rescue341
TPF Noob!
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- Jun 24, 2017
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Hey all. I wasn't exactly sure where to put this so please forgive me if i'm in the wrong place. I had my frist negitve police encounter today and was hopeing for thoughts and advice for the future
A little background on this location and how I deal with people this is local flea market that I've done photo walks at a few times in the past. There have been a few times I have been approached by people asking qustions mostly all pleasent encounter ending in me deleting there photo and apologize for offending them. There have been a few less pleasant encounters with people being rude and yelling these have all ended peacefully with me telling them It's a protected right upheld by the supreme court and walking away. I am very much of a it's how you apporch me kind of guy
Round one:
Now on to todays events. So I get to the flea market and do as I ussaly do I start at the far end and make laps takeing picture of anyting that catches my eye. People talking about an old oil lantern, a old plow ect ect. I made about three laps before I notice a guy walking backwards towards me. He gets to me and in a real hushed and angery voice says "delete the picture!" I reply " I dont think I have any of you but hold on ill check" This made him mad and he got out of his hushed voice and started yelling how thats BS he saw me take his picture. At this point with the guy yelling I have already decided I dont care if I have a pic of him or not and if I do i dont care how out of focus it is im not deleating it. So I start the whole spill that its a frist amendment right, Hes in a public place with not expectation of privacy blah blah blah. I start to walk away and he grabs for my camera. I push him back and hit record on my camera (my card was almost full so I only got part of the altercation). He chest up and i put my arm out keeping him at a distance and yelling commands to back up or I will press charges, He backs up and walks away. I check my camera for damage and go in the other direction to countiune on. A few mins latter he finds and starts a verbal altercation hes yelling about wire tap laws and privacy and that im some kind of prevent and he rents a space at the flea market so its like his home an i cant take pictures of his home. a small coward forms with a few taking pictures of me and a few joing in with the guy. Someone who saw this called the police who came and delt with it. I showed them the partial video I had gotten of the assualt and they asked if i wanted to press charges I refused becuase I wasnt hurt and my stuff was broke so I saw no point in risking runing someone elses life by trying to send them to jail. these officer were very good about understanding photograghy as a right. One very respectfuly tried to convince me to not take any photos of anyone I explanied to him that i understood what he ment but I couldnt let anyone bully me out of a right i bleive in. Again these officers were wonderful the Neg encounter comes in round two
Round Two:
Becuase the altercation with the guy drew a small coward that sided with him this kind of set the tone of the venders for the rest of the day. I had many get angry and yell and cuss but to some of there credits I also had a few really good conversations with some including a Mexican immigrant who told me it made him very said to see so many people who never lived with out rights forgetting how important those rights are. Fast forward to the end of the day when most vendors are packing up. I see a woman packing up some amazing wood carvings she had made. I raise my camera and start to pull focus when she bends down picks up a rock and throws it at me. I hit record as she picks up hand fulls of gravel and slings them at me. Yelling shell call the cops. I tell her mama if you dont stop throwing gravel ill call th- Boom I catch a rock in my eye. I call 911 and request deputys respond to my location. they get there and say nothing about the woman throwing rocks. When I try to show them the video. They refuse. One officer ask me for my Press ID. I tell him I dont have a Press ID but I do have a drivers licences if he needs to see it. He says without a press ID I cant take pictures of people. I try explaing to him and any member of the public can be considered a member of the press and the a press ID gives no more rights then a citzen already has. He doesn't want to here it. He goes on to say I may have a right to photograph in public but not when its harassment by shoving a camera in peoples faces. I show him my telescoping lens and explain to him that my shots are taking from as far away as possible so i can capture more natural interactions and how is that shoving a camera in someones face. The encounter ends after a few more threats from the officer that he will charge me with harassment and a few more times of being called an idiot by the officer. I have a appointment with his Sargent to talk about the encounter Monday
What do yall think about how I handled todays events. Sure I could have been nicer to the frist guy and that likely would have avoided the whole thing but to be perfectly honest I get tried of people trying to steam roll over me for doing something completely legal. Do yall have any advice for the future and what do yall think about the photography being harassment argument. I had never heard or thought about it. In what conditions could photography go from right to harassment. I understand nothing yall say is legal advice just more looking for your thoughts
