Have you ever been harassed?

[astroNikon]

I was harassed because I was taking pics of a oil refinery in Detroit. It was good stuff but immediately surrounded by homeland security people. Stuff was out of focus anyway.

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Yeah, I wouldn't do that down there. They're really sensitive about that because there's no gap between the refinery stuff and the public lands around it (highway, etc) and they're expanding it in what little space they have. A lot of controversy too from activists - the latest is they want a waiver to increase pollution from the plant.

Also don't loiter around the bottom of the bridge near the water even though they're supposedly making a park there now, and the tunnel is sensitive too.

 

[runnah]

 

[Gary A.]

Here I am getting arrested.

The photog is not me. I was shooting the arrest of an AP Photographer (above) when the authorities also arrested me for good measure ... two is better than one, (the hand is attempting to physically stop me from taking photographs).

The odd part is that this was at an Angel baseball game, not a riot or protest or anything cool like that. I get harassed all the time, I've been detained a few times, rarely charged, never convicted.

@ the OP- I believe all your assertions to be spot on as to the criterium used to determine if a permit is required ... but, on the flip side, there is some requirement/responsibility on your end to know the law as well. As you were totally ignorant of said law, you were at a severe disadvantage when defending yourself to your oppressors. If it were I, when simple reason doesn't resonant with the immediate authority, (and when that that happen...), I'd request to speak to their superior.

While posting your frustrations on the internet is helpful in blowing off some steam, a letter to the elected officials/decision makers at the jurisdiction responsible for the park could be a course that produces a long term and positive effect on this problem.

The guy who accosted you was just doing what he was told/heard and was enjoying his day in the Sun exercising that power. At that level, it is sorta like arguing with a vending machine that gave you the wrong candy. Responses for authority, typically, doesn't get much better as you go up the food chain. But the odds for a rational response will increase the high up you go ... but be aware that you still need to find a 'superior' who actually gives a rat's about your situation and not also take the easy course of reading policy verbatim and acting within that context .... And ... that person has not to care about stepping on the toes of their underlings ... so if the stars line up appropriately, it could be resolved in your favor. Any misalignment and you have a ticket. I feel that by going 'upstairs' to superiors, at least I'm getting more Cluck-for-my-Buck, the authority is costing me time ... in return I'll try to cost them money as well and superiors make more money than underlings, advantage Gary.

I don't know how things work in Canada, but here if you really feel righteous over the incidence, then lodge a formal complaint with the jurisdiction. Call the local news outlets and forward them your story, send your story to everybody in the parks department (hopefully you have the names of the people you spoke with on the day of the confrontation), find a free attorney, sit down with an elected official. There are plenty of avenues you can take to correct this problem and further your cause.

I understand where the park owner is coming from, I see it nearly everyday. Commercial/Pro photogs setting up at parks and public places and using those venues as backdrops. (I live in LA ... can you imagine the mess that occurs when wedding and commercial photogs set up in Hollywood and the beaches, blocking pedestrians, yelling at them and taking over piers and tide pools from the general public. On top of it, these photogs probably don't even live in the city and pay nothing in taxes for the maintenance. It's a win-win for the photogs and a lose-lose for the city and city taxpayers and general public.) Out here all the entertainment venues have different rules, from the general no pro cameras, to no dSLRs, to no lenses longer than six inches to no cameras at all. Some like the Hollywood Bowl, have different rules depending on the event so you have to spend time looking to see which rules will be enforced for which event.

I can see the new ordinance coming down to limit public places to non-commercial photography/commercial-with-a-permit only. Those who are scheduled for enforcement most likely having similar questions as you ... "How can I tell the difference between a commercial photographer and a non-commercial photographer?" Someone pretty low in the food chain, someone who has no expertise in photography, coming up with a list of rules ... that list is now policy ... the underlings read and enforce that policy literally. Welcome to our world.

 

[tirediron]

First, unless you've actually read the legislation, and were present at the event, I'm a little unclear on just how you can make that assertion. We only have one side of the story, so there are two sides missing.

I read the quoted ordinace in the article. Did you not? Even if the one-sided story is factually incorrect, we can still look at the actual ordinace -- the rest of the details of the story dont really matter.

§ 608-47. Filming and videotaping.

While in a park, no person shall take or permit to be taken for remuneration any film, photograph, videotape or television broadcast unless permitted under the City's film by-law and authorized by permit from the Toronto Film and Television Office.

re·mu·ner·a·tion
noun

1. money paid for work or a service.

If he wasnt shooting for money, then he didn't violate the ordinace. It's that simple.

