Many States of Mind

Photography in NYC & Terrorism? – Part I

A recent posting in Telegraph.co.uk struck a chord in this author’s mind. Actually it’s a complaint in the form of a letter from 365 of Britain’s most distinguished photographers asking for the modification of that country’s anti-terrorist legislation. Apparently they’re finding themselves harassed by authorities on the other side of the pond.The above mentioned notion of photography being likened to terrorism has been on the mind of yours truly and many other NYC photographers for some time. Yet perhaps not on the same level or is it? You see, walking around with a camera in hand isn’t the problem. The trouble lies with the use of tripods in public and private spots, and the lines drawn between the two are quite thin. But I’ll get back to that soon. I would like to approach this from various angles through this multi-part posting on the subject.

– Photography en mass –

As one might expect this city attracts quite the mass of tourists each day. Heck, the NYC Office of Tourism states that 47 million foreign and domestic visitors came to the ‘big apple’ in 2008 with tens of billions of tourist dollars being spent here. Consider the proliferation of cameras of all sorts in this world and you’ve got virtually every inch of this city being photographed at some point of every day. Quite the amazing concept if you ask me.  So the thinking of some amateur and professional photographers (including yours truly) that they would be harassed for their use of a camera might seem a bit unjustifiable. Or is it? On one side of the argument would be the huge loss in revenue from such action. Let’s also consider the ridiculousness of an idea from which no good would come. Although following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 overzealous safety precautions were at their highest levels. For awhile thereafter you’d find signs on some of our bridges stating how photography of any kind was not allowed. Actually to this day, photography of, near and within Federal buildings is not allowed either. Try pulling your camera out in Lower Manhattan’s Federal Plaza and you’re liable to be approached by security of some sort or another. Perhaps I’m now convinced that those darkly clad security officers gently cuddling automatic weapons in the streets and subways of NYC aren’t the only reason why some refer to this city as ‘Fortress New York’.

Imagine my surprise when touring through Niagara Falls earlier this year I found out that not only was I allowed to use my tripod wherever I wished, within reason, but I was welcomed to do so. Imagine the surprise of the third officer I asked. Well, surprised until I told him I was from NYC. We’ve reached a point in time when there’s a fine line between protecting our civil liberties and protecting us from terrorism. A time where living in a heightened state of paranoia is the norm. When it’s not the police stopping us (since in all my years of photographing the streets I’ve yet to be approached by a police officer) but rather every day citizens simply trying to follow the rules of their jobs, be they parks rangers, building security or others.

New York City through having experienced the greatest terrorist attack on domestic soil since Pearl Harbor and having the largest and most efficient police force in all of America is now the most secure city there is. Unfortunately that security comes at a price. All I ask is that a bit more rational thinking be employed when trying to protect us all.

As an end to this entry but not an end to this entire subject I’d like to mention the following which was reported in the Guardian.co.uk

Guardian.co.uk

Scotland Yard warns police officers over photography concerns

by Paul Lewis, Tuesday 15 December 2009

“”Scotland Yard has told police officers there is “an enormous amount of concern” about the use of anti-terror laws against people taking photographs in the street.
In a circular to all Metropolitan borough commanders, John Yates, the assistant commissioner for specialist operations, advocated a “commonsense” approach and reminded officers there were no laws to stop people photographing buildings.”"

Coming up next will be Part II – Public vs. Private

Thank you for reading this far.