Tripods in London?

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » Wed May 28, 2008 6:23 pm

Well ere we are in London...... Visited Canary Wharf yestrday with a my old 'tourist' video camera..... Got about 15 mins of footage for my project film .... Managing to rest the camera on walls etc ..... Saw some excellent still photographic opportunities so pulls out the nikon d40x and was swooped on by security staff complete with sniffer dog!!!!!....
unfortunately my IAC card made things Worse as the security geezer was convinced it represented a company when he relayed the message to the control room who had been watching me ..... He said that as soon as they saw my professional camera ie the nikon DSLR still camera they pounced!!......I had to go through all the thumbnails which he checked and then said I must report to the main reception and apply for a permit......ok...off I go..... Reception puts me through to a lovely lady who is in charge of these things..... She stated that as these pics are for only my use and of a non commercial nature there is not a problem....if I get stopped again refer secururity to her...... What a carry on...... The 1st thing I said to the security geezer was that very thing!!!!!!...

I played it suprisingly cool....but getting a bit sick and tired of this big brother approach......

sorry for the typos but I'm on a mobile!!!!

Brian Saberton · Post by **Brian Saberton** » Wed May 28, 2008 7:08 pm

Just shows what numptys these people are that they assume that an SLR is a professional camera. It's pathetic nonsense but I've heard of this happening before in Canary Wharf. It's even dafter when you consider that a compact camera will take just as good pictures. I wonder what this must be doing for tourism in London because any time I visit I see thousands of tourists, especially from japan, with SLR cameras. Can you imagine how visitors to our shores must feel if apprehended in such a heavy handed way? Imagine enjoying your first visit to the UK and being suspected of being a terrorist just because you have a nice camera in their hand.

Stephen, well done for at least getting your video footage but it beggars belief that the guard thought you represented a Company - couldn't he read? I don't know if you read Amateur Photographer magazine but if so why not send them an e mail about what happened. It is something they are featuring regularly and campagning about. The guy to write to is Chris Cheesman.

Mike Shaw · Post by **Mike Shaw** » Wed May 28, 2008 7:14 pm

You think you have problems ... one of my grandsons plays in a junior football team and has been named goalie of the year at his club - so naturally, I wanted to film him doing his suff.

No way. Pounced on by everyone. I'm not sure exactly what the problem is filming kids playing football. But it is a serious problem, apparently.

So, when he grows up, he'll have nothing to show his children etc. of his prowess.

(Its OK of course for CCTV cameras to point any which way they want...)

Absolutely pathetic.

And to think that all this 'politcal correctness' craparoo originated in a small USA town as a joke.

I despair of this 'modern age'.

If I were a terrorist, the last thing I'd do is draw attention to myself with a pro-looking camera/camcorder. I sometimes wonder where these beanheads keep their brains. I'm assuming they do have a cell or two of said material of course.

stingman · Post by **stingman** » Thu May 29, 2008 10:48 am

Two storys come to mind.......

When we were in Paris on holiday, I was filming the Eifell Tower, I panned round and saw a couple of Police with there guns by there side. They have a Police room at the base of the tower. When the Police saw me they wagged there fingers and I quickly stopped filming. I would not want to be shot would I!
As a subb note to this story. When we were waiting for the Eurostar at the Gare Du Nore, there were a lot of Police and they cordened off an area out of site. There was this great big bang. They did a controlled Explosion. Great Fun

The second story was from my Hope08 News filming for a Christian event in Newport Football Stadium. During this filming I was filming kids on Bouncy Castels and children in a meeting. No-one came up to me. I was however wearing my offical Shirt and name badge. I didn`t zoom in or linger on the kids. I only used about 5 seconds of the kids footage.

Someone in our club got arrested while filming at a carnaval day in one of our parks! We do rib him sometimes!!!!

Be good.....
Stingman

Chrisbitz · Post by **Chrisbitz** » Thu May 29, 2008 5:37 pm

stingman wrote:
Someone in our club got arrested while filming at a carnaval day in one of our parks! We do rib him sometimes!!!!

Stingman

Arrested for what? Was it in private property or something? I thought we'd established that it's LEGAL to film anything, anywhere in public land?....

It's scarey out there!

ned c · Post by **ned c** » Thu May 29, 2008 5:49 pm

Stingman, we need the full story of your colleague who was arrested whilst fiming a carnival. Who arrested him? What for?Was he charged? How did it all end? This is important because otherwise these stories become "urban legends" and it is very difficult to learn from what happened,

thanks

ned c

Brian Saberton · Post by **Brian Saberton** » Thu May 29, 2008 6:38 pm

Yesterday I went to one of the Glasgow Art Centres where they were showing amateur films taken at the Empire Exhibition of 1938. The exhibition included a fun-fair and nearly all the films contained substantial footage of children and families enjoying a great day out. It's fascinating material because it shows how youngsters enjoyed themselves, behaved and dressed all those years ago and must be valuable research for social historians. Fast forward to 2008 and I guess none of us would dare to film children at such an event. When archive film of this decade is viewed in years to come it will look as if we are a childless nation living in a hysterical state of fear and paranoia. And yes indeed, what about all those CCTV cameras?