Not quite... the Government of Canada uses the Oxford definition, vis: "Reward, recompense; (now usually) money paid for work or a service; payment, pay." Further, Revenue Canada ("our" IRS) is very clear on the point that income or payment is not strictly limited to cash, and that a worker's time has value, so, under the Canadian definition and application, he could have been said to be receiving remuneration. Now, I don't expect that this was really the spirit of the law, but if push came to shove...

That said, good for you for actually reading the act. No, I did not; it seemed way too much like work to me.

 

[Braineack]

 

[waday]

Try taking a picture with any camera in any room with Middle East Arabs present, they will automatically demand the pics be deleted or they will call the cops and have you arrested for breaching their privacy

I did once. They smiled and posed. It was the craziest thing.

 

[jaomul]

I do the harrassing

 

[astroNikon]

Try taking a picture with any camera in any room with Middle East Arabs present, they will automatically demand the pics be deleted or they will call the cops and have you arrested for breaching their privacy

I did once. They smiled and posed. It was the craziest thing.

You now have their souls forever captured in that photo, stolen away from their physical being.

 

[waday]

Try taking a picture with any camera in any room with Middle East Arabs present, they will automatically demand the pics be deleted or they will call the cops and have you arrested for breaching their privacy

I did once. They smiled and posed. It was the craziest thing.

You now have their souls forever captured in that photo, stolen away from their physical being.

Oh man, I didn't want to have to take responsibility over souls.

Wait, would that make me a god?

 

[astroNikon]

Try taking a picture with any camera in any room with Middle East Arabs present, they will automatically demand the pics be deleted or they will call the cops and have you arrested for breaching their privacy

I did once. They smiled and posed. It was the craziest thing.

You now have their souls forever captured in that photo, stolen away from their physical being.

Oh man, I didn't want to have to take responsibility over souls.

Wait, would that make me a god?

No, just some dude with a camera.

But, I wonder if that makes a difference if it's a Film camera, or Digital ?

or small format vs 35mm, medium or large format film or APS-C, FF, 4/3, micro sensors ?

 

[waday]

Try taking a picture with any camera in any room with Middle East Arabs present, they will automatically demand the pics be deleted or they will call the cops and have you arrested for breaching their privacy

I did once. They smiled and posed. It was the craziest thing.

You now have their souls forever captured in that photo, stolen away from their physical being.

Oh man, I didn't want to have to take responsibility over souls.

Wait, would that make me a god?

No, just some dude with a camera.

But, I wonder if that makes a difference if it's a Film camera, or Digital ?

or small format vs 35mm, medium or large format film or APS-C, FF, 4/3, micro sensors ?

Darn. Well, if we set up a study to determine which sensors steal people's souls, we can rule the world AND underworld.

If you pay me enough money (or do my bidding), I won't steal your soul.

 

[DanOstergren]

I was kicked out of the Hoyt Arboretum in Portland once for conducting a fashion shoot there with a large team. I had no issue with being kicked out though and didn't argue with them because I knew from the beginning that it was likely to happen. The clothing designer (who was budgeting this shoot, and all our budget covered was lens rental, scrim rental, and hiring a really amazing model) was intent on this location and when I recommended we get the permit, he insisted that we did not need a permit, and I certainly didn't have it in my budget to buy one. I was using the clothing designer's camera and he paid for the lens rental, so if anything was confiscated, it would be on the designer's budget. I'm surprised they didn't kick us out sooner, because we were walking around with a giant scrim and a big rolling clothing rack, with a team consisting of 6 people including me. There was no way of denying that this was a commercial shoot.
When they kicked us out, they were really nice about it and told me how to go about getting a permit to be able to come back to finish the shoot.

 

[hamlet]

I was once. I usually kill them with kindness, i'm very gentle in person.

 

[John_Olexa]

The day after the 2002 La Plata Tornado I was walking up Rt 6 to the media tent. There was a state trooper watching me walk up the street. After about 5 minutes I stopped in front of the firehouse which had a light pole fall in front of it to take a picture, the trooper went off. Started hollering like he was being attacked by killer bees or something LOL. Even the worker on a nearby roof stopped to see what was going on. I fired off a quick motordrive burst and started walking again when I reached him he glared and said "media tent is that way!" Why it bothered him so bad I don't know, not like there was any traffic on the road. Funny thing is just 2 weeks before I was shooting special olympics and a state trooper (not the same one) received an award and sought me out and ask if I would take a picture. I guess that was ok! I did and dropped off an 8x10 at the barracks for him.. free of charge.

 

[Mr. Innuendo]

I would've looked at the guy driving the cart and said "You're a freakin' GARBAGE MAN" and walked away.