PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT A CRIME

You're looking at what I saw as my parting glance after being harassed while trying to take simple, general interest photos at the Chelsea Outlet mall in Vacaville, California yesterday.

I'm way past being sick of people in little golf carts with uniforms and radios bothering me while trying to set up and take innocuous photos of things that in no way relate to any security, commercial license or legality issues. This time I've contacted the management company, asked for their written policy to examine for personal interest reasons and to scrutinize it for legality questions.

What's the big deal about taking photos in true public space and what the general public assumes is public space anyway? So what if you're on the sidewalk and want to take a photo of your friends in front of the Sanrio store or, in my case, are practically laying on the ground to get a unique photo of a fire hydrant?

Yesterday I noticed the color yellow for some reason and decided to devote the day to photographing things that were yellow, challenging myself to find interesting interpretations. Earlier in the day I had captured part of a grate in the sidewalk and later on after lunch (which I should also write about separately) I found this bright yellow hydrant across from the restrooms. There were some yellow flowers in the ground cover around it which I captured but didn't publish. And at the same spot was a bright yellow railing/barrier that looked great in the late afternoon light against the black asphalt pavement.

I missed that photo because that's when the first person stopped me. She said she wasn't "security" but was driving a security vehicle and warned me that security wouldn't like it that I was taking photos. I told her that I'm just an amateur photographer and wasn't breaking any laws but if she felt she had to sound the alarm or call in the troops to go ahead but I wanted to go back to work getting the shot of the paint on the railing.

She drove off, obviously in a huff over being talked back to. But I never got the photo I wanted because it was only a couple of minutes later that the real security person in the big truck (pictured above) stopped to ask me what I was taking pictures of. Feeling like it was none of her business but suspecting that it might be her business, I said "yellow things." She responded snidely, "yellow things?."

And so it went. I told her what I was doing and she did her best to tell me that I was prohibited from taking pictures anywhere on the outlet property and that the policy, though not posted anywhere the public can see including on the website, is posted in the management office. I don't remember what happened or who said what but I know she drove off after I suggested that if they don't want people taking pictures they ought to post some signs where people can see and she should go find her superiors and suggest just that and that I would be doing the same which I have.

Of course all during this intercourse I wanted to take pictures of her but was sufficiently intimated out of doing so. And as she drove off I suppressed my desire to yell something obscene and show off my middle finger, taking a fuzzy photo instead.

Probably 75% of people walking around these days is armed with a camera. They range in size from the Hubble telescope down to something small enough to hang from a keychain. They're in cell phones and tiny personal, portable computer devices. Spys have them in their coat buttons and writing pens. Some look like credit cards and mine just looks like an old-fashioned camera. So what's the big deal? We're being watched everywhere we go and in every thing we do. Our cars are watched on the highways and in parking lots. There are eyes on us on the sidewalks and inside stores. Our phone calls are logged and possibly listened to. Our purchases are tracked both in the stores and online. Next time you buy something and the clerk wants your zip code, take their picture and say "tell your boss it's none of your business."

A group of photographers on flickr.com have formed a group called PhotoMOB(ilization) because of the harassment we get for situations like this all the time it seems. Usually it's from pseudo-police who are overly aggressive and are all puffed up with patriotism and 9/11 paranoia.

I hope to hear back from the property management company and if I do, I'll post more info here. Regardless of what might happen next, I'm unscathed and will continue to exercise my right to take photographs. Photography is not a crime and neither is free speech, fortunately.