Archive for the 'Street photography' Category

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

Photographing Children – Rights vs. Restrictions

Published November 15, 2008 Photographers' Rights , Street photography 2 Comments
Tags: , ,

nicole and jordan

Photo by discarted

The Australia Council (the arts arm of the Australian government) is considering new rules that would require photographers to get the permission of parents when shooting any children under the age of 15. The World Today reports that, while new rules would help protect children in predatory or inappropriate situations, it would ultimately stifle street and documentary photographers.

Sandy Edwards, a photographer in Sydney, says:

Think of photographers such Max Dupain who has been photographing in the public domain. … It is just unreasonable to expect that once the photographer gets back to the dark room, processes the work or gets back to the computer, that that image can actually be OK’d by somebody who is a stranger in the photograph.

And Ken Duncan of the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers talked about too much regulation in general:

At three levels – you’ve got federal restrictions, you’ve got state restrictions and you’ve got local restrictions. I mean if you actually pull out a camera and try to put it on a tripod to take photographs of Sydney Harbour for example or the Sydney Opera House, they come along and confiscate your gear or say that you need to have a permit that you pay $550 or something a day. You know, it is just stupidity.

To hear the full report, go here.

Giving Props – Hundreds Turn Out For/Against 8

Published November 4, 2008 Photographers' Rights , Street photography Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , ,

 
vote yes on height
Photo by discarted
 
Here in California we have a hotly contested measure on the ballot, Prop 8, which seeks to eliminate gay couples’ right to marry. On Sunday hundreds turned out in front of LA’s City Hall to voice their support for the measure – in other words, for banning gay marriage. Predictably the crowd seemed to have been organized by hundreds of Southern California church groups.

Across the street a “No on Prop 8” group assembled, swelling in size as the demonstration went on (they had a few other rallies that day). It was all fairly civil and peaceful (the “Homosexuals are the Anti-Species” banner notwithstanding), and the cops didn’t have to get Rodney King on anyone.

And then there was Sacha Baron Cohen, who crashed the event in character as Bruno, apparently filming scenes for his upcoming movie. Bruno of course is a flamboyant gay man, so he was up to his usual tricks with the very earnest, straight-laced “Yes on 8” supporters. Baron Cohen’s crew, however, was pretty handsy, manhandling anyone trying to photograph/film them, which we’ll post on shortly.

As for Prop 8, it doesn’t affect me either way, but I am loath to support any measure that is about intolerance and discrimination.

Making a Statement

Published October 31, 2008 Street photography 1 Comment
Tags: , , , ,

Photo by embellezca

In this age of blogging, Twitter, texting, Robo-Calls, YouTube, Facebook and the myriad of other communication opportunities, it’s nice to know they’ll always be the people who do it the old fashioned way – throwing up posters and stickers, defacing walls, or just writing on whatever space is available.

Here, a selection of political statements from around Los Angeles.

Continue reading ‘Making a Statement’

Photographers to Meet, Shoot

Published September 30, 2008 Harassment , Photographers' Rights , Security Guard Harassment , Street photography Leave a Comment
Tags: ,

Downtown’s Million Dollar Theater, by jericl cat

The second-annual ShootDowntown Meetup is happening this Saturday, October 4 in downtown LA. The idea is for photographers to gather, shoot and talk shop while exploring downtown architecture and street life. The last event in December attracted 16 photographers so we wondered how well that went seeing as downtown is notoriously camera unfriendly.

Eric Richardson, of Blogdowntown and organizer of the meetup, reports there were no such problems, mainly because they stuck to older buildings and the Historic Core and not the newer skyscrapers that are seemingly managed by people who believe cameras equal terrorists. (My words not his.)

Last month, Blogdowntown ran this article about photographers rights in which Dave Bullock writes, “If you are stopped and hassled, keep in mind that you are likely in the right and your accuser is likely in the wrong.” Commenters posted that in particular the Heron Building, Wells Fargo and the U.S. Bank Tower are all high-harassment spots. If you wish to test those statements, let us know how it turns out.

We Live In Confusing Times

Published September 25, 2008 Photographers' Rights , Street photography Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

Of the things we learned on our cross-country road trip, and there were many, one was that one can freely and openly photograph the White House — arguably one of the most at-risk targets in the world — but the same can’t be said of office buildings in downtown Los Angeles.

Sikhs with a Camera at the White House. They Must be terrorists

To see more of discarted’s photos from this day, go here.

Harrassing Photographers a Nonpartisan Effort

Published September 1, 2008 Harassment , Photographers' Rights , Police Harassment , Street photography Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

It’s not surprising that the political conventions have proved to be hostile venues for some photographers. Politicans and media types don’t always mix well.

At the Democratic Convention in Denver last week, an ABC News producer was arrested for trying to shoot film of some Democratic senators and bigwig donors leaving a private meeting at a hotel. Asa Eslocker was manhandled by the Denver police, one who couldn’t even be bothered to put down his cigar before handcuffing him. He was told by one officer that he was “lucky I didn’t knock the f–k out of you.” See footage of the arrest here.

And in Minneapolis this week at the Republican convention, three New York filmmakers from the Glass Bead Collective were detained by police for filming in the Shoreham Rail Yard. Fittingly, they were in town to document police brutality. Confiscating the trio’s belongings, including cell phones, cameras and hard drives, the police justified the search and seizure as a homeland security matter.

Also in Minneapolis, though not relating to the convention, photographer Guy Still was handcuffed and detained for taking photos of a police special operations center. Through a chain link fence, Still photographed some officers getting into a van, which triggered the requisite terrorist accusations. One officer told him he remembered “the good old days [when] we used to take people like you in a van.”

