11-16-11 – You Can’t Fight City Hall

And we’ve got the guns.

So do we. Well, those of us that support and exercise the second amendment.

/first two keep the rest there
//please don’t run with this, I don’t want to be responsible for the threadjack of two upcoming themes.

When our shit comes out of storage, I’m seriously thinking about using my silkscreen to run out half a dozen t-shirts that say “PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT TERRORISM”

Well. I, uhh….. might uhhh…. be able to work with some of that.

CSB time….

The US capitol has this weird rule that says you cannot use a tripod anywhere on the capitol grounds without a permit from the Capitol PD. Doesnt matter if it’s on dirt, grass, concrete, pavement or what, you can’t use a tripod without the permit…which you can get for free if you take the time to wander into the basement of the capitol, wait for an hour for the clerk to find the form, etc…basically they just make it as difficult as possible to actually get the permit. They claim that all the big TV tripods damage the stone surfaces, so they make if difficult for anybody to use one.

I used to live on Capitol Hill and was working at the photo lab in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. One of my friends there was a guy named Jeff Tinsley who was the chief photographer for the Smithsonian…great guy, great photographer, even shot my wedding for me. One day around Christmas I was heading back home on my bike, riding up the Mall towards the Capitol, when I saw Jeff setting his camera up on the grass between the Capitol and the reflecting pool, getting ready to get a shot of the National Christmas Tree. I jokingly said to him, “Hey, Jeff, you got a permit for that tripod?”

No more than thirty seconds went by before a Capitol PD officer came up to him and asked the same question. Jeff thought she was kidding…she wasnt. Jeff produced every known press credential he had, White House pass, Supreme Court pass, DC PD pass, Pentagon pass, etc…but the LEO wasnt impressed. He didnt have a permit for the tripod, and he had to take it down. “I thought you were nuts when you asked if I had a permit,” he said to me.

Jeff later told me that he tried to get a permit, but gave up after waiting for an hour for the clerk to find the form to fill out.

Just don’t photograph the Oakland police.

let’s hope the next story is about the cop getting fired. and maybe a civil suit as well.

Just don’t photograph the Oakland police.

I was going to photograph the Occupy Oakland group for the thread next week, but maybe not. I don’t want to do anything stupid.

K Street lobbying firms probably don’t count as government buildings do they?

Why not, they own the government.

Disguising a bomb as a camera is not exactly the same as having a terrorist taking pictures of a bridge with a dslr in order to determine how to blow it up, which is the reasoning that’s been used to stop people like us from practicing photography in perfectly legal ways.

Now you’re talking my language. I would totally do a photo recon of a bridge before demolition. Of course, part of my job is blowing up bridges. Not that I’ve ever gotten to do that part. It almost came my way once in Afghanistan, but the 168th Company got stuck with that mission. I kept my platoon plenty busy expanding the airbase we were at. The bridge in questions was already destroyed, and my battalion got the job of completing the demolition so new piers could be constructed.

Anyway, I’m going to archive dive from my trip to Spain earlier this year for this one. Everything old in Spain is a government building. The birthplace of King Felipe II is the water department for the city of Valladolid. How awesome is that? Way more awesome that military construction ca. 1999, that’s how awesome. I’ve also got some shots of the 15 May movement marching past the national bank building in Madrid the day before they decamped.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just different. I just think once I’m outside my door, outside my own personal property I have no real expectation of privacy unless I’m in some place like a changing room or rest room. I overheard some women at work talking about being upset a friend of a friend brought their camera to a polo match they attended and her daughter might be in some of the pictures.

“She could do anything she wants with those pictures. Imagine, my daughter could be on the internet and some pervert could look at the picture and *shudder*”
“Oh, I know what you mean. People should have to ask permission before photographing anyone under the age of say, 12. Or 14. Maybe 18.”

I really wanted to walk over, stare at her daughter a few minutes and say something like “No way, she’s not cute enough to get off on.”

Yes, there are probably a small number of people out there who might want to do destructive things to our infrastructure (aside from lawmakers who vote against funding repairs) and pervs who take photos of kids. But if you really want to blow up a bridge the structural plans for many are readily available on the internet. As for pervs, you have the right to ask someone not to take pictures of you just as much as they have the right to take pictures of you in a public place unless you ask them not to.