No Shooting Zone

There is something of a disturbing trend going on in photography, which seems to be driven by a combination of greed and fear. It is the designation of public spaces as areas where people cannot photograph or cannot take commercial photographs.

I first noticed this trend on a trip to the UK. Upon entering a church, I was politely informed that a non-commercial photography license for the day was £2 and that a more expensive commercial license needed to be arranged in advance. I got the non-commercial license, but afterwards threw out most of the photos I took for fear of accidentally using one commercially.

A few days later, I cancelled plans to visit a botanic garden when I discovered that, not only was it was illegal to take photos, but it was even illegal to sketch there. Apparently the age-old practice of making art in gardens is no longer appropriate.

After returning home, I discovered one of the local places I liked to photograph now required a commercial photography fee of $50 an hour. For all I know, the church is funded completely by tourism and private funds, but I suspect that the botanic garden was not, and I know the local site is funded by my tax dollars and donations. What reason other than greed can be given for refusing to allow personal photos or for having such stiff fees for commercial ones?

Another reason photographers are told they cannot take photographs is for the sake of "security". No one seems to know exactly how allowing photographers makes a public place less secure. They just seem to fear that it does. I have been mostly lucky. Instead of being threatened with arrest or questioned by the federal government (as some photographers have reported) for photographing on commonly accessible public property, I have had very few problems. Two incidents in the last few months highlight the confusion many people on both sides seem to feel.

The first photo on this page is a local office building, which I was shooting on the only sunny Saturday afternoon we got this autumn. After I has been shooting a while, a man came out of the building to ask me what I was doing. I explained that I was a photographer who was shooting the reflections in the glass. He seemed puzzled and said that he wasn't sure if he was supposed to stop me or not. It might be a security issue, but he just didn't know. I wasn't sure either and was both amused that neither of us really knew the etiquette of the situation and saddened that the conversation was even necessary.

The other photos on this page are from the local library. I have been there a couple of times shooting the wonderful architecture, furniture, and books. The last time I was inside, it was after shooting the outside of the building. I saw on new angle on the barrel ceiling when I moved to a spot that put my back to a wall, so I stopped, raised my camera to the level of my face, aimed it well upwards, and took a couple of photos. When I lowered the camera, I was flanked on each side by a woman who looked apprehensive. They were very polite, but they wanted to know what I was doing and to be sure that I was not photographing library patrons.

While they didn't tell me I couldn't shoot there, I found my concentration was gone. When I am shooting, I tend to wander around in something of an altered state. I don't see the world in the normal way, and I don't pay attention to the kind of things I usually would. I don't notice small things like the fact that it is below zero and my hands are turning white or that I'm standing in a parking lot with a car coming right at me. After being questioned, I couldn't shake the sense of being watched, and I couldn't "see" the way I normally do with one part of me always trying to sense if anyone was approaching me.

I don't try to photograph people in private without their consent or to photograph anything in private spaces where I am not welcome. I don't normally shoot people in public places partly out of concern for their privacy. If we add public buildings and objects, public parks, and even the flowers in public gardens, we end up with a "No Shooting Zone" that starts to take up most of the world.

I wonder between the fear and the greed what will be left to photograph.