photographing in public places

[jann1033]

i know this has been covered before but not sure where the info came from

the set up: hub is always nervous about me taking photos, anyplace, any time but especially if we are in the car and stop and yesterday his nightmare came true.. we stopped by a river , no no parking or no stopping signs,no snow ban( for you southerners some places don't let you park on the road when the snow is a certain height, usually so they can plow the roads ) no traffic( calling it a tertiary road would be making it a bigger deal than it is) i jumped out to take a photo, he pulled off as far as he could and stayed in the car with the motor running..i was out of the car no longer than 2 mins or so total.( lined up and took 2 shots, walked down about 10 feet to see how another would look when this happened) an off duty park ranger pulled up beside him ( two lane road) in his hummer and blasted us for being there. screaming how dangerous it was blah blah blah, threatening us that he would ticket us if he was on duty etc. we were not near a curve or hill, the sp limit is 25,. we drive that road all the time( goes to a private arboretum we go to a lot) and usually don't see any other traffic. i think the guy was just power hungry and maybe had a fight with his wife..now husband is totally freaking out. also i noticed after we left the arboretum( our destination) the house/mansion he parked near was evidently empty ( at least no tracks or plowed drive) so maybe they were told to watch the place( rich rich rich area so residents have a lot of pull) i have seen a bunch more ranger cars driving around in the past yr or so than before

later i forced him to take me to another even less traveled road ( residential area) where i have taken photos of lake Erie lots of times. wanted to take a twilight shot but got there to early so we were there maybe 10 min or so, i took a few shots. the houses are on one side of the road, the lake on the other, i put up my tripod so i was obviously facing the lake side only. no one stopped me but a few people looked out their windows, doors etc( bunch of paranoids or very curious people evidently) and husband made me leave before twilight , dang him ...so i told him what i know about public property..ie up to doorway is public access, I'm in the road so totally not on their property.
think he was afraid of another barney fife so i want to find something to print out for him.
he doesn't want me to go by myself ( which i kind of understand , my balance stinks and sometimes i fall and with all my gear/ non working muscles have a hard time getting up )but this is getting to be a pain and i don't want every shooting to become an argument. and i have no problem with police in general( 2 of my bil are ) but i don't think in either case i was doing anything illegal or dangerous.

 

[afo]

Much has been said on the internet about the taking and usage of photography in public places.
In my experience (I live in Canada) I have done some research regarding photo's taken of and from public places and found that here in Canada, the concept seems to be that if you are taking a picture of something that is not a person from public access places (ie. Roads, parks etc) than you have every right to take and keep the photograph. Things get more complicated if you want to use the photo for commercial purposes, and/or if there are people in your picture.
There are some great websites that go further into depth specifically about Photographers Rights in the US such as:

krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf
photosecrets.com/links.law.html

I've been stopped on public roads both by citizens and police officers, I usually (calmly) explain what I am doing and offer to show them the pictures I've taken so far (the joy of digital). If people are unhappy that I am taking pics of thier property, I stop. When I am photographing people, even if not for commercial purposes, I tend to get a release signed by them (of course it goes without saying that I have asked permission to take thier pic in the 1st place) just in case I ever do want to use the picture, not just for commercial purposes, but in any contests etc. There are a few websites that offer generic "fill-in-the-blank" releases, of which I carry 2-3 when I go out shooting.
Bottom line, if you are shooting publicly seen structures or objects from a public place, you are almost always good. People or private property gets a bit more dicy. In the context of Disney, it is private property, and they may have policies in place (though I haven't seen any) that change the rules slightly.

Hope this helps.
Adam.

 

[compa]

Others type faster than me!

 

[webshark3]

Don't leave home without it.

http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm

 

[jann1033]

thanks, i printed it out and will give hub a copy to read and stick one in my bag" just in case". course now i have the urge to go back and look for the guy who bugged me