TooMuchSexy.blog

Today I went out to shoot a roll of film for my first project. I was stopped by police before snapping my first photograph.

Standing in a snow bank in Essex County College, preparing to take a photograph of a flight of stairs, a policeman stopped me and told me to follow him. He asked me why I was photographing their campus. I informed him that it was for class. He then told me I’d have to speak with his Sergeant.

I politely explained that Essex County College is a public campus and I am legally allowed to photograph public property. He told me that ever since September 11th, “things have changed.”

The sergeant asked for my ID, school and state, and didn’t believe me when I told him that Rutgers has a photography class. After giving him my ID he disappeared for 10 minutes, probably to check if I was in a terrorist database. He returned and said I can photograph their building.

He let me go, but before doing so he recommended that I not take photographs publicly in Newark. I told him it was my legal right to do so. He said I would be stopped again and I calmly said, “I know.”

…but it’s not over…

Later I was walking onto PSE&G to photograph their beautiful building. A security guard from PSE&G quickly stopped me, informing me it was illegal to photograph the building. As I was on their property I left without photographing anything, as I did not have the right to.

What surprised me is that the security guard followed me quite a ways to verify that I wasn’t returning to photograph a publicly viewable building. While I can legally take photos of PSE&G from the street, it is obscured by trees making for an ugly picture.

When did photography become a crime? When did people decide that anyone walking around with an SLR is suspicious?

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Comments

1. It may be illegal to shoot pictures with your SLR but I bet if you had a camera phone everything would be hunky-dory.  Especially if it had naughty up-skirt photos of college girls.

   — Oorgo 

1. Actually, you need a permit to photograph public property, always have. Of course, a lot of times they’ll look the other way, unless you’ve got a whole film crew or something.

   They’re usually free or available for a nominal fee from the city.

   You’re allowed to take pictures of anything visible from the street though. So if you’re on the street or sidewalk taking pictures, the campus security folks can’t harass you. If you’re on the campus proper, make sure you’ve got the permit and /or the Dean knows what yer up to.

   People are stupid after 9/11m they think every little bait shop and parking lot is a potential target. It’s a good idea to cross your i’s and dot your t’s before venturing any place under the jurisdiction of a small man with a big badge and gun.

   — Jason 

1. Jason—I want to make sure I have it straight.

   If I take a picture from the street of a public (or for that matter, private) building, it is legal. If I am off the street and on public property (park, public college campus, etc.) I need a permit from the city to take photographs?

   — Nate 

1. Etan, ignore Jason.  You do not need a permit to take pictures of public property.  By their very nature, public property is public property.

   I have no clue where Jason gets the idea you have to pay for a permit.  Perhaps he’s mixing up filming a movie with still photography, but his advice is 100% wrong.

   As far as private property goes, that’s up to the owner of the property. Most people don’t care.  But other people assert their rights. It all depends.

   In the case of Newark, there is one thing you do need to know.  Newark in general has a quite corrupt political system.  And the city is a reflection of that. So you get guards and cops being a bit extra “stern” when dealing with people.

   But anyone telling you that you have to “buy” a permit from the city to take pictures in the city is talking out of their ass.

   As far as private property goes, you might want to check with guards and just say “Hey, I’m taking pictures for my class, is that cool?” Be pre-emptive and there’s less hassle.  And if nobody is around, just take the picture and don’t think twice.

   I took pictures around the 7 WTC site which is technically private property and the guard saw me.  I waved to them.  They waved to me.  No problems.  No issues.

   — Jack 

1. Have you seen Brown equals Terrorist?
   He had quite a time attempting to take pictures of a bridge near where he lived for nearly the same reason. A project for a college photography class.

   If you haven’t, you might want to read the story of his ordeal. It’s really fascinating.

   — Dave M. 

1. calmly? dude, you are the gandhi of photography

   — ed 

1. It’s a day of wonder and glory. Ed has commented on my site again.

   

   — Nate 

1. yes yes, praise be to allah, but i commented on the color and gardening tool thing a while back. back to hiding now

   — ed 

1. darnit, I wrote out a whole long comment and the site lost it just because I forgot to write my e-mail address.

   I’m lazy, so to make a long story short, I’ve been very annoyed with uniformed men and women lately. Your story just gives me more reason to deem them irksome.

   : P

   — Janie 

1. Yeah, I’m always scared to take pictures of buildings in the public.. I feel like I’m under the scrutiny of a hundred cops every time I whip out my camera.  It’s like I need a crew of people to pose just so it won’t look suspicious.  Yeargg..

   — soce, the elemental wizard 

1. I would look at

   photopermit.org
   http://www.freedomtophotograph.com

   Both have alot of information about this type of problem.  Also Jason is 100 percent incorrect, so just ignore him.

   Hope it helps.

   — DW 

1. why does everybody allways have to ‘hate tha man’. just ask when you can, if they say no , don’t winge, just accept and respect. if what you are doing is ‘above board’ you should have no problem with the reply…stay safe…

   — kenny 

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