Have you ever been arrested for shooting a location for Arch-viz?

[pailhead]

I was. And i'm wondering if you've had a similar experience.

[ihabkal]

Ha ha , back in Serbia. I am not the only one. I wasn't arrested:

1-I was stopped by a police officer in NewYork in 2005 when I was randomly taking photos of people and buildings in the most photographed city in the world. other people were taking photos but I was the only Arab one.

2- three years ago I was taking photos near a building owned by Rafik Hariri the ex-prime minister and I was pretty far away but that didn't prevent his security people from running at me and asking me if I had a permit to photograph, after arguing with them for a while and calling the land owner they let me take a few photos.

3-two years ago an army guy stood next to me while I was taking photos of a mosque to make sure I won't turn the camera 180 degrees and take photos of the ministry of interior in Beirut.

4-a few months ago I was taking photos of a building in Haret Hreik in Beirut, a Shiite street, and I was attacked by militia men who wanted to break my camera, and they verbally assaulted me and my fellow architect, the owner of the building came in and he was gonna get it too until a higher ranked militia man who had passed the 5th grade it seems came in and look at my photos and decided I didn't photograph any of their underground catusha missiles.

 

Just wanted to say I took tens of thousands of photos in America and was only stopped and asked some questions by an officer in New York. In Beirut however I am afraid to take out my expensive camera on the street in fear of someone attacking me verbally or physically. Everyone here think he owns the streets.

Edited May 13, 2010 by ihabkal
spelling errors

[amer abidi]

Lolll.. yeah, a couple of years ago i was taking pictures of surrounding buildings to bake their elevations in a perspective in an animation i was working on.. anyway, as i was finishing off my round i get cornered by three men with walkie talkies asking me whjat i was doing, where i was from, blah blah blah... it was all under control untill the black bus showed up! uh-oh

 

They werent cops, they were intelligence officers. Into the bus i went, and into the basement of a nearby 5 star hotel (that's apparently where they had their area stationed). I spent the next 45 mins in a waiting room, only to find a guy walk in and tell me that i should erase the pics on my camera if i were to leave.

 

Naturally i deleted a couple of pictures of my cat by pressing delete a few times in front of the guy, and walked out with a full set of elevations of the whole neighbourhood =)

[mahorela]

Whoa Ihab

 

Being a photographer in Beirut sounds like a nightmare. Our production manager was taking footage in Melbourne not so long ago and a homeless man harassed him saying that he was taking footage up girls skirts. He got it all on camera too. Very funny indeed.

[BVI]

I must admit I can be an ******* when I'm taking photos. It irritates me when the mall nazi's get pissed off for taking photos of a store. Every time, its been comissioned by the tenant - why would I randomly stand in a shopping mall and take photographs of the bulkhead. Sometimes I goto security and ask, but you always get this random guard on a power trip.

[1d2d3d4d]

no arrests,

I was waiting for a friend at a train station (that my office at the time designed in the 1960's) and I decided to take a picture of the building and was then questioned by several security gaurds, etc..it went by cool and there was no issue from there...

 

but,

 

go here and download and print "the photographer's rights" and keep it in your

bag / pocket / wallet

 

http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm

 

 

there was a great photographer's protest in London

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOG1cagUCWQ

 

I know in the USA the general public are being

told to report anyone taking photographs to law enforcement...

[Ernest Burden III]

Never arrested, but I was thrown out of a huge (private) cemetary--several miles from where my car was. I had a crazy five-percenter street vendor threaten to kill me if I 'took his picture'. I told him to move over for a moment if he didn't want to be in my photo of the building across the street. And I had the usual van full of NY Blue pull up, jump out and question me while taking context shots on a public street. All of these incidents were in the proud borough of Brooklyn.

