Hello all,

I am new to the forum and just aquired yet another digital camera,
and decided to give it a field test during work hours. ( I work in NYC Downtown )

To my dismay I was dispatched by 2 local "security guards" and 2 "government officials" a total of 4 times.

And I quote (description of the entity and thier messages follow)

1. 32 old slip One Financial Square (un-identified man, not building security, in a suit) "You cannot take pictures of the building, no pictures, no video"
2. Water Taxi terminal (U.S. Coast Guard + private security)
"You cannot take pictures of just buildings, you are treading on dangerous ground" "You can take pictures of your friends but, certain things have to be out of focus,.... like the buildings."
3. 10 hanover square - private security - "You cannot make photographs here"
4. 25 broadway - "You cannot take photos of the building"

Is there some law about this?
Are they allowed to do this?
Or are they enforcing some un-written law like the transit police did a while back...

Since this community has pictures of buildings I decided to ask here.

Sorry if this is off-topic or ignorant.

Thanks
-DK

:runaway:
that's the first time I've ever heard about this!
first of all, welcome to SSC!
As for me, I've never had any problems with cops.
what exactly did you photograph? was it the inside? Or maybe the entry? Perhaps that scared them.
anyway, I don't think they can do you anything, so just tell them you're doing this for a Skyscraper site, you're a fan, of course be polite, call them "officer", those fat guys like that, and if they still won't let you, just tell them to f**k off as you're leaving, if you're lucky we'll hear about you on the evening news, especially on Fox! I'm just kidding of course ;)
anyway, next time maybe you should go somewhere further away so that they won't see you, and try being quick.
actually I just thought of another thing, are you arab? some cops can be pretty racist, I have a friend from Yemen, almost every cop looks at him suspiciously on the street, it's so funny.
Let's just hope no cops find this site then, we'll be put on the no-fly list with Cat Stevens :D

That's total BS.

I think if you're taking pictures of a building that's on private property, you can't take it while on the property meaning you'd have to go across the street or something to take a picture of it.

This site is a good resource for freedoms in photography and more:

http://www.freedomtophotograph.com/

Specifically, this .pdf file lists photographer's rights:

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

That's worrying. I was in New York in 2003, and while the security level might have been lower then, I wasn't approached by anyone while taking photos of two dozen or so skyscrapers throughout manhattan. Some of these buildings were also ones which most people wouldn't consider worth taking photos of, like anonymous boxy glass buildings.

In Singapore however, I was getting bad looks from a guard, probably because I had come to the Capital Tower plaza twice in a week taking the same photos (digi and regular cam) and it probably would have looked suspicious to him.

Remember, you might be a terrorist! LOL!!!
The U.S is becomming a joke sadly. I dare not travel there anymore...not until Bush is out of power at least. I'd be the most wanted man there.

:)

man, that's crazy! what's with all these paranoid people who think they can infringe your rights for the stupidest reasons?!

u know, in summer of 2003, i also took a pic of 1 financial square across from south st, but no one approached me and say that i can't take a pic of it. basically, i think as long as you take a pic of a building across the street from it, no one could come and get you (even if they do, you can get away faster...lol).

this security paranoia is just getting too far...

Thanks for the warm welcome,

Oddly enough I'm not arab. I look very scandinavian - blonde hair etc..
At the moment of the coast guard incident
I presented them with ID's from the building I was photographing, (I work there)
and my DMV license. To boot I'm a citizen, and live in NYC.

I was not combative since it could mess with my employment (bosses don't like these sort of coastguard problems etc..)

But I guess I am starting to feel the patriot act encroaching on ordinary citizens rights. Maybee I'll approach NYPD about a press permit. :-(.

Thanks
-DK

That's such a shame.... but oddly enough I had a similar encounter a couple nights ago in Downtown Dallas l West End.
I stopped on Lamar to take a few pics of BoA (our tallest-the Green argon monster)..anyway not one, but two D.P.D units roll up on me and just sit there thru like two green lights watching me take pics.....they never did anything, but they were most certainly ckeckin' me out....and that alone is something I didn't enjoy one friggin' bit....Hell, they just arrested some dude like a month ago that was shootin video around downtown....he had footage of many southern skylines on hand...I'm pretty sure he turned out to be legit, but still the thought of not being able to capture what I love most is really shitty...

Johnny Law
http://www.imghst.com/uploads/570%20lex/AAS3010005.JPG
...sorry about the dark pic.. new camera :D....
this was the first image I took before I realized the
low light setting disabled.

