Security Guard Run In
Posted by latoga | Filed under Uncategorized
If you take pictures, eventually it’ll happen. A run in with the law…or the rent-a-law-enforcer.
Today I was shooting some head shots for another startup CEO in San Francisco at Levi Plaza. Levi Plaza is a set of office buildings that have the offices for Levi Strauss and Company. It also happens to be where the office of this startup is located. Part of Levi Plaza is small strip of land between the Embarcadero and Battery Street which was made into a small park. The park is open to the public, and until today, I thought was public property. (there is a sign stating otherwise, but you only see it as you are leaving the park, and there is no mention of no photography…).
The park makes for perfect backdrop for portraits. So I was out there shooting with the CEO. We had just finished up and were standing there talking, my camera with flash in hand and a small folded tripod laying on the bench in front of us (a tripod which I never even used).
And up walks a security guard. He spots the tripod and injects himself into our conversation:
SG: “There are no tripods allowed in here.”
Me: “Ok.”
SG: “You can’t have that in here.” (as he looks up from the bench to look at me)
Me: “I’m not using it, it’s just lying there on the bench.”
SG: “Hey, that looks like a professional camera.”
Me: silently looking at him
SG: “You can’t take pictures in here with professional cameras.”
Me: Still silently looking at him thinking: ‘But I could with a non professional camera?’
SG : “You need to get a permit from the management office.”
Me: “Ok.” Still standing there looking at him.
SG: walks off to continue his rounds, totally forgetting about us.
For this specific security guard, he could honestly care less that I was taking “professional photographs” in Levi Plaza. He told me what he was required to, I was just standing there taking to someone, and he wanders off.
Lucky me. It could have gone another way entirely. If I would have confronted him on the “professional versus non-professional” camera aspect or not been so relaxed about the whole thing he could have gotten more forceful.
A lot of times if you let the security guard exercise his power (maybe the only part of his life where he can), they are happy, they leave you and you can continue what you were doing. Other times, it’s all about reading the person and just playing off the way they are presenting themselves; he wasn’t throwing the macho security guard vibe nor did he look the type, so there was no need for me to push back.
Though I’m sure it would have been an entirely different experience if I had a wedding party with me or something…but in that case I would have had my permit (and charge it to the client).
Tags: Photographer Rights, Photography Life
1000 Words Never Captured
Posted by latoga | Filed under Photographers
Recently I came across a great new blog called The Photographs Not Taken. (truth be told, I spent over an hour on it today…) The concept is simple: have a photographer explain in words a photograph that they did not take. The site was launched just at the turn of the new year and there are over 30 essays already published. Considering that most of us photographers are judged by our images, this blog shows that there are some great writers hiding amongst us!
What a simple yet great concept! It reminds me of my posting from back in September, 2007: Chasing the Image.
Tags: Essays, Photography Life
Chasing The Image
Posted by latoga | Filed under Uncategorized
I recently came across the above quote from Sam Abell (quote might not display in some feed readers) that triggered a flashback for me. Thinking back, this moment can be considered the start of my photography interests. I was probably about 12 or 14 years old. My parents and I were driving from Wisconsin, where we lived, to Colarodo to visit my sister. My dad loved to “take the side roads” when possible. Rather than driving on the interstate, he enjoyed the more scenic routes that give you something interesting to look at while driving–what is that saying…the older you get the more you become your parents.
This wanderlust was not start of my photographic interests, but it sure fed into it. What was the start is an image that I saw as we drove down some anonymous two lane road in Nebraska, South Dakota, or Wyoming (at this point, I’m not even sure which state it was). It was after sunset, the eastern sky was that gorgeous deep purple on the horizon and fading into the lighter shades of purple and lavender as your eye moved up the sky. We were driving along some farms and there was a field for grazing cattle on the eastern side of the road. Standing in the middle of that field was a dead tree, containing a substantial set of main branches and bleached white from years of sitting in the sun.
The vision of the sky at that time of day with the tree that just seemed to glow has stuck in my head ever since that day. Luckily, later that summer my brother-in-law gave me an old 35mm SLR camera of his. The camera became my tool. I have hunted constantly for a similar setting to actually capture that image and get it out of my head. I’m still hunting.
