Many of us posters like to take pictures of building facades and street life. Unfortunately, so do developers, auditors and private investigators. This can raise a lot of suspicion in economically depressed neighborhoods and areas where citizens care a lot about their community. I was wondering what all crazy stories forum members have from their excursions.

 

Aside from typical random comments like "oh s#$% this n!%#a takin' pictures!" and old ladies coming out of their house screaming at me, asking me what I'm doing, nothing that crazy has happend, but I also don't take pictures that often.

One night in downtown Williamsport, I was taking pictures of the town during a community night in mid-July.  I was taking a picture of one of the taller buildings in town and I hear someone making funny noises so I look down and this guy in his car was dancing and going "whoo hoo" to me I guess because I had a camera.  I just nodded to him and when he drove off I cracked up.  Thats my most unusual thing that has ever happened.  Actually my avatar is the picture I took when that happened.

I took a short photography class at the Art Academy of Cincinnati back in April.  During the first class, we met inside, then went outside to take pictures.  We started around 12th Street, and I would say there were around 20 of us.  BallHatGuy happened to drive by as asked what was going on.  I told him about the class, but asked if he thought it was an Urban Ohio convention.  ;)

 

Eventually, we made our way over to Vine Street in the Gateway Quarter.  Some guy stopped me and asked if I was taking pictures.  When I told him yes, he said "Get a picture of this!" and had a big smile on his face.  Thoughts raced through my mind, and I had no idea what he was about to do.  He then pulled up his shirt sleeve and flexed his bicep.  Relieved, I told him okay and started to raise my camera to take the picture.  He said "No!  I was kidding!"  He walked away laughing.

This is a long one with no big ending….

 

On a visit to NEO this past April, I decided to take some pictures of the abandoned steel mills in Youngstown. I was driving down a desolate section of Poland Ave between Youngstown and Struthers when I saw what I thought would be a cool shot. It was an abandoned section of the former Sheet & Tube that was behind a functioning heavy equipment company. I decided to get out of the car a take a picture through the fence. BIG MISTAKE!

 

I took the picture then got back into my rental car and drove off. I didn't get far before some yahoo with missing teeth in a white pickup truck ran me off of the road. I was quite angry not knowing why he did this. I got out of the car and shouted some expletives.

 

The guy asked me what I was doing taking pictures of the equipment. I then learned that they had some recent thefts of expensive equipment. I assured the guy I didn't have any preconceived intentions and I was taking pictures of the mills not the equipment. I showed him the pic and told him I would delete the picture (incidentally it did show some of the equipment) if it would make him feel better. I deleted the picture and again explained I was visiting and showed him my FL driver license hoping it would set the record straight. NOPE!

 

He then called the owner of the business and he explained what I had told him but the owner wouldn’t buy it. I spoke to him on the phone and explained again. He told me he was calling the police to have me arrested for trespassing. That’s when my patience could endure no more. I was on a public street on the opposite side of the fence of his property.

 

I pretty much told the owner to go to hell and hung up the phone. I told the guy in the pickup truck that he could follow me all day if he liked and he did. After a couple of minutes of this dude on my tail I stopped the car and got out and told him I was calling the police on him!

 

Then the owner showed up on the phone with the police as well (bigger truck, full set of teeth). I was on hold with the police and then my cell phone battery went dead. When heard the owner say “what do I want you to do, I want you to arrest him for trespassing.” I could tell he was repeating what they said “what do you want us to do?” I had enough and got in my car and drove off. This time they did not follow me as they were still on the phone with the police pleading for the them to come and arrest me.

When I told him yes, he said "Get a picture of this!" and had a big smile on his face.  Thoughts raced through my mind, and I had no idea what he was about to do.

Yes. That situation could have easily taken a turn for the awkward. Glad that situation didn't warrant months of therapy.

The best story I have was having my licence ran by the Barney Fife character at the Crawford County Courthouse in Bucyrus and being told my activities were of terrorist nature.

 

Otherwise, I've rarely have encounters with anyone.

ragerunner...come on, I know you have a good one to tell.

I was on Division Road in the west part of the flats taking pictures of the affordable housing mostly pointed in the directions of "1" and "2."

I may have took a few pictures of the Morgan Water Facility in the general direction of "3."

 

Next thing you know.... po'po everywhere.

Not the local kind, or the state.

These cars actually said Homeland Security on the doors.

I got the "terrorist nature of my activities" speech too.

