Originally posted by blindjustice:
There was a challenge here, back in 2003 or so... "freedom" was the topic- so I was driving by a local maximum security prison, proceeded to pull into the parking lot and snap some photos of the razor wire- oh boy- no less than 4 cars full of guards came by and the security captian grilled me and made me delete pictures off my canon G1. Luckily it ended there. Apparently you need permission just to take any picture at all of certain buildings. |
Originally posted by Spork99:
Someone I knew in photo school wanted to take a picture representing "authority", so he drove down this isolated dirt road to gain a vantage point on the guard towers overlooking the yard at the rear of the max security yard of the prison. He got out, walked about 10m into an open field, pulled out their camera with a 400 or 500mm lens. When he looked at the guards, he realized that he was looking directly down the barrel of one guard's rifle. All the cars with the flashing lights arrive minutes later. After hours of questioning, they told him that had he made one wrong move, he would have been in the morgue. |
Originally posted by hahn23:
There are some places which are truly off limits during this era of terrorism paranoia. In the Colorado high country, when I take photos of bridges or dams, the activity ALWAYS draws stern and immediate scrutiny from security forces... public and private. I suppose the Homeland Security Department is simply doing their job in protecting structures which could be targets of terrorists. Specifically, I've been challenged for conducting photography activities at the Dillon Reservoir Dam near Frisco, the Oympus Dam near Estes Park, the Shadow Mountain Reservoir Dam near Granby and the Rainbow Bridge near Fort Morgan. I was impressed in each case by how closely these facilities were monitored. It was made clear to me that photographing these places was not allowed. Actually, I was just in the area doing wildlife photography, but a person with a camera near a bridge or dam brings scrutiny. |
There are places I would assume I shouldn't take pictures, but sometimes just asking a person in charge or in authority can bring positive results. In 2009, I went to the Bonneville Lock and Dam to take pictures for a challenge. Since this place generates a large amount of electric power for the Pacific Northwest, I assumed that pictures wouldn't be allowed. On another note, it is a tourist attraction. A visitor has to pass by the manned guardhouse to get onto the property. I asked the guard if it was okay to take pictures, and to my surprise he said it was okay, but just don't take pictures of the security people because they were camera shy... So in this post 9/11 age, it doesn't hurt to ask, and one may find out there are no issues with photographers/photography of a place... just my 2cents.
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