photographer's conversation with a policeman on the street

I was standing on a footpath making photographs of the street and passers-by, most of whom had no idea that I was taking their photograph. I was trying to be as discreet as possible but I wasn’t exactly hiding in the bushes with a telephoto either. I was using a 35mm RF camera with a 35mm lens. So I was pretty much in the thick of it. A man walks past me and notices the camera, gives me a frowning look and walks on. About half a minute later, as I was fiddling with the camera dial, I hear a voice behind me and it’s the same guy.

“What are you taking photo’s of mate?” he asks.

I was a little bit taken aback as the tone with which he asked me this question had a suspicious flavour.

“Just the street here.” I answered sort of embarrassed indicating the footpath in front of me.

“Just the street?” he asked.

“Yeah.” I replied.

“Its just that I am from the police.” he said, opening his wallet and showing me a badge. “And some women have complained.” I shook my head with a smile and he quickly added “not that I am saying anything about you, it’s just that there have been complaints.”

“I’m just taking photos of the street.” I added.

“Ok mate, have a good afternoon.” He said and continued down the footpath.

I had been taking photos once before on the same street for all of 5 minutes as I waited for my bus and that time was only the 2nd or 3rd time that I have ever even attempted street photography. I doubt that anyone would have complained specifically about me then. After the whole episode I felt quite intimidated and wasn’t really even sure if I was doing the right thing. I don’t think it’s going to discourage me for continuing with this style of photography but I was wondering if others had experienced similar suspicion from authorities or their subjects and how you dealt with it.

It sounds to me like he was harassing you - some police officers do that every now and then. If you say "camera" or "photography" to some people, the first thing that pops into their mind is pornography - that cop was one of those people.

My sympathies. At long last in the U.K. some guidelines are being distributed to police officers about the law on this after some high profile cases. The guideline leaflet was shown in this weeks AP mag. Might be an idea if street photogs can get a copy in case it takes a long time to filter down to every overzealous policeman.

We'll have a breakthrough when on recieving a complaint an officer asks to be taken to the photog by the complainant and having quickly with his own eyes and without the need for applying the third degree to the photog, has ascertained that he is simply taking street photos then politely but firmly informs the complainant that the photog have every right to pursue his hobby and tells him/her that that is the end of that.

pentaxuser

Driving said:

It sounds to me like he was harassing you - some police officers do that every now and then. If you say "camera" or "photography" to some people, the first thing that pops into their mind is pornography - that cop was one of those people.

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To me it sounds like the cop was just doing his job. If he was harassing him the conversation would have been considerably longer. The only person that could really take any blame in this situation was the person/s making the complaint.

I wonder if the same thing would have happened had you been walking along, instead of staying in one place, which I infer is what you were doing?

Sounds OK to me. During a recent project I was doing I met cops from 4 different police departments, and private cops from a security company. They all made a point of talking to me and asking what I was doing. I never felt harassed, but that they were just doing their job. Some of the conversations were interesting and I got a different perspective from them.

Richard Wasserman

Anscojohn said:

I wonder if the same thing would have happened had you been walking along, instead of staying in one place, which I infer is what you were doing?

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Yes that's right, i was standing at the one spot because that's the way I wanted to take the photos for easier framing and focusing. I suppose I would have looked more like a tourist and blended in more if i was walking around.

Thanasis said:

Yes that's right, i was standing at the one spot because that's the way I wanted to take the photos for easier framing and focusing. I suppose I would have looked more like a tourist and blended in more if i was walking around.

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*******
Perhaps APUG could begin offering a fake tourist kit: hmmm, flowered shirt, cardboard digicam-lookalike, goofy-looking hat............

Sounds like you and the officer had a polite conversation, he figured out the complainant was full of s--t, and things turned out well.

I have to admit this is on my mind a lot. For a while I was doing a lot of shooting at an extreme skate park which is frequented by crowds of minors. There are some adults in attendance, but for the most part these are young teens unsupervised. The place is very cool, not only for the activity and people that I find there but for the place itself, with all the interesting concrete shapes. I'm 46 years old, and I got to wondering how it might look to a suspicious bystander for me to be firing away at the kids like some old perv. I don't engage them unless they speak to me, for precisely that reason.

Only time I was ever accosted was after I photographed a young teenager who'd broken his wrist in a fall. I was shooting the crowd gathered around him and the paramedics who showed up to tend him. Some woman who knew him came up to me and hassled me for photographing him. She was having none of my polite explanations of the laws pertaining to photographing people in public, and she got ever more rude until I finally told her to piss off.

Not sure why the public has gotten more surly about photographers in public. Do you think it's because everyone thinks a camera means their 15 minutes of fame may have arrived, and they want their cut; or they think their activitites are worthy of paparazzo attention?

Driving, Why do you think it is that people think that?

Nothing is new.

Don't blame the cop.

Learn to become invisible.

Arrested for being Black.

Arrested for being a photographer.

Nothing new here.

Fear walks upon the land. People feel much more vulnerable than they used to, and really, it has less to do with photography than with general experience with predation of all kinds. I think that there is a bias toward assuming that anyone doing anything a bit unusual is up to some tricks.

Having made a career of shooting in public for a dozen years or so, I can offer some observations.

If you went on vacation, and during your absence, a couple of folks drove up in a moving van and cleaned out your house, your neighbors might be very confused, or maybe, if you don't know them very well, they might experience some bemused indifference. However, unless you had fairly close relations with them, they might not challenge the "movers" because they might think that you had simply neglected to inform them of your moving.

Point: Look the part. Look and act like you are a photographer, not a tourist and not someone without a photographer's agenda. Don't sneak around. Develop some confidence in the way you move, and carry a bag of camera gear. Shoot like you are dancing; the way you move is very important.

