No ban on photography in NY subways

[JohnM]

The police department in NYC told the transit authority that there was no need for a ban on photography in the NYC subway system. The MTA had proposed a ban citing security concerns, but never made any headway on the proposal after the mayor and NYPD question whether it was necessary - so it appears to have died.

http://nydailynews.com/front/story/311945p-266702c.html

 

[back alley]

and a tradition of subway shooting will continue--excellent!

joe

 

[Jon Perry]

From the perspective of a person living in the UK.

The whole idea of banning photography on the subway was just plain strange. I mean, if you were a bad person attempting to get details of where to do bad things. Surely you would just use a real small covert video cam, or maybe a mobile phone camera?

Glad to hear that reason and logic has prevailed.

Jon.

 

[dmr]

and a tradition of subway shooting will continue--excellent!

Yes, most excellent! Fan-{expletive}-tastic! 🙂 {blush} Best news for amateur photo types that I've heard for a long time! 🙂

 

[jan normandale]

I hope this precedent from NYC catches on. Optimistically other jurisdictions will realize how futile this idea was and let serious photography continue expressing itself in the landscape. The bad guys who ever they are have more covert ways of getting photographs without anyone being observed, high power telephoto lenses and public photo archives as an example.

Someone with a view camera or a 35mm hopping around trying for a good angle is the lowest probable risk.


Eventually commonsense prevails. Sometimes it just takes a little longer.

Jan

 

[back alley]

unfortunatley, as someone used to say 'common sense isn't so common'

😉joe

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

Glad to see NY city lead the way.

 

[shaaktiman]

You know, I was really worried about this ban for a long time. I know it sounds ridiculous (or blatantly unconstitutional) if you don't live here, but this city has seen so many general rights eroded in the past few years. You are talking about a place that has made dancing in bars illegal. It would not surprise me for a second to find that subway photography had become an illicit activity. I love this city (and country) but lately sometimes I can hardly recognize it.

adam

 

[StuartR]

I am glad this was shelved -- I was one of the people (thousands I am sure) who wrote to the MTA and expressed disatisfaction at this decision. As everyone said, it is just ridiculous, especially with the proliferation of tiny digital cameras and mobile phone cams...anyone who really wants a photo can take one extremely easily.

 

[Terence T]

Now if they'd just relax around the airports too. That'd be great news for aviation spotters/photographers like myself.

 

[Sean Reid]

This is very encouraging news at a time when one might wonder just how much of a democracy we're living in here. I can also appreciate this from a personal perspective, having photographed in the subways for sometimes 8-10 hours per day/night whenever possible from 1992-1994. The idea that law enforcement agencies in NYC were able to make a common-sense and reasonable decision about this is heartening. Maybe this could spark a small trend towards reason in our "war on terror".

Cheers,

Sean

 

[tomchuk]

Now if they'd just relax around the airports too. That'd be great news for aviation spotters/photographers like myself.

They Have (pdf), at least on what you've allowed to carry on. Big telephoto lenses are guaranteed to attract attention wherever you point them, it just so happens that it's the TSA's attention you're attracting when you point them at planes 😉

 

[back alley]

what IS the word on shooting in an airport terminal building?

joe

 

[RML]

what IS the word on shooting in an airport terminal building?

joe

I, of course, don't know the situation in the US but here in Amsterdam Airport I don't have a hard time shooting at all. Whenever I go on holiday I shoot as I please in the airport. It would seem idiotic, to say the least, to forbid photography in a place where most people are on their way to a holiday destination and are in a shooting mode anyway. I also fail to understand the added security a ban would have as every tiny detail of the building plans are freely available from the land registry office (kadaster).

 

[StuartR]

I, of course, don't know the situation in the US but here in Amsterdam Airport I don't have a hard time shooting at all. Whenever I go on holiday I shoot as I please in the airport. It would seem idiotic, to say the least, to forbid photography in a place where most people are on their way to a holiday destination and are in a shooting mode anyway. I also fail to understand the added security a ban would have as every tiny detail of the building plans are freely available from the land registry office (kadaster).

Well, there is a lot of fear here since 9/11, and measures like this are more meant to ease the public mind while real improvements are either unmentionable (better intelligence gathering and coordination etc) or largely unsucessful (addressing the problem at its source by building good will in the Middle East etc).