All it took for me was a letter and they replied with a nice note and telling me they'd given copies of my 'permission' to the police and other authorities, the list had some five offices.
I was treated like a VIP wherever I went. I hosted some others on field trips, and on one occasion with my 'boss' the owner of the gallery I worked; when the police came, he was about to grab his stuff and run. When he saw me walking up to [her] the constabulary, his face dropped. I smiled, we shook hands; and I pulled out my 'permit.'
She smiled back, didn't even take time to look at the piece of paper, a letter, then told me some interesting things that lead us to some unique pictures.
My boss wanted a copy of my letter. Did he get it? No.
Oh, yeah. Did I tell you . . . $45 US a month and I show two million Liability Insurance. Did you know you can be sucessfully sued if you're taking pictures [expecially with a big and interesting looking camera] on public land, some driver gets into an accident while watching you. You're a libelous distraction. Permit can cover that, if you have a permit and don't have the insurance.
Story #2: I got stuck in the sand, at the park, and like ants at a picnic, the 'officials' were all around me to give me help.
There's nothing like taking the leaps, and jumping over the hurddles to get the rewards. And, dealing with the government? Grants!
Now, I have pictures in lots of government offices. When people come to Carmel, they all ask about my photography.
All in all, . . . well, you can figure out the end of the story.
S. Shapiro
----- Original Message ----- From: "trevor cunningham" <tr_cunningham@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students" <photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 9:02 AM
Subject: Re: photo law facts
I was at the Giza pyramids yesterday with my 5x7 and had an interesting experience. These police come up to me (the real police don't wear uniforms) and start asking me for my camera ticket (many sites require an extra charge for a camera or video gizmo...i tell them to shove off and they start calling my rig a movie camera and that i need clearence from the government... really, they were waiting for me to give them money to go away...so, they got to watch someone learning how to use a large format camera destroy one negative and, hopefully, properly expose another and not get a piaster...i guess they seemed pleased i wasn't an israeli-backed jewish hollywood film maker and let me do as i wished...i should have had said "shalom" when they walked up and i'd have a better story to tell --- Bob Talbot <BobTalbot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Interesting, but note that was published in 1997. The Patriot Act > does give authorities powers that were not in effect then. I keep hearing about this "Patriot Act". Must read up about it!!!!
> Even if you have the absolute right to photograph, the police > now seem to have the power to arrest you "on suspicion" which > will be a hassle at best. Don't you risk ending up in Guatanamo bay, or is that reserved for us foreigners?
I've read quite a few reports of over-zealous policing - Thnks: "Oh, he's stood out in the open witha big camera and a tripod, maybe he's trying to take covert pictures"
Bob
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"The optimist believes this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it's true" - J Robert Oppenheimer
http://www.geocities.com/tr_cunningham
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