Now I wonder, do other photographers have similar images burned into their mind’s eye? What is the story behind the image? Have you been able to capture a similar image? How long have you been chasing that image?
Tags: Photography Life
Landing at DIA
Posted by latoga | Filed under Uncategorized
Tonight I was flying into DIA (Denver International Airport). We were landing about an hour before sunset (about 4:30pm local time, I believe). So the sun was still shining over the Rocky Mountains and creating nice long shadows across the snowy ground.
First off, I was amazed that there was still snow on the ground. The typical winter behavior for greater Denver, CO area is that the snow is typically gone about a half day after it falls. But the weather this winter has kept the snow around from the past few snow storms that have hit the area.
Next, I was amazed at the imagery that I was catching a glimpse of as we landed. The area around DIA is largely open grassland. You see an occasional river bed with trees growing within reach of the water. Since DIA was built there has been a growing amount of development in the area, so you also can spot landscaped rows of trees lining driveways and roadways. As we were flying over, you had very Fargo like scenes of a white canvas with brown sticks and long black shadows.
It was another one of those moments where I wish I had my camera! Thought I would have had to sneak it out to take the pictures as “electronics are not allowed during take off and landing”. And then there is the issue of the hazy and scratched airplane windows. Regardless, I found myself longing for my camera.
This is the largest downside of my photographic passion. That I don’t (or can’t) always have my camera handy to take images I see.
I don’t because I already find myself lugging a 20 pound briefcase around with me when I travel for work (my day job). If I were to take my camera bag with a few standard lenses and gear, it would be bulkier and heaver than I care to deal with (I just can’t quite demote myself to shooting with a digital point and shoot since having moved to DSLR). I have tried this on a few business trips and ended up sacrificing items that I wanted due to space limitations in my Lowepro CompuTreker backpack. Maybe it’s time to buy yet another camera bag…with room for my laptop and work materials as well as my stripped down camera gear. But it has to be the size of a briefcase or backpack as I hate checking luggage and I need to take some clothes with me in my wheelie case.
Then there are the times when I can’t have my camera with me. The downside of traveling for a non-photography related business is that you get some strange looks from co-workers/customers/partners when you show up with a camera around your neck…
But I have digressed…I guess I’m going to have to look into doing a helicopter rental in Denver some time in the future to be able to capture the images that are now stuck in my head. Maybe, I can find some other local photographers who would be interested in doing this together…
Tags: flying, Photography Life
Mind Your Surroundings: Ice Squared
Posted by latoga | Filed under Uncategorized
We have all heard horror stories of photographer’s who didn’t mind their surroundings. Typically these stories occur while taking photos on the shore and include the tide coming in and wet camera gear. Over the past month, I have had two separate incidents of not minding my surroundings that I wanted to share. They both involve my current nemesis…ice.
As I alluded to in my recent posting on photo walks, ice is the reason that I wasn’t able to do a photo walk yesterday during my time here in
This past December, I was visiting my parents back in
As I turned the corner, just out of view of my family, my foot hit a patch of dark ice. You can probably image what happened next. Just like a cartoon, my fee went up in the air while my back and head slammed into the concrete walk way. I was seeing stars…both figuratively and literally. Oh yeah, and remember the camera…that slammed into the walk way lens first! Remarkably the camera, lens, and lens filter survived the impact with out any harm. My head did not. I never did get my photo of the locomotive but did go home with a concussion.
That was round one with my nemesis. This past Friday was round two.
I have spent the past few days in the
The
I got the shot that I was after (see image to the right) and continued to hobble around campus for another hour taking more photos (just at a slower speed than normal). But I left the field of battle wounded with worst sprained ankle that I have ever had. And I’m sure the mile walk back to my hotel didn’t help my ankle’s condition. Thus, I spent yesterday in my hotel room with ice on my ankle instead of walking around the
The moral of my stories is to Mind Your Surroundings. As photographers we are so used to minding the view through the camera, but we tend to get lost inside the camera and loose sense of everything else around us. Next time your out shooting, try to remember to consider everything else around you. It can help prevent loss or damage to your gear…as well as yourself.
Tags: Photography Life, Surroundings
