Your Rights As A Photographer (U.S.)

[spangler]

Written by a lawyer. I'm linking to it here in response to the video AJ played yesterday of the federal reserve cop telling a journalist it was basically illegal to take pictures of federal buildings.


http://www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf

[xTruthSeekerx]

dude awesome thank you

[spangler]

This is just a general guideline. Citizens must look at their state laws carefully to develop a proper understanding of their rights as they relate to photography in public places.

dude awesome thank you

You bet. I thought it was good to give people a sense of their rights so they have confidence and make the right decision(s) when they're confronted by these so called cops.

This idea that you're not allowed to photograph buildings an cops is new, part of the post 9/11 assault on civil liberties. It's one place where we can and should make a real stand against the powers that be.

[xTruthSeekerx]

this helps since i am going to be doping urban photography

[The Flower King]

this helps since i am going to be doping urban photography

Greatest thing I've ever seen/heard.  In (I believe) was Truth Rising (recent Jones documentary), a young man is walking down the side of the road, video camera in hand.  I can't really recall his intent, I believe it may have been to see how long it would take for a police officer to pull off the road and ask him what he's doing(which, simply, he was walking down a road in the middle of no where).  It could have been for other intents and purposes, but I haven't viewed the film in some months. 

To cut to the chase, a cop rolls up, asks the young man what he's doing, for which he provides a response as such "Walking down the street".  Next thing you know, the cop is telling to turn the camera off. 

"No, sir" says the young man(I almost jumped out of my chair, what a patriot)

The cop repeats it with a more stern tone.

"No, sir" is the retort from this brave soul.

I think after 1 or 2 more times the cop gets out of the car and tries to fabricate some kind of "crime" that he could then ticket/arrest this young man for. 

The patriot then schools the cop, and it ends with the cop just giving a frustrated smile, getting in his car, and says, "If I see you put one foot on the pavement, I'm arresting you."  Meaning, he can walk on the grass, just not on the street(I guess I'd rather walk in the grass, for safety reasons of course).  But, if you are in the middle of no where with no cars to be found, is it not reasonable to think that you'd be ok walking down the side of the road?  Is it illegal to walk down a street?  You really have to love the cops that make up laws out of thin air, due to desperation. 

[Dan]

awesome posts guys.

I love this stuff.  I find myself in situations often and my adrenalin gets pumping so fast that I often lose my cool.

I really need to check out my local laws so I can KNOW the laws better then them.

Dan

[level1online]

thank you, thank you, just printed one out.

i took some video lest week of a sheriff's sign, nobody harassed me, but it's good to know my rights just in case it does happen in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6MeVQKy-BI&fmt=18

[Mike Philbin]

oh, so it's okay for American photographers to photograph Police Officers? not in my country (UK). It'll come to N.A.U. soon, too.

unless we stop it.

in fact, unless we stop the War Of Terror. That's the big issue at the moment, whether We The People are really the enemy of govenrment.

If we are, we'll see more and more of our civil liberties erased.

We must take control of our government immediately.

[Lunar_Lander]

I was out with one photographer a couple of years ago filming a peace protest in Toronto, Canada.

While on route by the protest, a couple of cops were harassing some guy on the side street so we tried to take a couple of photographs. The cop walked over, removed the camera from my friends hands and told us that  that unless we left that area we both would be arrested for obstructing justice, and as for getting his camera back, the cop threatend that he would smash the camera over my friends teeth.

We agreed to leave, and the cop handed us back the camera which he took from my friend.

Neither of us wanted to deal with that mean spirited cop that looked like he intended to carry out his threat.

Thinking back I am not sure what we really could have done.

[PhotogJohn]

I'm a professional photographer.  Thanks for the info.

[highsteam]

Thanks for sharing. Very useful info. Im sure that we should be aware of the state laws for this type of situations, but also heard that for Federal buildings or departments, some state laws are not applicable. One thing is for sure this all changed since 9/11.

[Mithrandir]

Thanks for the information.  I'll be sure to print this out and keep it with me when I'm out and about. 

I was out with one photographer a couple of years ago filming a peace protest in Toronto, Canada.

While on route by the protest, a couple of cops were harassing some guy on the side street so we tried to take a couple of photographs. The cop walked over, removed the camera from my friends hands and told us that  that unless we left that area we both would be arrested for obstructing justice, and as for getting his camera back, the cop threatend that he would smash the camera over my friends teeth.

We agreed to leave, and the cop handed us back the camera which he took from my friend.

Neither of us wanted to deal with that mean spirited cop that looked like he intended to carry out his threat.

Thinking back I am not sure what we really could have done.

Not much you can do at that point except remain calm, although I'm no sure how to when the adrenalin is pumping.  Scary stuff.