Whatever that means.

Articles via ABC News, My Fox Twin Cities and My Fox Twin Cities.

London: Take Your Stinking Cameras Elsewhere!

Published August 1, 2008 Security Guard Harassment , Street photography 1 Comment
Tags: , ,

Cliche Crossfire

Photo by Brian Auer

Here’s a twist on the usual formula. Instead of being stopped by police while taking a photo, Mohammed Hanif writes in today’s Guardian about being stopped while getting his photo taken on a public street in London.

Hanif was posing for an author photo for a book he had just written when a security guard told them they had to leave. Ultimately they were booted from three other sites before finding a church where no one bothered them.

To London authorities, this type of activity amounts to a security risk and, accordingly, they’ve decided to make the whole process as laborious as possible. The nearly Byzantine rules in place require photographers to not only apply for a permit to shoot on public streets and wait up to a month for approval, but then they have to wear a radio-wave emitting tag while shooting. So they can be tracked.

Hanif asks:

Why would a potential terrorist (or people exhibiting suspect behaviour, as the Met likes to describe them in its anti-terror publicity) pose in front of an organic cosmetics stall and religiously follow the instructions of a white, female professional photographer who looked nothing if not an infidel?

But you see, it’s much easier to enact a very rigid, blanket law to outlaw any and all activity than evaluate cases on an individual basis and allow society to continue under some semblance of normalcy.

UPDATE: Thanks to Byron, who tells us the information in Hanif’s essay about the permit requirement and tracking device are not true and were actually part of an April Fool’s Day joke. Which means, thankfully, we are not living in Orwell’s 1984. Yet.

Article from The Guardian.

Have We Met…?

Published July 24, 2008 Documentary , Street photography Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , ,

Photo by discarted

There are a lot of characters in Los Angeles, and a few places in particular that are magnets for the quirky, offbeat and strange. So I guess it’s no surprise that if you take photos in Venice or Hollywood you might find someone else has also taken a very similar shot of your subject. (There’s a flickr group called Mirrored dedicated to this concept.)

Photo by discarted

Case in point: this guy in Venice who apparently cruises the boardwalk in a wheelchair with his funny little dog perched on his shoulder. He seems to like attention, and he’s out there all the time.

Photo by eedgejr

But, even so, it is slightly stranger when one of your subjects pops up on a flickr member’s page in another city. Oree and Betty were regulars on Hollywood Boulevard, performing with their talking dolls for the passing tourists. Discarted spent a lot of time with them, mostly at their home, your classic fleabag motel room in Hollywood. Literally. After continued harassment from the police, Oree and Betty pulled up stakes and left Hollywood for what they hoped would be the sunnier, friendlier streets of San Diego.

And that’s where edwardmysers40 found them.

Photo by edwardmysers40

You Too Can Be the Despised Paparazzi

Published July 21, 2008 Street photography Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

Photo by discarted

In LA, we have ample opportunities to take photos of famous people. On Sunday in fact we saw Vince Vaughn riding his bike with friends in Santa Monica. (Counter to the common refrain about celebrities, he’s much larger in person.)

In this article in the Guardian, Ravi Somaiya embarks on a mission to take paparazzi-worthy photos – that is to say, photos that can net large payouts from the celebrity weeklies. One fuzzy photo of Salmon Rushdie and a mangled shot of Kirsten Dunst later, Somaiya learned a few things.

Rob Bennett, photographer for the New York Times, gives this advice in reviewing Somaiya’s shots, which can actually be applied to all sorts of street photography:

These both show a fear of revealing yourself to the subject. You can see that you were scared of approaching them. Actually, the one of you and her has value. Citizen journalism like this works when the photographer engages with the subject.

Paparazzi need to have “rhino thick” skin, says Chris Doherty, owner of photo agency INF. That’s presumably to withstand the barrage of insults and expletives thrown your way along the line of “get a real job.” He also says you need multiple sources around town, i.e., doormen, valet parkers, waiters. These people tip you off to comings and goings that might not already be on the radar of the 800 or so other paparazzi on the prowl.

But this little hobby can prove to be very lucrative, as one amateur found out when he got around $32K for photos of Cameron Diaz surfing.
Or you could just hang out on Hollywood Boulevard and get one of hot gossip magnet Scott Adsit, star of “30 Rock” (above).

Article from The Guardian.

Is Flickr Policing Your Pics?

Published July 10, 2008 Documentary , Street photography 1 Comment
Tags: , ,


Photo courtesy of Maarten Dors

Did you know Flickr can choose to delete images it deems inappropriate or not in keeping with their “brand”?

An interesting article by AP writer Anick Jesdanun explores the constraints some service providers willingly impose on their sites. One Flickr member found this out when his photo of a Romanian street kid smoking a cigarette was deleted on “grounds it violated an unwritten ban on depicting children smoking.”

Maarten Dors, the photographer said, “I never thought of it as a photo of a smoking kid. It was just of a kid in Romania and how his life is. You can never make a serious documentary if you always have to think about what Flickr will delete.”

The law though is on Flickr owner Yahoo’s side. It’s totally within a content provider’s rights to police its own content, and, Jesdanun writes, their goal is to “protect their brands and foster safe, enjoyable communities – ones where minors may be roaming.”

Pornography is another issue altogether, but a kid smoking? It’s a reality in many parts of the world — why whitewash it? Ultimately Yahoo agreed with that; after a review Yahoo acknowledged their comunity managers may have been overzealous and Dors’ photo was allowed back on the site. 

Article from the AP via Wired.com.

Spam Blocked

1,139,421 spam blocked by Akismet