There is no law as long as you are on public ground. You can photograph anything from the sidewalk, except for the government buildings or something. If a guard annoys you, just say Okay Sorry and walk away; wait till he looks away and make the shot. Gotta be sneaky, cause no guards or police officers or anyone else like if you try to be smart with them.
Interior shots are a different thing. It's their property, so they can kick your ass. Gotta be real sneaky, like making shots from the pocket or under the jacket. Once I was in the lobby of Guggenheim Pavilion in NY and was shooting around as the security guard came up to me and said no photos. Then I hid the camera but the freak kept looking at me till I left the building. Next time I came in I waited till he was looking the other way and got pretty nice shots. My dad and his friend once brought a video camera to the building and got sacked right away, and they let them go just cause my dad was an employee at the building.
I took pictures from my pocket in the corporate area of Time Warner Center, where the security guard personally came up to me and said No Pictures. I have more sneaky experiences (some just for the hell of it) in the Russian Embassy and from inside the service elevator on Ground Zero as it descended to Ground Zero level.

^Russian embassy? :nono:
:D

There is no law as long as you are on public ground. You can photograph anything from the sidewalk, except for the government buildings or something. If a guard annoys you, just say Okay Sorry and walk away; wait till he looks away and make the shot. Gotta be sneaky, cause no guards or police officers or anyone else like if you try to be smart with them.
Interior shots are a different thing. It's their property, so they can kick your ass. Gotta be real sneaky, like making shots from the pocket or under the jacket. Once I was in the lobby of Guggenheim Pavilion in NY and was shooting around as the security guard came up to me and said no photos. Then I hid the camera but the freak kept looking at me till I left the building. Next time I came in I waited till he was looking the other way and got pretty nice shots. My dad and his friend once brought a video camera to the building and got sacked right away, and they let them go just cause my dad was an employee at the building.
I took pictures from my pocket in the corporate area of Time Warner Center, where the security guard personally came up to me and said No Pictures. I have more sneaky experiences (some just for the hell of it) in the Russian Embassy and from inside the service elevator on Ground Zero as it descended to Ground Zero level.

lol - It must be tough taking pictures from inside or under a jacket. The TWC is tight on security, I managed to whip out the camera real fast and get one shot inside, I don't think I got caught.

Once I walked into a portion of the Bloomberg Tower and asked if I could take pics, instead of just doing so, the contractor politely said that he didn't want to get in trouble so basically he declined.

Anyone try the asking method? Did it work?

(An unnerving but humorous experience at the Time Warner Center from ZippyTheChimp on Wired New York)

Some advice: If you plan to take photos inside TWC, bring along family or friends. I did, but (my wife) was shopping. At some point, a polite young man walked up to me and asked, "How are you today, sir?" That told me the next line wouldn't be good.

He explained that photos of the view outside were permitted, as were those of family and friends, but not photos of the shops and "structure." At this point, my wife was approaching, and I introduced her as Mrs Terrorist, and was it ok if I took her picture in front of the structure. I immediately got The Look, which translates into "Stop talking now."

On a subsequent trip for the outdoor shots, I was understandably alone. I had to wait awhile at the curb for the shot to set up. I was hoping someone would ask me what I was doing there. The line was ready: "I'm waiting for a cloud." Alas, it didn't happen.

:lol: lol!

you no, terrorists don't take pictures of buildings....

(An unnerving but humorous experience at the Time Warner Center from ZippyTheChimp on Wired New York)

Some advice: If you plan to take photos inside TWC, bring along family or friends. I did, but (my wife) was shopping. At some point, a polite young man walked up to me and asked, "How are you today, sir?" That told me the next line wouldn't be good.

He explained that photos of the view outside were permitted, as were those of family and friends, but not photos of the shops and "structure." At this point, my wife was approaching, and I introduced her as Mrs Terrorist, and was it ok if I took her picture in front of the structure. I immediately got The Look, which translates into "Stop talking now."

On a subsequent trip for the outdoor shots, I was understandably alone. I had to wait awhile at the curb for the shot to set up. I was hoping someone would ask me what I was doing there. The line was ready: "I'm waiting for a cloud." Alas, it didn't happen.
I bring friends for different stealth reasons. My friends are real big and thick, and I'm short and small, so I hide behind them and the security doesn't see my camera. That's a TWC experience.

I only have one experince of that, and it was when me and my family visited New York in May this year. My dad had a videocamera (a small one) as we walked on Park Avenue, when a security-guy at Seagram Building told us not to film. But I guess he saw we were tourists