 

That's when I kicked them in the knee. not really, but in my head I did.

 

It was most certainly because of the water plant.

 

The only time I've ever been questioned was a few years ago. I was taking photos around East 3rd and Superior, when a motorcycle cop (an extraordinarily handsome one at that) pulled up, motioned me over and asked what I was doing. I said "just taking photos of buildings for my site, clevelandskyscrapers.com" - he said, "no problem, someone called in to say there was a 'dark-complected person taking photos of buildings', so we had to check it out. You know how people are...". I chuckled and said "I'm dark complected but I'm Irish and German!", he laughed and said "Me too, take it easy." So no big whoop.

ummmmmmmm  :evil:

^ geez the person that called must have been scandinavian or british, eh?  :laugh:

 

i only got a couple minor things thankfully, but one biggie that p.o.'d me at the end:

 

speaking of british, some british dude in camden stepped to me and said: ay distinctly saw you pointing that camera at me mate." me: "no, you didn't, not at you." him: i did. me: "no, you're mistaken, but ok here have a look yourself" (i scrolled the pics/no pic of him). me: "see? alright? you good?" him: do you smoke? me: "um, no." him: do you know where i can get some smoke? me: "err, no..." -- i guess suddenly i was turned into a native or some thing?!?  :laugh:

 

another time when i was walking around in the ultra-conservative jewish hasidic nabe in south williamsburg, brooklyn i was "interviewed" by about 3 or 4 of these stroller pushing ladies (the whole neighborhood is women all dressed alike pushing strollers around during the day while the men walk around working i guess, it's quite an odd sight). it worked out fine, but i had to chat'em up and do a little dance a couple times to get myself out of that ok.

 

the biggie was i was taking pics on the subway platform (at 53rd/5th ave) and some mta manager a-hole came out yelling how you cant do that and i'm gonna have to stop the train and i said, "oh yes i can and blah blah."  i finally said, "fine, here look i'll delete them" (i did in front of him) and he said, i dont care about that you cant do that, and i said, "then what are talking about? blah blah blah." evryone was looking at me w/ pitchforks if he was gonna stop the train, but he didnt and i got on and left. this was during a thankfully short, but very controversial period of debate about pic taking on the subway -- even tho it was still legally ok. fyi - thats all cleared up now and yes you can take pics on the subway w/o being bothered legally and freely (but you cant use a tripod).

 

 

I don't have any "funny" stories, but there are stories I've posted on here before.  I have only been stopped by the police once.  It was in Queengate and I was taking a pic of a railroad overpass.  For some reason, two officers were in a cruiser behind an old brick factory building and they got out of the car.  They asked me what I was doing taking photos of this bridge in an industrial area and I explained why I was there.  They ran my license and then, after about ten minutes of being "detained", let me go.

 

I've had people on the street ask me what I was doing and ask to be photographed.  And on Sunday I was down taking photos of the SouthShore condos being built in Newport (pics coming soon) and a guy asked me if I was taking photos of my new condo.  I told him, "Hell, no, I can't afford to live there!"  He then told me they were selling units for $35,000.  I think he worked at Don Pablo's because he was changing out of his work clothes in the middle of Riverboat Row.

 

Where I work we are supposed to stop and question people taking pictures.  All their info is then forwarded to the f_b_l.  Do you think I ever stop to harrass anyone though??   8-)

I was actually quite suprised I wasn't stopped in DC one time.  I was out somewhat late (10/11pm or so) and my friend and I were out walking around the White House and the neighboring government buildings (which could have been suspicious enough).  We then saw one of the pedestrian tunnels, that I believe connected to the White House, being worked on...and it was all exposed with just some fencing.

 

So naturally I went in for a closer look...stuck my camera through the chain link fence and started snapping away, just hoping to get a good shot.  Shortly after I realized it probably wasn't the best idea and that we would be stopped without a doubt...but nothing happened.

Where I work we are supposed to stop and question people taking pictures.  All their info is then forwarded to the f_b_l.  Do you think I ever stop to harrass anyone though??  8-)

 

You work at the airport right? My friend dropped me off at the Greyhound station and he happend to have his camera on him when we were inside the station at like 1am. He had the camera around his neck because he took pictures of downtown a little earlier. The security guard came up to us and said YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO BRING CAMERAS INTO THIS BUILDING!" We both laughed hysterically because we thought about how dumb it would be to take pictures of the inside of a bland, almost-deserted greyhound station. Can't be too careful though.

