Re: [Leica] Private property and buildings

["Mxsmanic" <mxsmanic@hotmail.com>]

Mike writes:

> She promtly said "We don't allow pictures of
> the building, it's private property!"

Ignore her.  The owners of the property or their agents can ask you to leave the
property (and you must comply), but you have no idea who this woman is, and she
wasn't asking you to leave, anyway.  If she is legitimate and there is a
problem, she can identify herself, or bring someone who can identify himself as
an agent of the owners, and you can proceed from there.

Under no circumstances can your equipment or film be touched or seized by
anyone.  And, as a general rule, the owners have nothing to say unless you
publish your photos, and even then, their options are very limited.

> I said to her, if im across the street and
> taking a picture of the building thats
> ok right?  She again gave me a dirty face
> and said i was not allowed to photograph the
> building period.

She's wrong.  You can photograph the building all you want.  If you are on their
property, the owners (and we don't know that she has anything to do with the
owners, by the way) can prohibit your photography, but if you are elsewhere (off
the property but in a location from which it is visible), they have nothing to
say.

> She must of run back to call security
> because next thing I know i saw a couple
> of suits coming my way.

The suits can't do anything except ask you to leave (if you refuse, they can
call the police).  If you are already off the property, they cannot do anything,
period.

> I can't believe, I had become such a
> criminal for taking a photo.

You hadn't.  This woman was laboring under a number of serious misconceptions.

> Has other luggers been harrased in this way
> before or this building just going over the top.

It happens every once in a while.  I tend to ignore people who rave but are
manifestly ignorant of the actual practices and laws governing photography.

> I think I might post some of the photographs
> on the web,  I'm getting scared.

Scared of what?  A hit squad?