Have you ever been harassed by security guards or police for taking pictures?

[andrewr]

Have you ever been harassed by security guards, police, or private citizens for taking pictures in Canada? I'm planning an article for CanPhoto.Net about photographers' rights, and I'm looking for some anecdotes or quotes from people who have experienced problems like this when taking pictures. If you have a story to share, or have some questions that you'd like answers to, please let me know. Thanks very much.

Andrew

[Peter Wm. Richardson]

Hi Andrew:
It is not all that unusual,depending upon what you are shooting. I can remember several cases where I have been accosted for taking photographs, but here is one that sticks out in my mind, for a variety of reasons. It happened in the 80's and I was shooting an AV presentation for the Ministry of Health. The producer and I were shooting children in a playground, it was all cleared with the proper authorities and was very obvious as well since we had lights and other equipment for some shots. At the time, I was shooting backgrounds with available light, hand held, two police officers approached us and demanded to see identification and proof that we were there on a commercial shoot and not a pair of paedophiles stalking our next victims. Apparently, some civilian had called the police and told them we were photographing under age children in a public playground. At that time I carried a Metro Toronto Police Press Card, which I presented while my producer got head office on the phone to verify our legitimacy. All was well, in the end, though I am glad they never looked in my camera bag,where neatly stowed amidst my lenses was a S&W 357 Magnum, along with my concealed weapons carry permit. But that is another tale altogether.
Cheers,
Peter
Peter Wm. Richardson
Photojournalist
peterw@journalist.com

[Alastair]

There is a mall in Downtown Vancouver called 'Tinseltown' and previously I had heard stories of security coming out and being very aggressive to anyone who was shooting toward the mall. The fact that the photographer was on public property was lost on them, and their demeanour as well as the fact that most photographers didn't know they weren't doing anything wrong meant they almost always got their way. As luck would have it, I was shooting a campaign for Sierra Wireless and we were shooting the Millennium Gate in Chinatown, right next to Tinseltown.

Sure enough, a security guard came storming out when he saw my camera, but rather than get into a shouting match about who was allowed to do what, I told him we weren't pointing the camera in the direction of the mall. He seemed OK with that.

I needed to get my shot - the light was falling. I didn't want to have police called and to get into a big discussion about who was allowed to do what and when, because by then the light would have been gone.

Shot looked nice.

...but overzealous security and police is the one major reason why I like shooting with smaller cameras. They don't think you're as serious when you don't have a big DSLR around your neck. That's why that Xpro1 is such a nice bit of kit. Amazing camera, looks like something your grandfather gave you...

[Torontoamateur]

Yes! near Toronto city hall two years ago. I had a flexbody on a tripod and they wanted to arrest me. I just said no and would not follow them into the building . That was a TENSE couple of minutes. Needless to say I avoid Toronto now. No one can concentrate when the fear of arrest is present.

[Stephen_Caissie]

I was harassed by a security guard in 2010 while taking photos of the Victoria Park subway station in Toronto while it was being renovated. He kept insisting that I was not allowed to take photos, but since I have read and know almost by heart the TTC bylaw, I know that they do allow photos for non-commercial use. I argued the point with him while I kept shooting, but I think what ultimately convinced him to leave me alone was when I asked him to look through my viewfinder at the images I was taking, which were intentionally abstract in nature. I was shooting on film at the time, and I wonder if I would have had an easier time had I been using a digital camera, so I could have shown him the shots I'd been taking before he approached me.