 

 

So a year has gone by...any crazy stories as of recent?

Nothing other than walking on the Market Street bridge in Williamsport and taking a photo of the Susquehanna, when I hear a car beep at me and all these girls screamed "HEYYYYYYYY". lol  It was interesting.

Not really super crazy. Kinda funny, at best.

 

I was actually taking a photo of the "No Reservations" phone bank ad from the Cleveland episode in Manhattan a few months ago, and there happened to be a table set up nearby with two guys hocking their wares. I was very conscientious to not include them in the photo, and of course, they both got nervous and asked if I was taking their photo. I showed them the pic, and they were satisfied.

 

Hmm. What have ya got to hide, FELLAS??

^ ooh, let's see that picture !!

 

Voila!

 

 

You can KINDA see one of the guy's shirts .. the red in the lower right corner of the photo.

A couple of weeks ago in Ebensburg, PA. This guy was trying to get my attention and I tried to ignore him, but he kept insisting that I take his photo. Fun shot.

 

 

On one of my early visits to Cleveland about 1979 I was taking photos inside the West Side Market Hall, when a woman from one of the vendor stalls ran up shouting in an East European accent, "No Pictures! No Pictures! I break you camera!" All the while, she was hitting me. I ducked and ran and went outside to regroup. It took me a while to get over that.

 

In Pittsburgh's Steel Plaza subway station I took a couple of photos and suddenly found myself confronted by a large security guard who took my ID and radioed my information to the dispatch center and then held my ID and blocked my exit while he waited for a response. He told me photography was prohibited on all PAT property unless I was accompanied by someone from Media Relations. This was after I had gone to the PAT customer service office downtown and asked if there were any restrictions on photography in the stations, and was told that no one in that office knew of any.

 

I've had similar experiences in Chicago's Union Station, except that they didn't run my ID. They just intercepted me and told me I couldn't take photos of the equipment.

 

Most recent incident occurred last Thursday afternoon during rush hour, across the street from my house. I heard a skid and an impact - not unusual here - and looked out the window to see a motorcycle on its side against the guardrail and no one moving. I called 911 and then put the battery and memory card in my camera and headed for the site. By the time I got to my back door, a half-dozen cars had pulled over and civilians had thoroughly contaminated the scene by moving the motorcycle and possibly endangered the biker and his woman by trying to render assistance. I was taking pictures from the other side of the guardrail, on public property (river greenway), and everything I was photographing was in the public right of way.

 

A couple of minutes after the police, EMS, and Fire Rescue people arrived, one of the cops saw me taking photos and came over the guardrail toward me, with another cop close behind him. He assumed an aggressive stance and loudly demanded that I stop taking photographs because I was intruding upon the vicitims' privacy. He said that if I continued to take photographs, it would become city property. I assumed that by "it" he meant my camera, and his and the other officer's demeanor convinced me that if I insisted that I had a right to photograph, I'd quickly end up slammed up against a patrol car and cuffed, and my camera would be seized and/or destroyed.

 

Two things I understand; don't try to reason with an angry person, and don't argue with a cop. Here was an angry cop. I left.

 

I'm still steaming about that incident. I was staying well back from the action, not interfering with victims or emergency responders, and not endangering myself or anyone else. I've lived here since 1972 and I've been the first to call in many wrecks. I've photographed some, and only on one other occasion have I been challenged by a cop for photographing. On that occasion, he just asked me why I was taking photos, and didn't interfere. I asked an acquaintance who is a city councilman and an attorney about it, and he said that as long as I don't interfere with or endanger anyone and don't intrude upon private or restricted property, I have a legal right to photograph anything that takes place upon the public right of way. I have enough sense to know better than to publish photos that might prove embarrassing or injurious to someone, and I can make that decision better when I look at the photos on-screen than when I'm looking through a viewfinder. You might say I shoot first, capturing everything I can, and ask questions (of myself) later. I don't know of any photojournalist or documentarian who does it any differently.

 

I think I was deprived of my civil rights and threatened with physical harm in the process, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it, if anything. I'd like that cop to know that I document everything that goes on in my neighborhood, from wrecks to street paving to flood mitigation and snow removal, and that he doesn't need to mess with me. I don't want him to have a vendetta against me because he seems like the sort who might get even sometime when there's no one else around.

No crazy stories here, but I've had many people request their photo be taken.