Settlement for illegal detention for photography ...

I would have let it go to court...and not for the money...
It also appears that the city hasn't learned anything and it may happen again...
 
I'm thinking that you guys within an hour or two's drive of Seatle should organize a sunup to sundown Sunday city wide "Powerline Shoot".
 
According to the story, $8,000 seems to be the going rate for this infraction of civil liberties in Snohomish. All that is required is a few hundred Flickr photographers in Snohomish who need some DIY economic stimulus to go forth and photograph every banned edifice and structure in town. A true win-win.
 
I really hope that no one decides to start making this kind of situation into a gold digging opportunity like the people that go around slipping on ice or getting "sick" at restaurants. Right now every situation like this I've heard of has been someone going about their business without any premeditation for out of court settlements and it lends legitimacy to photographers as a whole and gains us sympathy from the general public. But if people start turning this into a business we'll start getting grouped in with ambulance chasers, scammers and attention seekers. Law enforcement is firmly in the wrong in most cases and that will work to our advantage. It's going slowly but LE and the government are starting to feel the pressure from the sheer number of these types of cases springing up everywhere. We don't want people to automatically start thinking "Great ANOTHER guy with a camera and a frivolous law suit".

I realize that the above posts where most likely meant as a joke... but I just don't want the wrong person to take it seriously and start a trend, ruining it for all of us.

A friend of mine wanted to do a "picture protest" going around Ottawa trying to see if security or police to try and stop them from taking pictures. But this is exactly the wrong type of publicity for the situation. All it will do is plant firmly in the cops minds that photographers are a pain in the ass and should be harrassed to the extent that their duties/laws will allow.
 
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Funnily enough even if there was a Photo Protest in Ottawa, it would probably come to absolutely nothing. That's one thing I love about Canada, I've yet to be harassed by anyone anywhere in the capital, where else can you walk right up the building that runs the country and snap till your hearts content, they even opened Parliament up to the public last weekend so you could wander around. We may not have the most impressive or antiquated architecture in the world.. but at least I can shoot it whenever I want :)

The only thing I haven't tried is shooting the US embassy.. but really... why poke a sleeping dog that you KNOW might bite.
 
Snohomish City Manager Larry Bauman is a fascist and deserves to write checks to every photographer his ignorant goons in uniform unlawfully roust.
 
As reported in the article DMR linked to, this is not the first time this has happened there. And neither case went to court, they both settled. For peanuts. Hopefully some citizen of Snohomish will take it to court to get a definitive ruling in favor of us photographers.
I do think some kind of civil disobedience should be organized to fight this.
Rob
 
back alley said:
8 k for 20 minutes in cuffs ain't that bad...
Click to expand...

Once enough people start thinking like that, legislation is underway to allow the cops to slap anybody in cuffs on a legal basis, since that's the easy way to deal with the problem. And aiming a camera anywhere will be illigal without written permission, which you will only get when paying for it, because the owner can ask you to pay for shots of his property.

I'd rather spend money on gear and film!
 
The other "crime" referenced in the article was about a young black guy who was shooting at the Ballard locks. I shoot at the locks alot and easily 50% of the people in the area are carrying cameras....this may have been more racial than an attempt to thwart terrorism. There was an impromptu "shoot in" held shortly after the arrest made the news. Not surprisingly there was NO coverage about it.

It's important to stand up to these guys and make sure your rights are not denied. But it's highly unlikely anyone in city government/city police are going away with lessons learned from these incidents.

Best regards,

Bob
 
London Police stopped me in Victoria Station...

London Police stopped me in Victoria Station...

...from photographing the crowds from above the main floor of the station. A policewoman tapped me on the shoulder as I was making a time exposure and asked me to cease shooting. She explained that photography was banned in the Underground. She was very polite, but firm. I explained that I wanted to duplicate a similar shot that I made in NYC at Grand Central Terminal, but she was not in a chatty mood.
 
I've never really run into a situation like that, although some government buildings don't allow photography inside. This is clearly posted. I have run into people who tried to tell me that I can't photograph them without their permission while we're in a public place, and then followed up with trying to beat the crap out of me. That most recently happened to me a bit over a week ago at the polls during the recent North Miami election for mayor and council. I just kept cranking and firing during the attack, filed a police report after, and this morning got a call from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) in Tallahasee. They don't often get evidence of voter intimidation like that! I posted the shots and the story on my blog http://thepriceofsilver.blogspot.com Tech data: Bessa L, 15mm Heliar, Kodak Gold 200 What a great way to be spending my retirement...LOL

The picturewere posted May 31st on the blog.
 
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It's more exciting than playing golf, for sure! The writing keeps my mind active and the excitement is good for the heart. Now if there was only a way to keep the younger guys here in town from telling their daughters "What do you mean, you're dating Al? He's seven years older than I am!" (It was a fun six weeks, though!)
 
The video at the station for the Island Ferry in Seattle instructs people to turn in to the police any photographer who is crouching down in a dark hoodie to shoot photos using an SLR of the boat, or any thing else. I wonder if they changed the video since August? I would have taken out my M8, but it was not highlighted in the video, so am guessing RF's are OK?

Now would that be a discrimination suit?

SLR's are evil I suppose.

Regards, John
 
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