Post the Times/Places you have been asked to put your camera away!

So far, I've only had the 'put away the camera' at an Elvis concert. With the sea of P&S and cell phones around me, I just looked puzzled at the gaurd and smiled. And this was with the Rebel!

As for a compilation of rules,

Here's a handy reference:

http://www.krages.com/​phoright.htm

I have it printed in my bag!

Also offered is:

More information about photography law in the United States can be found in the Legal Handbook for Photographers-The Rights and Liabilities of Making Images.

The only time I have been asked not to take pictures was when I was at fund-raiser being put on by a bunch of my biker friends at a bar; I was taking pictures of some of them at the bar when a couple of other patrons asked that I not get them in any of my pictures; I knew better than to ask why and assured them that I would leave them out.

On the other hand, twice recently I have left my camera at home rather than risk getting hassled over it; once at the circus and last week a a charity benefit concert. Both times after we got in there were all sorts of cameras including DSLRs and I gave myself a couple of swift kicks for not at least trying (both would have been perfect places to break out the 85 /1.2; no one else looked to have anything nearly as fast). I enjoyed the shows though, perhaps more so since I was not trying to be a photographer, just a spectator.

thanks to LW Dail, see the link above. excellent, I will have it in my bag from now on too.
Wow. I really like this freely sharing information stuff.

Last year I was walking around one of our local malls here in El Salvador waiting for my sister to finish her shopping and I had my Rebel XT with the 50mm 1.8 lens. I was shooting some pictures every once in a while of random things. I did find a nice scene that I was trying to get some nice pictures of, so I was shooting away when I security guard came up and told me that I had to stop taking pictures or they could take my camera away. I promptly told him that no, he isn't going to take my camera away, and I do believe that this is public property and that I'm free to take pictures, and that I'm just a hobbyist and not planning on doing anything with the pictures. Anyways, we argued for awhile, and pretty soon a second guard came up and finally I got tired of dealing with them and told them I would not take any more pictures. I would really like to go get a permit or something and go back in with some "real" equipment, (more than just the 50mm) and then stick the permit in their face and see what they do then.

LW Dail wrote in post #5769320
So far, I've only had the 'put away the camera' at an Elvis concert. With the sea of P&S and cell phones around me, I just looked puzzled at the gaurd and smiled. And this was with the Rebel!

As for a compilation of rules,

Here's a handy reference:

http://www.krages.com/​phoright.htm

I have it printed in my bag!

Also offered is:

More information about photography law in the United States can be found in the Legal Handbook for Photographers-The Rights and Liabilities of Making Images.

They had P&S cameras and cellphonne cameras when Elvis was alive? I was 14 when he died and I don't remember any of that.
Thanks for the resource links!

iamcanonman wrote in post #5770554
Last year I was walking around one of our local malls here in El Salvador waiting for my sister to finish her shopping and I had my Rebel XT with the 50mm 1.8 lens. I was shooting some pictures every once in a while of random things. I did find a nice scene that I was trying to get some nice pictures of, so I was shooting away when I security guard came up and told me that I had to stop taking pictures or they could take my camera away. I promptly told him that no, he isn't going to take my camera away, and I do believe that this is public property and that I'm free to take pictures, and that I'm just a hobbyist and not planning on doing anything with the pictures. Anyways, we argued for awhile, and pretty soon a second guard came up and finally I got tired of dealing with them and told them I would not take any more pictures. I would really like to go get a permit or something and go back in with some "real" equipment, (more than just the 50mm) and then stick the permit in their face and see what they do then.

Ummm, if I'm in a country like El Salvador or any Central/South American country and am told to put my camera away I'm on it! Yes, sir. Back in the bag! No argument from me!
Reading Jurgens post pretty much solidified my way of thinking in regards to third world countries!!

yogestee wrote in post #4748335
In Northern Laos on the Chinese border in 2004..There was a fork in the road the right led to China the left was where we were going..On the right fork was the Lao side of the border crossing,,China about 5 kilometers up the road..It was isolated, roads were unealed but the scenery magic..There was a boom gate, a small village just beyond the boom gate and the road winding its way towards the karst mountains of Yunnan Province China..Very picturesque..

Sitting beside a small shack were two Lao border guards playing checkers..I asked our driver Mr *** (won't mention any names) to stop the 4WD..I jumps out with my Nikon plus 70-200 zoom, levels it to my eye and cracks off a few exposures..One of the guards sees me, grabs his AK-47 and starts walking towards me slowly raising his AK-47..When he stops he is about 15 meters from me with the AK-47 pointing at my chest..I was about to go to jelly..

I could hear my wife yelling " Mr*** back the truck up"..Our driver backs the truck up so it is right behind me so the guard could see the logos on the door indicating we weren't tourists..People have been known to disappear in these parts a few years before..The guard grunts something at me in Lao, lowers the AK, turns and walks away..

I gets back into the truck, Mr*** floors it and wife reads me the riot act..Believe me,,,having an AK-47 pointed at you will definitely stop you taking photographs..

Jurgen
Laos

A friend of mine recently had twins, one boy and one girl, and asked me to photograph the baby naming and bris. All was well, I was moving about the temple getting great shots and the bris was about to start. I asked my friend if he wanted me to capture this part of it and he replied, "Considering I had a camera in the delivery room photographing EVERYTHING, this is nothing, go for it!" Mind you, I wasn't planning on getting zoomed in shots, but at least capture the moment. Just as it was about to start, the rabbi turned to me and said now would be a good time to turn off (or at least turn away) the camera. So, you think the flash would have made him slip...oops!!!

