Photo by Troy Holden
This week Troy Holden of the Caliber photography blog had a little confrontation with security staff at 555 California in downtown San Francisco. Now, San Francisco is known to be a very progressive city, but these guards seem like they’re straight out of an episode of “The Sopranos” on the other coast.
When Holden and a friend starting shooting the building, they were told no photos. Then, he writes:
I decided to challenge this statement and the older of the bunch (left) asked me if I wanted to be punched in the face. No, I replied, I have to go back to work and a black eye would make things awkward for me. He then asked me how I would feel if he broke my camera. I told him I would be bummed, but that I needed an upgrade and if he touched me or my camera I would seek monetary legal action to the extent of a brand new Canon 5D Mark II.
Holden contacted the building’s security department and got a response that indicated they are taking the incident seriously.
But in the meantime, Troy – get a Vievue.
Article from Caliber via Thomas Hawk
boywithgrenade.org 
I happen to be staying at The Omni across the street from 555 California… I’ll have to check this out to see if the serious reception from the security company is indeed true. Thanks to Mr. Holden for standing his ground and in a good way.
I think that *private security* is taking their role to an extreme. First of all, private security has NO RIGHT whatsoever to order ANYONE to do ANYTHING on public property. Had I been the photographer, I’d have called the cops and let them deal with the situation. Also, what you can do is to get the guards name, report them to their company and then, call BSIS (California) and report the incident to them. BSIS does not fool around with the guards that they issue licenses to.
FROM A GUARD;S POINT OF VIEW, SHOULDN’T THE HUMBLE GUARDS HAVE BEEN PUNCHING THEIR DEGGIE WANDS INSTEAD OF THREATENING THE PUBLIC WITH OBTUSE PHYSICAL HARM-YOU KNOW WE GUARDS ARE NOT ALL MORONS, AND SOME OF US HAVE GRADUATED THE RANKS OF 5TH GRADE—BUT OUR OWN AGENCIES WHICH OUT-SOURCE US APPEAR TO BE OUR OWN WORST ENEMY—ALONG WITH A GTRASP OF ANGER MANAGEMENT. I OWN GUNS AND CERTIFICATIONS A-Z, MACHINE GUNS, SILENCERS AND WEAPONS OF DUBIOUS DESTRUCTIVE CAPABILITIES. THE ONE THING THAT SCARES THE HELL OUT OF ME…..A GUARD WHO GOES OFF “HALF-COCKED”!!!!