Maybe I’ll go to the American Embassy at the weekend :-).

They also photographed the Pentagon as well as a filed out in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. They were ALLOWED to take these pictures unimpeded!

Makes me sooo ANGRY!

(coming from a photographer, who is sick of the digital)

1) Go to New York.

2) Take pictures.

3) Get arrested.

4) PROFIT.

Could you imagine the police stopping you and saying, “Sir…staring is not allowed…if you stare in one direction for too long we will assume you are memorizing the layout in preparation for an attack…and arrest you.”

Hopefully, now that less paranoid minds are running this country, more sensible ideas about how to deal with such situations will begin to be disseminated.

More sensible ideas such as using the million-name No-Fly List to determine who can buy a gun?

I don’t know how much more Hope and Change this country can take.

I’ll be in trouble if an officer ever detains me due to “probably cause”, I won’t be able to stop laughing.

Have their been any proven cases where photographs from easily accessed public venues have been a major factor in planning a terrorist act?

Is it a significant enough risk to consider taking away those rights?

We also need a re-affirmation from our leaders that this is a country run by the rule of law. That all people are required to follow those laws and you can’t just make up new laws out of thin air and apply them to certain people because you want to.

Police, security guards and others take their direction from what they see their leaders doing.

Yes it is great that individuals stand up for their rights when they are persecuted under non-existent laws but really they shouldn’t have to. The police should know very clearly what the laws are that they are supposed to enforce and that they are not allowed to enforce laws which don’t exist.

The economy continues to collapse. No one has the money to buy new electronics. These newfangled electronic cameras, as lovely as they are, don’t have the lifespan of a sturdy old film SLR. They die once their hamster-short lifespans are spent. No one buys film cameras then because no one has the money and the climate has gone to shit, so everybody is starving and freezing or frying, and they’re all eating each other anyway. So nobody is out in the open taking pictures because they’d be lunch!

See? All the photographic problems will be solved. And it’s brought to you courtesy of the same great minds that profit from the sale of the electronics which you are forbidden to use: our corporate overlords!

It’s tidy, so tidy.

I believe Thomas Jefferson said just about that same thing.

Tomas Jefferson said that said thing should be done to OUR laws about every 20 years or so.

(a clarification, because, of course, he said the same thing to the British)

The week had already been a bit surreal, what with the events of the 22nd, we were all still reeling with the ramifications of that act.

I took the day to sort out my thoughts, and, with my camera in hand was wandering through our small town, taking pictures. I believe that, in the back of my mind, there was a thought that I would someday want to revisit the way the world looked, I knew it would never be the same.

I had burned through a couple of rolls of film on the old Argus brick that I had obtained a couple of years before, it still worked fine, it still works today, I get better pictures from that old 35mm than I do from a new Nikon digital slr, but that’s another story.

Our town had a city hall that dated back to the 1800′s, wonderful old stone building, two stories. I was spending a few minutes with the camera taking close-ups of corners and sills, carved and ornate.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned to see one of the local police officers, one hand on his gun… (“damn” I thought, what is THIS about!)

“What are you up to son?”

Being well aware of the imbalance of power, I stood tall and said “Taking pictures, sir.”

“Pictures of what?”

“The building, sir.”

“Come with me,” he said, “and turned me around towards the entrance to the police station/jail.

I had no idea what the problem was, I had never been in any significant trouble.

The holding cell was 10×10, I was not the only resident, there was some drunk in the corner, dead to the world, smelling like last weeks garbage.

5 hours later the officer returned and dragged me in front of the magistrate.

“Espionage”, he said, “plain and simple. The world ain’t what it used to be, we’ve got to be careful!”

There was no acronym for “WTF” back then, so I just said the words.

“Shut up, kid”, the officer said.

“Espionage” the magistrate repeated, he liked the sound of those words.

“I’m 15 years old!” I said!

“Shut up, kid.”

This went on for about two hours, my parents were called, they called a lawyer, the lawyer showed up (his office was next door). Threats were exchanged, names were dropped..and, eventually I was sent out the front door….

Things haven’t changed much.

There is nothing more un-American than this crap. What amazes me is the verve and joy with which cops and especially renta-cops go after photogs.

People with cell phone cameras get ignored. It’s people with real camera’s that get the harassment.

Nazi bastards.

If you are sure of your rights and can stick it out, you may eventually collect, but they’ll go out of their way to make the whole thing as unpleasant as possible for you.

As it’s ultimately the taxpayer who has to foot the bill, there’s not a lot of incentive for them to fix the system.

What we need is someone to imbed a video camera in a cane and take tons of photos of the cops and then post them anonymously on a blog… show them that anyone holding a camera in plain sight is not a terrorist…

Of course the other side of this is that they know what is coming… I guess getting the ovens ready does that to a person…

No pictures in public.
Debt.
Public money to fund banks, farming, auto production, arts.
An election system that is not transparent.

Oh, there is a very dark and grim probability that these actions are being directed from above as “reality manipulation” but we all know such things never could happen in a free society….

Rearden: “You seem to be pleased about it.”

Ferris: “Don’t I have good reason to be?”

Rearden: “But, after all, I did break one of your laws.”

Ferris: “Well, what do you think they’re there for?”

Ferris: “Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed? We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against… We’re after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”

…not sure why, but the additional charges levied reminded me of that.

Umm… no you don’t. If that person is in a public place, in public view, they have no expectation of privacy, and you are free to snap as many pictures of them as you want. You can walk around all day taking pictures of people on sidewalks and park benches and never have to fill out a single release form.

The line here gets blurry when you decide what gets done with the photo. If you’re selling it as “person on street” or “group on street” it doesn’t matter who the people were, it’s just a candid shot. However, if you’re selling “fascinating woman with piercing blue eyes in Central Park” then it IS about the person, and you probably ought to credit the subject. In that case, you’d probably already have had a conversation with them anyway and have their permission to take their photo.

Basically, as long as you’re IN a public place, taking pictures OF a public place, you’re ok.

“They were citing 9/11,”

“They were citing the Reichstag Fire.” oh, wait… :p

I didn’t hire this idiot, I didn’t authorize him to use excessive force for personal pleasure, and I certainly didn’t authorize the multi-million dollar payouts that ensue. Let them pay for their own stupidity. We require doctors to maintain malpractice insurance, and most of them don’t carry firearms like a second dick.

That there are still Americans who are like “Oh yeah? You think so… make the arrest and we’ll see who’s laughing at the end!”

Too many have become sheep, and it’s reassuring to know that there are at least SOME people out there standing up for themselves and defying “non-existent authority” so to speak.