If you want to flip a switch in our brain that turns us from a nice and normal person to a ranting one simply tell us in a public place that we can’t take a photo. Yesterday, we were enjoying our first look at the public pier behind Northside Piers and shooting a lot of photos. We noticed some people were shooting video at the end of the pier. We were taking pics for a photo feature on the Pier which offers stunning views of the East River and of the Williamsburg shoreline. Then, a twentysomething female approached us and said, “Please don’t take pictures.” We began to lecture her about how it was a public place and it had just opened and we were excited to shoot pics of it and that we had every right to take photos and pointed out that she and her friends were probably doing a commercial shoot without a permit from the Parks Dept. (She claimed they had one. Not that we give a shit, but, uh, yeah, sure, and we’re Richard Nixon.) Again, she said, “I don’t want you to disturb what they’re doing.” At that point we began a raging lecture about no one had a right to tell photographers not to take photos in public place and that we knew plenty of people who’d been manhandled by the cops and menaced by construction site workers.
In fact, we’d been told by Toll Brothers security on more than one occasion not to take pictures when we were standing on Kent Avenue. Once upon a time, we knew a photographer who was beaten to within an inch of his life by the police. “Don’t take pictures” or some variant thereof is not a good phrase for us. Finally, the dude in charge of the shoot came over and asked what the fuss was. We told him she’d told us not to take photos and that it was a public place and we had every right to do so. He told her she was wrong and she should never have said that and apologized. She continued to argue. So, to this twentysomething year old “don’t take pictures” asshole, we say Bite Me, You….. And, if you’re into irony, check out this pic that Miss Don’t Take Pictures’ boss/friend has on his myspace page. We hate sending him the traffic, but we love the irony of the situation and the people he associates with even more. Of course, we made sure to take some pictures of them all, once the altercation started. Is it akin to Bruce Ratner’s security guards manhandling someone? Noooo. Is it a shitty, brainless, bossy, out-of-control sense of self-entitlement thing to do? You betcha. We bet the Don’t Take Pictures Chick even voted for Obama. Nah. She probably didn’t vote.
17 responses so far ↓
1 bigandtall // Jan 5, 2009 at 12:50 pm
We had the same thing happen to us in Brooklyn Bridge park before our rehearsal dinner at Bubby’s. The park ranger kicked us out because our photographer wanted to take a few shots (no lighting, assistants, or anything else) of us outside before the dinner. It was pretty ridiculous.
2 Meg // Jan 5, 2009 at 2:31 pm
There are specific rules in place to take pictures in the public park but I think they apply to groups of people and not just individuals taking pictures. We had to get a photo permit for our wedding in Central Park because we took some big group ie more than 10, shots.
3 rosemary // Jan 5, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Wow. I really hope she reads this blog because she is a douche with a capital D and an idiot at that. Love that you took her pic and posted it. On top of all that, looks like a pretty amateur operation they had going.
4 these nuts // Jan 5, 2009 at 3:34 pm
“we had the same thing happen to us..”
A officer of the law shutting you down vs. the girl from clueless getting you to stop taking pictures is hardly “the same thing”.
just sayin.
5 bigandtall // Jan 5, 2009 at 3:40 pm
we had 3 people (the two of us and our photog) and got booted from BK bridge park.
6 JayCJay // Jan 5, 2009 at 4:03 pm
There’s a lot of misinformation on this topic, but the city’s current rules as adopted in July boil down to this:
“A permit is not required for filming that uses hand-held cameras or tripods and does not assert exclusive use of City property. Standing on a street, walkway of a bridge, sidewalk, or other pedestrian passageway while using a hand-held device and not otherwise asserting exclusive use of City property is not an activity that requires a permit.”
More detail: http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/news/070108_moftb_adopts_rules.shtml
7 wisco // Jan 5, 2009 at 4:39 pm
a permit is only required if the picture is going to be used in an advertisement. not if it’s for personal, fine art or editorial use.
i do this for a living, so trust.
8 D // Jan 5, 2009 at 4:59 pm
The main reason the City wants you to get a permit is that they want to make sure the photographer/filmmaker has insurance. A good friend broke his ankle stepping off a curb while carrying equipment for an indie film. The City does not need that kind of liability.
9 JayCJay // Jan 5, 2009 at 6:33 pm
By the way, there are different rules in place in city parks, which explain what bigandtall ran into:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_newsroom/film_photo_guidelines/parks_film_photo_guidelines.html
A photographer shooting just two people seems reasonable enough, and the Ranger probably could have let it slide, but he didn’t have to because it was a commercial shoot. As explained under point 10 in those rules shooting for “background-setting/scenery use only, or if the footage obtained will be used for profit” requires permission in advance.
10 Jack // Jan 6, 2009 at 12:16 am
D, it has 100% nothing to do with liability. It does have everything to do with the Mayor’s office plans on promoting NYC as a film-friendly city being more popular than ever.
So you know who “rules the roost” when it comes to NYC street filming and photography? National productions and hollywood films.
These rules were put in place simply to push the small guy away. And now it’s empowered people who have petit power issues like MTA employees and hipsters who think they “own” this town after living here 5 months.
11 eugene // Jan 6, 2009 at 9:29 am
i hate that girl’s boots.
but i hate her frumpy friend even more.
12 Josh // Jan 6, 2009 at 10:03 am
@ bigandtall & JayCJay
Something else I learned the hard way is that Brooklyn Bridge Park is a State park, and not a city park, and they have their own rules for photography. I got kicked out for having a camera that was “too professional looking” and they wanted filming permit, group event license, proof of insurance, and a few other permits. I left and walked to the adjacent city park instead.
13 Brenda from Flatbush // Jan 6, 2009 at 12:01 pm
And I got yelled at by a ranger in Bklyn Bridge State Park for sitting on a picnic table. (The table part, not the bench.) Thank God I didn’t have my camera out at the time!
14 KaosDG // Jan 6, 2009 at 3:40 pm
You know, after living in Brooklyn all my life, my default response to “stop taking pictures” would have been “make me”.
I’m just sayin’
Seems like you got that part covered though 🙂
15 Erik Herron // Mar 6, 2009 at 2:55 pm
wow. I’m the dude that photographs people sleeping on the subway. Thanks for checking out my photos..
Yeah that girl was being nuts. Friend of the artist. She was trying to be helpful in some warped way I guess. Sorry…
Unfortunately, I was linked to this through your obituary. I’m sorry I didn’t get to know you under better circumstances. I hope you find it more pleasant in eternity than you did on that pier.
Here’s the finished video:
http://www.vimeo.com/2823350
rip…
16 graham_noir // Mar 11, 2009 at 2:43 pm
i have to agree with rosemary, the project must have been pretty subpar for that chick to honestly think she could tell people when and where they could photograph, especially in a public place like that. her mistake, big-time.
and “dude who takes pictures of sleeping people on the subway”: that’s just creepy. you don’t get brownie points for putting up that link to shamelessly self-promote.
do us a favor: put some higher heels on the artist, and scrap whoever directed, because nobody’s impressed.
17 david // Sep 19, 2009 at 11:31 am
their biggest problem here is the terrorists have already, long ago, got the pics of the site they want. and theyre pissed so their taking cover charges for all the wanna be’s.
David