[AJLynn]

Even in the US we've got people who believe things like "you can't photograph federal buildings" or "you can't take my picture without permission". Try to get arrested while doing legal photography in NYC (and whatever you do, don't delete photos). It's good for $20k plus when you sue the cops. There are a lot of these sorts of stories on http://www.nycphotorights.com/ - but none quite as bad as the Beirut militia attack or Amer in the gulag.

[Frosty]

I've had issues twice. Once, my boss was nearly arrested for photographing a courthouse. We later forged a court summons and gave it to him for april fools. Good times!

 

On another occasion, three of us were nearly arrested shooting back plates for the new smithsonian museum. The feds REALLY dont like it when you set up a 70mm camera by the Washington Monument. Luckily, we had the required permits in hand.

[pailhead]

OK, let me share my experience.

 

I'm working on a mixed-use complex, which will occupy an entire, large city block. Currently, there is a defunct factory on the site, along with some single houses. The view the client chose (owner of the entire plot) is very ungrateful since it's from far away, with a telescopic lens. I'm getting a lot empty space around my building, and i had no idea what to do about it since in real life, i would be standing behind another building. I thought i might go out to the location, take some photos, maybe at least solve the background problem.

 

I parked my car (eventually i realized i double parked), right on the cornere where our plot is, walked out and started my photo session. I'm glad i'm a 3d geek, since no one can tell me i'm taking upskirt photos of school girls, when i'm pointing my camera at the most obscure subjects such as pavement, curb ect. I walked around the entire block, and made almost a hundret photos. This took about an hour. The more time i spent, the less i was convinced that i'll make something out of the photos, but since i was already there....

 

 

Ok so i went out on my own initiative since the client was abroad, and it was sunday so i couldn't call anyone at the office. The plot has private security, but we work for the same person. Besides, i wasn't even shooting the plot since i can only stand so close, that and photomontage is impossible.

 

After i was done, i went back to where i've started and got into my car. As soon as i started the engine, a cop in civilian clothes approached and flashed a badge. It occured to me that i may have double parked, since there are no goverment buildings or anything in the vicinity.

 

Next comes the adventure.

 

 

There were two of them parked under some trees in an unmarked truck. They id-ed me, told me to keep the camera closed, asked me what i was doing there why i was taking photos and so on. Then they told me we have to wait for some unis to come and check out the car. When two uniformed policemen came, they checked the chassey number, ran some checks through the radio, and when eventually all cleared up, they let me go. This took about an hour.

 

I went back home, and as soon as i walked in, the phone rang and there was some inspector on the other end. They told me to drive to a police station (not even my local one) all the way accross town, because i need to provide some additional information. I asked if i need a lawyer, and they said no, this is just routine, just 10 minutes. Then i said that i have a deadline tomorrow, i already lost a lot of time because of them, and asked if this can be done on some other day. They offered to send policemen to my house and conduct the interview there. What the hell, i agreed.

 

Two unis came to my house in like 3 minutes (if i was being robbed or my car was being broken into they wouldn't have been so efficient). No interview took place, instead their superior instructed them to bring me in, and IMPOUND MY CAR. So they walked me out in front of the entire neighbourhood, into a police car, and towed my car.

 

By then i abandoned the idea of the whole mess being on hidden camera, and started thinking along the lines of a Monty Python sketch.

 

But instead of John Cleese, there was a genuine police inspector. They asked me a whole bunch of questions. Googled my name, prowled through my facebook (!), asked me if i had any ties to Israel or Arab countries (my client is from Israel), asked me about a girl from my friends list who has a muslim name, asked me about anarchistic movement (because of my interests in music), i had to explain the whole process of 3d modeling and architectural illustration and so on. They asked me to delete one particular building of which i had two photos. Eventually i was asked to sign a statement that i was just taking pictures for a project, offered me some schnapps and cookies, and let me go.

 

If they had let me go without even presenting themselves, i wouldn't have who was living in the neighbourhood and in which particular building. After this whole ordeal, i definitely know which building it is, and i have a pretty good idea who the VIP might be.

