Certain 'tourist attractions' are also off limits- USS Constitution comes to mind. I was detained for photographing a fence there- it is a US Navy base. However no-one else was bothered for making photographs of people and the fence, so I suppose I should have thrown one of the kids in the frame. My film was not taken, but my ID was held during the check. I cooperated, despite being pissed and tried to keep my good humor.
Had there been ANY interest in taking film I would have sat tight and waited to be arrested and formally charged- but being on a Navy base I suppose I'd have a chance at being labelled an 'enemy combatant' and been shipped to warmer climes.
I lived for a time as a kid on an army base, was in trouble with the MP's then too...
As the full story was in a Members Only thread:
This has been recounted elsewhere, but perhaps worth retelling.
I visited Boston with my wife & kids for a family gathering. Her father & stepmother, sister & our nephew. We went to the USS Constitution, a wooden warship from the early days of the US as my kids had just learned about it in school. This a one of the big tourist things to see in Boston, there is a museum, the ship etc. all on a Navy base. It is certainly a place where many people make pictures. There is a security checkpoint before one can get on the boat, with an x-ray machine as in the airport for all bags. I was carrying a variety of films, including some ISO 800 Fuji film I'd purchased used, right around expiration date if I'm recalling correctly. I was unsure of how it had been stored, the first rolls had come back fine, but to be safe I asked for a hand inspection. I was told no hand inspection of anything- it had to go through the x-ray. I declined. The rest of the group went on the boat tour (I'd seen it myself some 30+ years earlier in 'simpler' times) and I wandered around the large open area, looking at the old dry-dock, some cranes, and making some photographs. I spoke with some of the employees, made some more images. Then a jeep pulled up and I was asked to get in. I was questioned as to what I was doing- I explained. I was told it was against the law to make photographs of the fences on any military base, I'd need to wait while they ran my ID. My wallet was taken, something I would never allow again, and I was stood at the front of the jeep while my profile was run. I gave the officer the web address to the gallery I had recently shown in- there was a multi-page press release about the show with sample images- lines, which is what I'd seen in the fence in question. This all took about 20 minutes. Generally I was treated courteously, but having my ID vanish into the bowels of this place made me very nervous. I was also quite aware that if I was arrested I'd be gone when my family returned from the tour with no idea what had happened to me, so I didn't put up a big fuss. In the end I was given back my wallet, intact, and sent on my way. There was no notice anywhere about no photography, nor was the fact that this was a Navy Base clearly stated- not that knowing this would have stopped me from making pictures- at the time I did not know I could not. To top it off I saw a family have a group portrait made standing in front of the very fence I had photographed, all images made of the ship itself from shore if one didn't take the tour would include the same fence. The irrationally applied rules is what got me to look into this stuff.
I am just now wondering if this incident had any influence on my being detained at the Canadian border for an hours plus investigating/questioning while on a college department trip to Montreal that fall (I'm a photo/graphic design instructor). A whole busload of students and other faculty waited while I and one student were held. The student was turned away, I was allowed in.