I'm a p-h-o-t-o-g-r-a-p-h-e-r

[M4cr0s]

It's been discussed many times over the last few years, the hysteria and paranoia of modern society after the two towers fell. Especially in the UK and US the stories of harassed photogs are many. Despite demonstrations and protests, "they" made laws and regulations limiting the freedom of speech and expression we've got so accustomed to in the west. Misunderstandings and poorly educated police and public have also been a problem.

In one way I am happy that I live in a country that's still fairly modest when it comes to security paranoia, although some tendencies have been seeping in here too. That does not mean I or we do not care about the situation in other countries. We're one world and become more and more interconnected in this age of globalization and rapid flow of information. What goes on in the US or UK concern other nations too, especially when those nations have a tendency of leading the fashion, so to speak.

We do not know where this will end, we can only try to fight for the rights and privileges our ancestors earned by blood and sacrifice. Perhaps the greatest victory of Al Quaeda and the likes was not in fact the thousands that died when the towers fell, or the hundreds of thousands of dead, mostly civilian, in Iraq or Afghanistan, but the fear, the insecurity, the paranoia and hysteria their actions have inflicted on the western world. One might argue that how our nations treat their inhabitants in difficult times such as these, show more than anything how fragile our democracies are, and how short the path to totalitarian 1984-ish societies are.

But, I digress and I wish not to start a political discussion in this thread whose purpose is really another. A while back I designed and ordered my personal version of a t-shirt with the "I'm a photographer, not a terrorist"-slogan and I wanted to show it of. My personal tiny, and highly insignificant protest to the conditions for photographers in our time.

By the way, the writing is not in fact crooked, shirt is simply not hanging straight on me.

Mac

 

[ebino]

Winston Churchill's motto was KBO (Keep buggering on!). Thats the attitude every photographer should have.

But I also totally disagree with useless attention grabing like your T-shirt which inadvertently connects photographers to terrorists... a photographer must always be discreet and blend in -thats my view.

 

[M4cr0s]

Never said I was going to wear it everywhere... I generally don't do street or have any need to "blend in". When I'm working with a huge honking DSLR, speedlights and stuff it's fairly obvious what I am 😛

/Mac

 

[freeranger]

Maybe, if we could get the terrorists to wear "I'm not really a photographer..." T-shirts, we could completely clear up the confusion that some people in authority are having.






or am i being naive?

 

[M4cr0s]

The world would be a much less confusing place if everyone wore a tag in their forehead describing what they are, or perhaps a mark on their arm. Perhaps color coding, like yellow stars, pink squares and green triangles. Hmm. wonder why no-one has ever thought about that before 😉 Clearly terrorists would need to wear a round black bomb with a lit fuse.

Mac

 

[ebino]

You know, its a privilege to photograph its not a right.

But T-Shirts of any sort which to try "say something" should be avoided, you're a photographer not a sports fan. 🙂

 

[M4cr0s]

You know, its a privilege to photograph its not a right.

But T-Shirts of any sort which to try "say something" should be avoided, you're a photographer not a sports fan. 🙂

Making images is a very important part of me, it's not just a profession or a hobby, it's who I am and how I define myself (no matter how lousy my images might be 😉 ) That's just my point of view and you don't have to agree.

Mac

 

[DNG]

I have a T shirt that says on the front "Photographer" and on the back "There is no expectation of privacy in public places"

I do wear this at times. especially at parks, or downtown areas where I find many candid opportunities on public property.

It really doesn't attract any attention, most don't even read it anyway.

 

[hipsterdufus]

You know, its a privilege to photograph its not a right.

I don't know what country you live in, but it's a right in America...

http://www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf

 

[DNG]

You know, its a privilege to photograph its not a right.

But T-Shirts of any sort which to try "say something" should be avoided, you're a photographer not a sports fan. 🙂

Sorta Yes and No

On Public Property in the US, There is long held policy that, when in public, you can't expect to have complete privacy. And, Taking photos of people on public property is a RIGHT, protected by law. (The 1st Amendment of US Constitution). There are however some restrictions, that local ordinances may impose for security or other reasons (Federal buildings, for example).

A recent incident involving a motorcycle driver being pulled over, filmed the whole incident, and the Cop pulled out his gun to scare the guy to stop filming... he did not, and was arrested. He was released and had a court date to defend his "Right" to film his being pulled over by the officer on pubic property, The Judge agreed, and told the officer that he was within his rights, since they were both on public property.

 

[wintoid]

Maybe, if we could get the terrorists to wear "I'm not really a photographer..." T-shirts, we could completely clear up the confusion that some people in authority are having.






or am i being naive?

Brilliant!

 

[Roger Hicks]

You know, its a privilege to photograph its not a right.

But T-Shirts of any sort which to try "say something" should be avoided, you're a photographer not a sports fan. 🙂

Oh dear, oh dear.

Who grants me this 'privilege'? I regard it as a right.

And I really like slogan T-shirts but hate sports. At photokina I got some quite favourable comments on several of mine (from www.redmolotov.com).

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON (Ministry of Information)

FREEDOM WITHOUT SOCIALISM IS PRIVILEGE AND INJUSTICE, AND SOCIALISM WITHOUT FREEDOM IS SLAVERY AND BRUTALITY (Bakunin)

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH (Orwell)

Anyone who doesn't understand those has serious problems (or perhaps cultural deficiencies if they've not read Orwell's 1984).

ROMANI ITE DOMUM also went down well.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Ducky]

The world would be a much less confusing place if everyone wore a tag in their forehead describing what they are, or perhaps a mark on their arm. Perhaps color coding, like yellow stars, pink squares and green triangles. Hmm. wonder why no-one has ever thought about that before 😉 Clearly terrorists would need to wear a round black bomb with a lit fuse.

Mac

That sort of thing has been applied in many societies over the years with unfortunate results.

 

[user237428934]

The best t-shirt with slogan I owned was: "which part of NO didn't you understand?".

 

[M4cr0s]

That sort of thing has been applied in many societies over the years with unfortunate results.

Dang, here I thought I was being smart and ingenious...

Mac

 

[Roger Hicks]

That sort of thing has been applied in many societies over the years with unfortunate results.

I suspect Mac already knew this. On the other hand, 'many' may be an overstatement.

Cheers,

R.

 

[M4cr0s]

I suspect Mac already knew this. On the other hand, 'many' may be an overstatement.

Cheers,

R.

To be honest I'm a total history buff and "specialize" in the two great wars and the period between them, so you're not all too wrong in that assumption. I also had relatives (resistance) that sat in KZs and wore a red tag.

Mac

 

[sol33]

ROMANI ITE DOMUM also went down well.

LOL, I'm sure you know who founded Cologne. 🙂

 

[Tompas]

(...) Anyone who doesn't understand those has serious problems (or perhaps cultural deficiencies if they've not read Orwell's 1984). (...)

Boy, they could have made a nice french count out of your material. 😉

 

[ebino]

Roger Hicks and DNG: What I wanted to say was that photography should be treated as a privilege and not a right. Even if it was a right one should treat it as a privilege.

I'm strongly for the fly on the wall, mousy, discreet, tip-toe sort of photography that does not gets into anyone's way or does not in any way makes people and authorities uncomfortable.

Standing in the middle of the street with a large phallic zoom lens on a DSLR and pointing at random while sporting a T-Shirt which says "I'm with the Stupid" is the epitome of photographer as an annoying pest, a paparazzi wannbe and a poseur.