 

 

 

 

I complained to my fellow architects and illustrators on a local forum, and they all sided against me. Turns out that i should have knocked on a couple of apartements in each and every building, and inquire if there might be something i shouldn't take photos of (there were easily 40 hi-rise apartement buildings around the plot).

 

 

Is it a coincidence that the only us 3rd world sods are sharing confessions here?

[pailhead]

I had a crazy five-percenter street vendor threaten to kill me if I 'took his picture'.

 

Ahhh I remember this one, it happened a while back? Was he yelling something about taking his soul, or was it your satirical comment

[kippu]

wow , so who was that vip ... not nice to leave a story hanging like that

[pailhead]

Some ex politician. Was not even a minister.

[wasteland giant]

Even in the US we've got people who believe things like "you can't photograph federal buildings" or "you can't take my picture without permission". Try to get arrested while doing legal photography in NYC (and whatever you do, don't delete photos). It's good for $20k plus when you sue the cops.

 

screw doing arch viz for a living. I'm moving to NYC and doing this full time....

[FlytE]

I have never had any trouble with the police or similar authorities. I will say that without fail, every single time i go to take photographs for a job I get either questioned by a member of the public/related retail manager/security, or I get random abuse shouted at me for taking pictures. Its just part of the job these days.

 

To be arrested is crazy though.

[1d2d3d4d]

 

Here is a video released by the Department of Homland Security about

spotting terrorism. It stars John Elway (former United States pro athlete)...

 

What's funny is that some of the "suspicious people" in the video seem to be just holding up blueprints/construction documents and taking pictures of what look like job sites..

 

word to the wise though, a simple thing like addressing someone politely as "Sir" goes a long way, and having your business card, etc..

[BVI]

Oh, I find that a rolled up plan and knowing someone "John" helps.

[alias_marks]

I've been stopped by an officer after taking pictures of site amenities to drop into an animation for the developer. Definitely got the lecture and my Drivers License run for background.

 

Also have been questioned by multiple security guards when photographing larger commercial buildings.

 

This was one of my more adventerous attempts to get a higher camera angle to show some more foreground It involved a little scaling of public electrical boxes and some honking of passerbys...

 

[anejo]

Have you ever been arrested for shooting a location for Arch-viz?

 

Not yet. But my next project requires me to take a few photos from the top of an abandon building in a now close Naval air station that has private security people driving around. However, this maybe a job that i hire a local photography student to do. I'll have him/her post their experience of the arrest later.

Edited May 15, 2010 by anejo

[ihabkal]

if he ever comes back from the gig....

will you offer him life insurance?

[anejo]

if he ever comes back from the gig....

will you offer him life insurance?

 

No...maybe i'll buy him lunch and a bus ticket.

[akinlolugboji]

Thought this only happens in Nigeria. Most security folks are fools. Have no laid down instructions agains photgrapy taking, they just attack anyone with a photograpy. Imagine being attack by security for taking pictures in places like an airport, a mall, a car sale showroom etc. At the airport I told them am part of the contractors working on the airport project then. At the mall I ask them, how come they are not harrassing the white tourist doing the same thing. At the car showroom just left as I was still a student then and was not sure of my right.

[Jeff Mottle]

I was actually just watching a documentary the other day about bush pilots in Congo and I guess it's illegal to take photos at the Goma airport. Interestingly, the head security officer is an avid photographer and charges people to have their pictures take there. LOL.

[AJLynn]

That's an excellent business opportunity. "Sir, I can't allow you to take photos of your kids here. Would you like me to take pictures of your kids? That'll be $20."

 

Akinlolu: In the US you also don't have the right to photograph on private premises like malls and car showrooms. Of course, security is only allowed to kick you out, not beat you up - but they can also apply the policy selectively. If you're taking photos and they don't like the way you look, you're out, but if you look like you'll be spending money, no problem.