[pure-silver] Re: Excellent editorial from the UK on harassment of photographers as potential terrorists
- From: Bogdan Karasek <bkarasek@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:37:38 -0400
Hi,
I think that this obsession with national security has taken the public
consciousness beyond the pale of coherent reasoning. Try explaining to
a police officer that you have every legal right to be photographing,
say, a railroad station or a bridge; you show him the article that was
presented to us by Bob Younger, including the wallet size pdf file "The
Photographer's Right". As far as he is concerned, he is a police
officer and he knows what is legal and what is illegal and if you don't
move on or refuse to give up your film, then he can arrest you for
obstructing a police officer in the performance of his duty. Then
what? We're not talking about your village vicar anymore. You can
explain till you're blue in the face, but there's not much you can do
from the inside of a cell. Intimidation can be very powerful when you
wear a badge and carry a gun. Who are you going to complain to when you
no longer have any rights.
Call me paranoid but I think that we live in very troubled times, where
civil liberties have been dangerously eroded and to even question this
state of affairs or not wearing a flag pin on your lapel, is seen as a
sign of unpatriotic behaviour!
Ok, off my pulpit!
Cheers,
Bogdan
Aaron Reece wrote:
Elias,
You make a fair point but suppose the photographer is on holiday
in a strange city. There would be little or no opportunity to obtain
permission to photograph the church on a tour or walk around the
city. In the long run, I believe that it is more important to firmly
establish the legal rights of photographers in the public
consciousness, and thereby avoid such confrontations entirely.
On a lighter note, one of the big advantages of TLR photography
these days is that only old-timers recognize them as cameras in the
first place.
Best regards,
Aaron Reece
Oswego, NY, USA
On Jun 6, 2008, at 6:07 PM, eroustom@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
That's just nuts, of course. But at the same time it would have been
worth your while to contact the minister and ask "permission",
explain your artistic interest in their building, promise a print,
do a group shot. You might turn the experience into something
positive for you and them - serve as an ambassador for large format
photography. If he/she says no, then you didn't waste your time
setting up.
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________________________________________________________________
Bogdan Karasek
Montréal, Québec bogdan(at)bogdanphoto.com
Canada www.bogdanphoto.com
"I bear witness"
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