As every day passes, I read more and more about how our American freedoms are getting encroached upon. This story about a photographer well within his rights to shoot a traffic accident who was incorrectly told by four officers that it was illegal to shoot them without their consent. This isn’t that uncommon, with worse reports of equipment confiscation and threat of arrest and prosecution.
Recently, I’ve had a mild encounter with a security officer guarding Keswick Dam. It was late afternoon on a Saturday when I set out on foot walking across the dam. I was doing my thing shooting all sorts of details and vantage points. I wasn’t being discrete about what I was doing and I was doing it all from the sidewalk, a public walkway. This security guard was sitting in his vehicle parked on the dam. I walked right past his open window and politely said “Hello.” He kindly returned the gesture. About 20 feet past him, there were really large gates that can be lifted to release water in the reservoir. They are lifted by a chain where the links are about a foot across which is really impressive. I got close to shoot them and this alerted the guard. He pulled his vehicle up along side of me asking me, “What are you shooting?”
Thinking to myself this must be a trick question because it seemed pretty obvious I was shooting the dam. I answered plainly, “The Dam.”
“What specfically?” he asked.
“I’m shooting the huge chain links,” I responded. He nodded when a car was approaching behind him and he moved on as to not impede traffic. At that point, I was done shooting and headed back to my car. When I was loading up my gear, the guard drove up and parked close. Curious about the exchange I asked, “What was your concern with my photography?”
He explained, “Most people shoot wide shots of the whole dam. I was curious about what you were doing because it was different.” I explained why I was getting close and exchanged some small talk for a few moments and left.
While this encounter was very benign, it really caught my attention because I’ve never been questioned. It prompted me to investigate what my rights are as a photographer. Basically, if I’m in a public place, I can legally shoot anything in public view. That includes people, children, police, buildings, bridges, factories and government buildings. Anything in public view. If I’m on private property, the owner has the right to deny me the right to shoot. Be sure to be armed with the knowledge of your rights.
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