A little background on this location and how I deal with people this is local flea market that I've done photo walks at a few times in the past. There have been a few times I have been approached by people asking qustions mostly all pleasent encounter ending in me deleting there photo and apologize for offending them. There have been a few less pleasant encounters with people being rude and yelling these have all ended peacefully with me telling them It's a protected right upheld by the supreme court and walking away. I am very much of a it's how you apporch me kind of guy
Round one:
Now on to todays events. So I get to the flea market and do as I ussaly do I start at the far end and make laps takeing picture of anyting that catches my eye. People talking about an old oil lantern, a old plow ect ect. I made about three laps before I notice a guy walking backwards towards me. He gets to me and in a real hushed and angery voice says "delete the picture!" I reply " I dont think I have any of you but hold on ill check" This made him mad and he got out of his hushed voice and started yelling how thats BS he saw me take his picture. At this point with the guy yelling I have already decided I dont care if I have a pic of him or not and if I do i dont care how out of focus it is im not deleating it. So I start the whole spill that its a frist amendment right, Hes in a public place with not expectation of privacy blah blah blah. I start to walk away and he grabs for my camera. I push him back and hit record on my camera (my card was almost full so I only got part of the altercation). He chest up and i put my arm out keeping him at a distance and yelling commands to back up or I will press charges, He backs up and walks away. I check my camera for damage and go in the other direction to countiune on. A few mins latter he finds and starts a verbal altercation hes yelling about wire tap laws and privacy and that im some kind of prevent and he rents a space at the flea market so its like his home an i cant take pictures of his home. a small coward forms with a few taking pictures of me and a few joing in with the guy. Someone who saw this called the police who came and delt with it. I showed them the partial video I had gotten of the assualt and they asked if i wanted to press charges I refused becuase I wasnt hurt and my stuff was broke so I saw no point in risking runing someone elses life by trying to send them to jail. these officer were very good about understanding photograghy as a right. One very respectfuly tried to convince me to not take any photos of anyone I explanied to him that i understood what he ment but I couldnt let anyone bully me out of a right i bleive in. Again these officers were wonderful the Neg encounter comes in round two
Round Two:
Becuase the altercation with the guy drew a small coward that sided with him this kind of set the tone of the venders for the rest of the day. I had many get angry and yell and cuss but to some of there credits I also had a few really good conversations with some including a Mexican immigrant who told me it made him very said to see so many people who never lived with out rights forgetting how important those rights are. Fast forward to the end of the day when most vendors are packing up. I see a woman packing up some amazing wood carvings she had made. I raise my camera and start to pull focus when she bends down picks up a rock and throws it at me. I hit record as she picks up hand fulls of gravel and slings them at me. Yelling shell call the cops. I tell her mama if you dont stop throwing gravel ill call th- Boom I catch a rock in my eye. I call 911 and request deputys respond to my location. they get there and say nothing about the woman throwing rocks. When I try to show them the video. They refuse. One officer ask me for my Press ID. I tell him I dont have a Press ID but I do have a drivers licences if he needs to see it. He says without a press ID I cant take pictures of people. I try explaing to him and any member of the public can be considered a member of the press and the a press ID gives no more rights then a citzen already has. He doesn't want to here it. He goes on to say I may have a right to photograph in public but not when its harassment by shoving a camera in peoples faces. I show him my telescoping lens and explain to him that my shots are taking from as far away as possible so i can capture more natural interactions and how is that shoving a camera in someones face. The encounter ends after a few more threats from the officer that he will charge me with harassment and a few more times of being called an idiot by the officer. I have a appointment with his Sargent to talk about the encounter Monday
What do yall think about how I handled todays events. Sure I could have been nicer to the frist guy and that likely would have avoided the whole thing but to be perfectly honest I get tried of people trying to steam roll over me for doing something completely legal. Do yall have any advice for the future and what do yall think about the photography being harassment argument. I had never heard or thought about it. In what conditions could photography go from right to harassment. I understand nothing yall say is legal advice just more looking for your thoughts