_Street.html
I especially love the part about dressing up like a dumb tourist.
Posted 80 months ago.
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Okay. A bit off topic...
How do you get the small pix in the topic post ?
Posted 80 months ago.
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Manzari, go to the photo you want to post. Click on All sizes. Click on Small (or whatever size you want to post). Select all the HTML text in the second box. Click on Copy. Then paste into your thread as desired.
Posted 80 months ago.
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I'd like to see the Glasgow, Montana police stop me taking this one
(If, in fact, it IS Glasgow, Montana).
Posted 80 months ago.
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"I especially love the part about dressing up like a dumb tourist."
Actually, there are so many tourists taking pictures in New York City I wonder how people manage to make themselves look suspicious. Whenever I'm taking pictures I just assume that everyone bothering to notice me just thinks I'm a tourist.
On the other hand I was walking along Central Park West with my big DSLR around my neck and some tourists asked me for directions to the Dakota. I don't know what gave away that I lived here.
Posted 80 months ago.
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Here's my threatening shot near the WTC construction. Just after I took it a security guard from the construction site came out from his post, ran across the street and told me to stop taking pictures. Meanwhile, I was on a public street taking a pic of some junk on the street.
Originally posted 80 months ago.
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Manzari edited this topic 80 months ago.
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This has yet to happen to me on the streets of London (England) but no doubt it's coming. As I live in Russell Square I understand the need for security, but the incidents above are surreal - is common sense a crime under Patriot 1? If so, I guess it lets Bush off the hook...
Posted 80 months ago.
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I took a bucketload of pics in NYC a couple of weekends ago and didn't get hassled once, including at the South Ferry terminal mentioned above.
I don't know what you guys are doing to look so suspicious?!!
Yeah, I know, it's no excuse. The stupidity of some of the security measures is what really gets me going.
Posted 80 months ago.
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my brother got yelled at for taking a picture of a NYC cop car.
I think it all depends on how expensive your camera looks, what ethnicity you are, and other individualistic things. That's why davehodg didn't get harassed while others did.
Posted 80 months ago.
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Since DJOtaku mentions that a more expensive looking camera arouses more suspicion. I'd like to know what kind of cameras you were all using when you got harrassed.
It's perfectly legal to take pictures of police officers, but I have to admit that I avoid doing it myself.
When I wanted to take a picture of this building:
there were a bunch of cops standing around at the exact location from which I wanted to take the photo, so I came back to do it later.
Posted 80 months ago.
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This shot, in Grand Central Station, was also a national security threat:
... or so I was told by the (non-uniformed) guy in the dark shirt. "Terrorism," I was told.
Posted 80 months ago.
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I think it all depends on how expensive your camera looks, what ethnicity you are, and other individualistic things. That's why davehodg didn't get harassed while others did.
It's inconsistent and unpredictable, it's true. There's bad timing, who's watching, whether they feel it's worth their time to shake you down, etc.
Take New Year's Eve, for example. I was in Times Square at midnight in 2002, security was incredibly tight, but police were posing for pictures in crowds of tens of thousands. Didn't give a rat's ass about cameras. Take pictures of them any other day, and you get a dirty look.
Posted 80 months ago.
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The rules are definitely inconsistent. Back when I was visiting New York (before moving here) in June, I went to Grand Central at night and started shooting a mess of pics. This one man who works the late engineering(?) shift started chatting it up with me and actually brought me to where the trains were and helped me stall the conductor guys so I can sneak some random shots of the trains, platforms and seats. On top of that, he went up to one of the coppers and insist that I take a picture with "New York's Finest" Weird. I take it that it's because I am a girl.
Posted 80 months ago.
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the reality of this is that the real terrorists have access to the blueprints...they have high-end video...hi-res images in both the "public" and private areas...
why would they take pictures out in the open?
people need to get a grip. this kind of fear means the terrorists have won. they have succeeded in impinging on our freedoms by playing on our fears. which is exactly what they wanted to do
Originally posted 80 months ago.
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Marion J. Ross edited this topic 80 months ago.
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very true... stopping photographers doesn't do anything to prevent terrorism, it's only likely to prevent tourism.
Here's a shot I took in Grand Central:
Luckily I didn't get hassled for taking the shot. I didn't use a tripod (like a terrorist!?) and another big reason is probably that I'm Scottish and hence very un-tanned! There's a lot of prejudice going-on with this issue - the lazy assumption that Brown = Terrorist. The Unabomber, Timothy McVeigh (and the IRA in the UK) are so quickly forgotten by these petty and power-hungry officials.
Posted 80 months ago.
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I kind of understand why they wouldn't let people take pictures on the bottom floor where the tracks were, but even when I was there as a tourist, I had no idea that you couldn't take pics of the hall itself?? (And I didn't find out until this thread) That is pretty ridiculous to all of us that having a piece of public art/architecture etc.. where you can't appreciate it other than by looking at it.
Posted 79 months ago.
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