Here’s a great idea. Get a load of people with cameras. Sit in a circle and all take pictures at the same time of people jumping around in the centr.
Posts Tagged ‘photography
25
Jul
10
Circle of Cameras
03
Jun
10
Bar-B-Qued Businessmen
New Yorkers
Today I wandered around the financial district of Manhattan. The place is very up beat and alive (he said as if revealing some hidden truth that had previously gone unnoticed). I think what I like about New York is the street life or “Leben auf der Straße” as they say in Germany. New Yorkers sem keen on uniforms; the businessman has a crisp clean shirt and tie the delivery guy a white apron, the postman a blue hat and a trolley, the construction worker a vest, hat and a plethora of contraptions dangling from his body. Consequently it is easy to identify what’s going on.
At the World Trade Centre a new building is finally going up and the Americans are taking to the task with zeal. One thing that impressed me was that I photographed all the WTC in front of the police and nobody bothered me. This stands in stark contrast to Great Britain’s paranoid policy on public photography where they harass amateur photographers with bollocks about it being illegal.
There appears to be a lot of yellow about in NYC these days. The taxis of course but also the trucks. I noticed an “organic dry cleaners” down near Battery Park, something I have not come across before.
Barby
Also near battery park hoards of immaculate dressed businessmen and women ate their lunch, many of them queuing for bar-b-que. This is another thing that almost dumfounds me. How can New York business people remain so sharply dressed in the heat and humidity while eating bar-b-que.
To be honest I was told to stop taking photographs by a security guard when shooting directly into the vast good entrance. I approached the guy and told him that I didn’t think he had the authority to tell me to stop taking pictures and he said, OK, and that his supervisor had told him to tell me to stop.
I should investigate what the rules are in the U.S.
Barba-Q'ed businessmen
05
Apr
10
Brighton Festival
The Brighton Festival is looming on the horizon like….. a vast …….arts festival…….in Brighton…….starting in May.
Jones has exhibited art work in previous festivals and this year work will be on display at The Hartington Public House in Whippingham Rd, Brighton……near the pool table…..where all the art connoisseurs hang out.
Below are a couple of the pictures on display.
Trees in Silhouette
Cows
Completely ignoring the guidance given by Chief Constable Andrew Trotter ( Head of ACPO Media Advisory Group ) the police are now running a campaign encouraging the public to report photographers and “let experienced officers decide what action to take”.
Experienced officers? Like the experienced officers who arrested a guy taking picture of Christmas celebrations in Accrington? Like the experienced officers at the G20 summit who beat Ian Tomlinson?
Older readers may remember the IRA campaign of bombing in the UK in the 80s. The IRA were far more successful in bombing England than the current batch of islamists yet the police then did not resort to inducing paranoia in the population and encouraging us all to fear and spy on each other.
The truth is that the natural inclination of anyone who joins an organisation such as the police force will be to govern human behaviour by restricting everything and then allowing action by exception. That is not in accord with democratic values. Democracy requires that everything is allowed unless it is specifically proscribed.
The trouble with this police campaign is it ramps up the pressure. The police claim they will only use power to counter terrorism but we already have evidence that police are using all sorts of excuses to harrass photographers from anti-social behaviour to suspected pedophilia. Those given powers over others always abuse those powers. It’s a rule.
As yet the United Kingdom is not a police state and we do not restrict public photography. We should not allow ourselves to be frightened into giving the police authoritarian powers. Slippery slope and all that.
This is amazing. A police community support officer tries to get the details of a photographer Bob Patefield. Originally the police say this is because of the anti-terror legislation but when Mr. Patefield refuses to give his details as he rightly claims that he is not obliged to the police change their excuse to anti-social behaviour. Mr. Patefield was arrested and held for 8 hours before being released without charge.
This is straight intimidation of photographers.
Police attempt to intimidate Bob Patefield
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/21/photographer-films-anti-terror-arrest
Police harass man for taking photo of his son in shopping mall
18
Dec
09
YOU’RE FILMING! – YES I AM!
"YOU'RE FILMING!" - "YES I AM!"
I was up in London again last night for another Christmas drink. On the way back I saw a group of police in the tube and took a photo of them. It seems that they have not taken on board the recent guidance by the chief constable of the British transport police to the Association of Chief Police Officers. His guidance states that anti terror legislation (known as Section 44) “gives officers no specific powers in relation to photography ….”.
This didn’t stop one officer yelling “YOU’RE FILMING!” at me and raising his hand in a attempt to stop me. This seems incredibly hypocritical given the thousands of CCTV cameras throughout the London Underground. The establishment seems bent on introducing more and more big brother methods for policing and it seems that the only people who, they think, should be exempt are themselves. The picture I took is not very good but I reproduce it here as a minor assertion of a freedom which the police seem intent on erasing.
A demonstration is taking place in London to protest police heavy handedness with photographers. Be there.
Just to emphasise the point the picture below shows what happens when a peaceful demonstration takes place. The police turn up and film everyone. Fucking hypocrites!
Hypocrite!
Anti Terror laws used to stop photographers
There was an interesting article on the Guardian web site on friday about police using the anti terror laws to prevent people taking photographs in public spaces. More evidence for keeping the powers of the state under tight control.
This follows a letter of guidance sent on the 4th December by the chief constable of the British transport police to the Association of Chief Police Officers in which he states that the anti terror legislation (known as Section 44) “gives officers no specific powers in relation to photography and there is no provision in law for the confiscation of equipment or the destruction of images, either digital or on film”.
A campaign group called I’m a photographer not a terrorist are planning a Mass Photo Gathering at 12 Noon on Saturday 23rd January 2010 in Trafalgar Square. There is a facebook event for this too.
It’s also interesting that, while we are theoretically free to take photographs in public spaces, more and more of our urban space is being privatised. Shopping centres, for example, are owned by private companies and so the owners can impose restrictions on the behaviour of the general public who visit the centres.
Evidence by La La and the Boo Ya
Tags: freedom, big brother, CCTV, photography, Section 44, Evidence, La La & the Boo Ya, liberty, camreas, public photograpy
This is a link to a track named Evidence by La La and the Boo Ya. It is about the fact that the police have CCTV watching everything we do yet the police are now exceeding their authority by trying to prevent ordinary people taking photos in public spaces and specifically taking pictures of police.
As they say: “My life is captured on CCTV, I can’t hide from society”
So why do the police think that they should be allowed to hide from society.
La La & the Boo Ya live