Where does it end?

[Chris Calohan]

I was shooting a landscape on a semi barren spit of land way outside one of the Obamacare processing plants when I was approached by two rent-a-cops who informed me I was trespassing on Federal lands and that they would have to take my camera....as it turned out after much heated discussion, it wasn't that I was shooting on Federal land, but that I was shooting over the land to my objective. They still wanted the camera. I just laughed, walked back out to my boat and motored away. When I got to where I put my boat in, there was a local yokel waiting for me, as I knew there would be, though thinking ahead, I stopped at my house (no boat ramp access) and dropped off the camera. I managed to convince them it wasn't "me." After all, I had no camera, did I?

So now, as many federal and other sensitive facilities are off limits to photographers, it appears that even shooting over their lands to another objective is illegal. Big brother is getting more powerful in his scope. Let's be careful out there.

[donbga]

F*%k those guys. As far as I know, from your description you weren't doing anything illegal.

Don Bryant

[mezzoduomo]

I was chased away from this place yesterday. Long distance air traffic control radar, on Federal land (Humboldt Peak, AZ). I didn't know exactly what it was until the security guy told me I was not allowed to take pictures of "a long distance air traffic control radar facility on Federal land".

[RSL]

Check https://www.aclu.org/free-speech/know-your-rights-photographers

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

Bert Krages's page has a downloadable summary of photographers' rights in .pdf format that you can print on a single page, fold, and carry with you to hand to the rent-a-cop who tries to hassle you.

Chris, I'm assuming you were standing on public land when you were shooting. You should have told the cop that if he takes your camera you'll see him in court on a felony charge. The cop may or may not have a right to prevent you from shooting, but he has no right to take your camera or delete photographs from it.

[Misirlou]

We've done a lot of threads about this topic over the years, but it never gets old.

I always enjoy recounting how I was chased away from a closed amusement park in 2003 for taking photos of a roller coaster, with a Hasselblad 500C, on a tripod. This was while I was carrying my ID, which clearly showed that I was then a director of homeland security training for a large intelligence agency.

But I can understand the concern, because we all know how terrorists frequently attack amusement parks, using plans they developed from high resolution photographs; photos taken by white native-born US military personnel in broad daylight, using expensive cameras.

Sometimes I wonder if they don't these things just because they don't like photographers, or because they're jealous of people who can afford decent cameras. Or maybe they really do sense a threat, ridiculous as it may be. Depressing either way.

[Telecaster]

In September 1991 I was confronted by a pair of Mississippi state cops while taking photos of the long-closed & rundown Parchman State Pen. I managed to talk 'em out of confiscating my film by playing the curious but unknowing northerner, but of course I knew full well the ignoble history of what I was photographing. That's why I was there. I later discovered Mississippi is particularly paranoid about photos being taken of the current Pen, across the highway from the old one, not that these guys said anything about that. They followed me for a good six miles after I drove off too...jerks. In hindsight it was probably a good thing I was a white man. A camera in the hands of someone with the "wrong" skin color could be rightly perceived as even more dangerous than a toy gun.

-Dave-

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

...we all know how terrorists frequently attack amusement parks...

Aha! That explains the recent string of amusement park malfunctioning! 

http://www.times-news.com/news/article_b68c6078-20e7-11e4-90c3-001a4bcf887a.html

http://www.eonline.com/news/337493/katy-perry-s-water-park-wardrobe-malfunction

[louoates]

Chalk up the hassle to badge-happy, poorly-trained folks who see an excuse to use the puny authority they have to bolster their self importance. Best to stand up for your freedom to shoot whatever you choose from public property. Make it clear immediately that you have the right to be there and will take no badgering from them. Ask them to leave you alone or you will call 911 and demand a police presence. This works doubly well if you make sure to snap a picture of them and their name tag.

[Misirlou]

Aha! That explains the recent string of amusement park malfunctioning! 

http://www.times-news.com/news/article_b68c6078-20e7-11e4-90c3-001a4bcf887a.html

http://www.eonline.com/news/337493/katy-perry-s-water-park-wardrobe-malfunction

Well, I was using a Hasselblad 500C. Do you suppose these current terrorists are using Hasselblads with the latest CMOS backs, or merely A7Rs to shoot for their nefarious ride wrecking plans?

Actually, I answered my own question. There's no way they'd have enough resolution to see which part to break, with shutter shake getting in their way.

[Colorado David]

In 1991 (?) I was shooting traffic on a highway from an overpass in Belgium.  I had an interpreter who was German and could speak German, French, English, and Dutch, no Flemish.  My assistant and my interpreter were standing by the van, safely off the overpass.  A Belgian police car with two officers stopped in the middle of the overpass and started to question me.  I tried to get them to understand that my interpreter was over there, not that it would have done any good mind you.  I showed them my passport.  I pointed to the U.S. emblem.  There was simply no way they were going to understand me, nor I them.  Eventually they got frustrated and drove away, leaving me there to shoot what I needed.  Oh, and I did have a Hasselblad and a Sony Betacam SP camcorder.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

http://www.diyphotography.net/new-york-city-police-department-issued-memo-on-photographers-rights-finally/