Where and what may we photograph?
Today I came across another rather disturbing photographers’ rights article. This one was on the Daily Telegraph web site: “Has our increasingly paranoid society declared war on the humble ‘weekend snapper’?“.
Most of these recent articles have recounted photographers being harassed when photographing in a location that someone thinks could be a terrorist target, or if any young children happen to be in the vicinity.
My big confrontation
I haven’t experienced any police harassment yet, but I was reminded of a minor confrontation I had about a year ago while photographing. I had stopped for about 10 minutes by the side of the road on a Saturday morning to take the above two (unremarkable) photos of some vacant farmland in town.
As I finished and was folding up my tripod to leave, the property owner came running out of his house across the street behind me. He jogged across the road and demanded to know why I was taking pictures of his empty field, and what I was going to do with the photos. His questions weren’t unreasonable, but his aggressive manner and shouting were. Though my initial reaction was to yell back, I smiled and asked him if this were his property. His response: “You answer my question, first.”
OK, so much for the friendly dialogue approach. After a pause, I decided just to defuse the situation, and calmly explained that I was taking the photos for my personal use and they wouldn’t be used for commercial purposes. He wasn’t really satisfied, but turned and walked back home, telling me to stay off his property. He then watched carefully from across the road as I packed up and drove away.
Frequently in situations like this I offer to send the property owner a print, but this unfriendly guy didn’t deserve a thank-you.
I can only guess at his underlying reason for being concerned about my photographing his empty land.
August 21, 2008 3 Comments