Mike Shaw · Post by **Mike Shaw** » Thu May 29, 2008 7:36 pm

You're right. We're in the process of having 35mm and 16mm films of local events from the 30s digitised and made into movies for the public to enjoy, and many of them would not - could not - have been filmed today. One covers children at a sports day and fete - enjoying themselves and, dare I say, extremely well mannered.

If only we could leave a similar legacy for the generations to come. Children will be cosstted in cotton wool (safety goggles while playing conkers etc) as they play on the wee wii's in preference to kicking a real football round a real park.

stingman · Post by **stingman** » Sat May 31, 2008 11:19 am

Our club mate was just filming a carnaval day, carnaval goes to local rec ground where there are stalls and country dancing. He has a large FX1! He was filming the kids country danceing. The honest truth is that I don`t know if he was taken away or given a bad verble by the Police, either way it wasn`t a very good experience for him, but a bit of a hoot for the rest of us. I try and ask around at the next club meet.

Be good all the weathers lovely. Get filming.....

Stingman

billyfromConsett · Post by **billyfromConsett** » Sat May 31, 2008 6:17 pm

stingman wrote:Our club mate was just filming a carnaval day, carnaval goes to local rec ground where there are stalls and country dancing. The honest truth is that I don`t know if he was taken away or given a bad verble by the Police, either way it wasn`t a very good experience for him, but a bit of a hoot for the rest of us.

Stingman, whoever thinks that's funny deserves a slap.

stingman · Post by **stingman** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:52 am

Thank you Billy! It is funny because he would use the film for anything dodgie. Thats why it`s funny. It`s not funny but it is.

An example. When I was a teen, I bought a tv from my mate. I took it home at 12.00 midnight! I was stopped and arrested and put in a cell for 3 hours! It transpired that the tv was hot and my mate didn`t know either! The funny thing is that the police thought that I had nicked it. I would NEVER have done that sort of thing, and they would have been wasteing there time to try and get me. THAT`s why it`s funny. If they knew me they would know that I would never do this.

Do you get it now! IT`S FUNNY!`

Be good.......

Stingman

Brian Saberton · Post by **Brian Saberton** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:38 pm

I've related this story before in FVM but it's worth repeating. A couple of years ago a group of members from a camera club visited Edinburgh to photograph the street entertainers at the annual Festival at a public open air event. One of the members was arrested because of a spurious and baseless allegation by a member of the public that he was taking pictures of children. He was held for more than two hours and had his film and equipment confiscated. During this time his friends had no idea what had happened to him and, naturally, were quite concerned as he was not in the best of health. He was released and eventually his equipment was returned and he got an apology. The matter was taken very seriously by the club who reported the incident to the Scottish Photographic Federation and they in turn raised the issue at the highest level both with the Police and Edinburgh City Council. Although these were still photographers they could just as easily have been using video cameras.

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:31 pm

That's a timely story Brian and something that we should all be fighting against.......

maybe the IAC as our national body could enquire and represent its members to the 'authorities' and help clarify certain issues that have been raised here....
maybe even make a feature in the FVM or website?

I feels a sense of loss especially for the our older members who gave up a lot to keep us free from such political control.....

keep 'em coming....

Mike Shaw · Post by **Mike Shaw** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:39 pm

It makes me want to cry.

If it were filming children undrssing in the pool changing rooms or something, or in the showers, then I could understand there's a serious problem.

But street entertainers performing? Any one of them would probably be delighted to get copies of the photos or videos.

ned c · Post by **ned c** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:18 pm

I have two personal experiences of objections to videoing. One occasion when my grandson (then 8 years old) played soccer with a local school team in England and I was told to stop videoing or the police would have to be notified. This from the head mistress of the school! The second occasion was in Lavenham where a group of school children were dressed for a Tudor re-creation and a very hostile leader told me to stop videoing immediately as I was breaking the law filming children in a public place.

At that time my niece was the European editor for Magnum and she assured me that in the case of Lavenham I was within my rights to video but as the soccer game was on private school property they had the right to ban photography/filming on their property. However, if I stepped on to the public road I could video the game from there.

The real problem is that most people do not understand the law and are happy to become quite officious, is there evidence that pedophiles go around photographing children at their regular activities?

ned c