Much like the gentleman w/the AK-47 story in Laos, I, too have an AK-47 story!

In Middle School (I was around 13 yrs of age at the time), my family decided to go to India. Because I had to take two weeks of school off for the trip, I was to document the trip and give a presentation to the rest of my classmates to make up for the missed school work.

As any international traveler knows, the time zones play funny games on you...We had flown from NYC to Amsterdam. If I recall correctly, we arrived at Schiphol airport late morning, so very early morning EST. I was carrying the camera bag which contained a 35mm film camera and our Hi-8 recorder. Thus, as we exited out the airplane, I decided to whip out the Hi-8 to video-tape the plane and the airport.

What I didn't notice were the signs stating no photography throughout the airport. As I'm video taping, looking into the eye-piece, I hear my parents who were a few steps ahead of me shouting my name...

As I take the video recorder out from my line of sight, I see two men dressed in military fatigues running straight at me with their Ak-47 drawn. They start shouting at me, and I freeze!

Finally they realize, I have no clue what the heck they're yelling at me. Fortunately, one of the guys spoke broken English. My dad comes running over and pulls the camera away, and they pull back. For about two hours I was absolutely petrified!

Crazy stuff! I mean, this was back in like '98. You'd think they'd have some common sense to realize that a kid probably doesn't have much malicious intent.

I am a photographer a huge sports complex in Minnesota. Our first major hockey tournament was this weekend.

Most photographers stand on a ladder or on the concourse above the rink. I don't like the angle because getting faces is more difficult.

I shoot from the bench, and usually ask the coach before doing so.

I climbed on one bench yesterday afternoon gives the coaches a quick smile and nod after getting a "Big lens" comment. Two minutes later, the team gives up a goal and the coach, albeit VERY politely, asks me to leave because my presence causes his bench to lose focus.

Uh, ok? I'm sure there is a correlation. I know I'm distracting for just a few seconds, and maybe I don't understand the mind of a young athlete, but I don't think the goal has anything to do with me.

I've been told ( very nicely ) to put my camera away in the Uffizi in Florence, and, strangely, in Harrods in London - I walked into the store with my camera slung over my shoulder, and was immediately accosted by one of Mr. Al Fayed's security men who told me that photography was strictly prohibited in the store . . . . He also insisted that my wife removed her backpack and carried it under her arm . . . .

just saw this at an artists fair last weekend, not sure if it means that point and shoots are forbidden or if all cameras must have a red stripe on them somewhere.

ancientsanskrit wrote in post #5776757
Crazy stuff! I mean, this was back in like '98. You'd think they'd have some common sense to realize that a kid probably doesn't have much malicious intent.

When you think about all the Islamic extremists, Hindu extremists, INSERT NAME HERE extremist running around India, plus the fact that car bombs, human bombs, AND child bombs have been exploding around the world even before 9/11, its quite understandable for the Indian Security forces to be a bit gung-ho about cameras and videocams.

I think its amazing that we, as Americans, only think of world terrorism as 9/11. 9/11 is when Islamic extremist terrorism finally came to our shores. Terrorism has been hitting all major countries of the world for the past 30 or more years. Heck, we've had our own share of domestic terrorism for years already.

That being said, almost all public malls and tourists traps have been suffering form 9/11. It seems that every gumshoe security goon thinks that 9/11 is sufficient reason to stop photographers from taking pictures. Which is the most absurd thinking in the world. If I was planning some criminal action, the last thing I would do is whip out a DSLR w/ a 2 feet long white lens! The real crook is the one carrying a newspaper and the hidden Canon Elph or Casio slimfit behind the newspaper, or a book, or a jacket. There's another thread about this very problem and how to deal with it in public places.

As far as being asked to put a camera away, I've been asked to put the camera away due to no flash rule at a show at Sea World. I wasn't in the mood to argue about the fact that I KNOW how to show w/o flash so I just put it away. Funny, they ignored all the P&S cameras, then scrambled after them once the show started and all the retards starting flashing the performers.

I'm going to have to try the 580EX in the pocket trick next time. Thanks for that tip! LOL.

i spend a lot of time at work, so every time i take out my SLR, my assistant tells me to 'Put it away!' since she feels that she doens't photograph well!

Last week I was at Yankee Stadium. We were standing outside getting ourselves together and I pull out my 20d with the 70 - 200 attached to snap off a few shots. As I am putting the camera away to start to walk in to the stadium, an NYC cop tells me that he does not believe that my camera would be allowed in. I was nice to him and asked how I could find out before my ride pulled away. He escorted my family and I to the press entrance to get the camera checked out, once we were allowed in, he told my ride that we were in. Sometimes it is good to be nice, although I was not happy being picked out just because of my lens, while my wife was standing next to me with her P&S snapping away.

stevieboy378 wrote in post #5781759
I've been told ( very nicely ) to put my camera away in the Uffizi in Florence, and, strangely, in Harrods in London - I walked into the store with my camera slung over my shoulder, and was immediately accosted by one of Mr. Al Fayed's security men who told me that photography was strictly prohibited in the store . . . . He also insisted that my wife removed her backpack and carried it under her arm . . . .

Weird, I visited Harrods and at the time I had my XTi with only the kit lens and we were even able to have someone take our picture with it..

A couple of days ago there was an item on the news here in the UK about a group of Train Spotters who were reported to the police. Their crime: Paedeophilia. That is taking pictures of a train that happened to have a child standing in front of it.

It seems now that if go out armed with an SLR camera you are one of two things.
A Paedophile or a terrorist. Talk about selective profiling!

Here's a question for everyone. What would 'ism' would you call prejudice against Photographers?
Cameraist , photographerist