I could shoot for hours and even direct to some extent ("would you mind doing that again for me?") without anyone so much as asking. If they did ask, which was extremely rare, I could tell them I was shooting for a well known magazine, which I was. I doubt if it would have made much difference, though. I looked like I belonged. I looked and acted like I was doing my job, which I was. And, because I was doing the job, I had confidence and people could see that.

In all those years I was challenged only once, and that was my own fault; I did something stupid. Needing a shot of a bike trail, I positioned myself around a curve, not exactly visibly. A guy came around the corner, saw me shooting and nearly lost his balance. He got off his bike, and I thought that I was in trouble - I mean, I was sure he was going to punch me out. He was mad. He threatened legal action, which of course wouldn't have worked, but I didn't argue with him. I told him that I would be happy to destroy that negative, which I did. It would not have been of any use anyway. That was very unsettling.

Not having done that kind of work for some time now, and no longer having that gig, I would have to warm up a bit, now. I'd need to practice every day for awhile to get back into it.

One other episode which was rather amusing in a way, was when a client, an architect, asked me to shoot his latest building, the new jail. I agreed to do it, but asked him to call up the police and tell them I'd be doing it. Normally, I would handle that myself, but since he was a city councilman, I thought it better to let him do it.

So, I had my view camera set up on the building. Several policemen went in and out, but finally, one stopped and just inquired about what I was doing. "Didn't Pete call and let you guys know?" He hadn't heard anything about it. Anyway, saying that "I just thought I'd check. We've had a couple of escape attempts already", he went on.

About 9 months ago I was questioned by the FBI and local police. Claimed it was because of "homeland security".

Read more here.

nothing new.
just roll with it.

next time you will do what you need to do ...
that much better.

sorry for your troubles .. it's never any fun.

Point: Look the part. Look and act like you are a photographer, not a tourist and not someone without a photographer's agenda. Don't sneak around. Develop some confidence in the way you move, and carry a bag of camera gear. Shoot like you are dancing; the way you move is very important.

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It's role playing, you have to play the part of a photographer in an exaggerated way. The above advice is correct.

Seems like someone called and he was just checking the situation out. Sounds like a much more low key encounter than I usually have, and I have not even had a bad one. My experience has been that real police officers are cool about it, while pseudo cops are not. The police know the laws, and know that if you are made to stop a perfectly legal activity, your complaint will be something far more serious for them to deal with than some bozo's complaint about pictures taken in public.

The times the police have come, I was not doing "street photography", per se. Yes, I was in public, but I was not shooting candid pix of strangers. The complaints have come from property owners. Once I explain the law a couple times and they are still going off on me, I simply give up and tell them to please call the police, because the law is on my side. The police arrive and already know the score, but they have to talk to both sides separately so it seems like they are being reasonable. They usually say something like, "We know you are allowed to shoot here, but he does not understand that. It will make the whole situation easier if you find another spot to take your pictures." Usually I am done and say "OK", but one time I said that I really needed to take the picture, so stayed.

All good advice. Thanks very much. I'll try bowzart's tactics next time. Although I said i was discreet, its not like I am sneaking around trying to remain concealed. I usually walk around with the camera in my hands at stomach level and then when I see something about to happen I raise it to my eye and wait and then release the shutter. Sometimes I wait too long with the camera up to my eye and that's when I get noticed. Obviously, I am looking at people walking towards me for longer so there is often eye contact made for a longer-than-usual period of time.

df cardwell said:

Nothing is new.

Don't blame the cop.

Learn to become invisible.

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I don't blame the cop. I guess he was just doing his job.

Also, make a point of knowing what is public property and what is private property. Exact details vary by jurisdiction, but commonalities that seem to come up in threads like these is that usually taking photos from obviously public property such as the street or the sidewalk, assuming the subject isn't a classified military installation, is OK. Taking photos while on private property requires the permission of the property owner.

What you can do with the images afterward, particularly if the people in them are indentifiable, even if in public, varies signficantly more by jurisdiction.

I've been approached by the police a number of times, almost always they look at me then walk off. I've also been swung at, pushed, people grabbing for my camera, yelled at, swore at, threatened to be stabbed, etc etc from other people...oh, and a pigeon flew into my head last week. It can be anywhere from entertaining to unsettling, but either it comes with the territory. I've also, on a daily basis, met some really incredible and interesting people just while standing and watching a corner.

My only warnings are to be careful that a) you don't get addicted to it and b) that you don't end up more insane than the people threatening you are. Both I think can easily happen if you love the streets.

People are sometimes ansy about the whole being photographed on the street thingy. I would do what the greats do, hit and run. Make your photos quickly and leave before you draw to much attention. Cartier Bresson Winogrand and the bunch would point their rangefinder shoot (often without a lightmeter reading) and be gone before the subjects knew what was up.

Do not be discouraged by the angry folk, make your photos.

Joel Meyerowitz does not exactly hide in a corner

[YOUTUBE]5dipTqJfiE4[/YOUTUBE]

That's great. He's got it. I would add though, you don't always need that viewfinder. If you practice visualizing you can learn to project the frame even from a camera at arm's length. I saw a video of Winogrand lately. He actually shot over his shoulder. I do that kind of thing all the time. I spent a lot of time and effort learning how to intuit what is there, where the frame is. One of these days, I'll put some of that stuff up for everyone to see, but for now, just try it.

Also, Joel M'witz was wearing black, and a black stocking cap. There is a tradition for doing this. However, that is NOT necessarily the most invisible; you could call attention to yourself in doing so by being the only crow person around. New York is one thing, Tacoma WA is another. I wear the clothes I always wear; whatever I am most comfortable in. I suppose if I wore black all the time, it'd be black. Maybe in Palm Springs, it would be one of those alligator knit shirts.