Re: [Leica] Persecuted for using tripod in public

["Ken Iisaka" <ken@iisaka.org>]

Oliver Bryk wrote:
> A couple of years ago I had similar encounters with rangers at several
> California State parks when I set up a Hasselblad on a tripod. In each
case,
> the ranger demanded to see a permit for commercial photography. In each
> case, I stated that I was not a commercial photographer. That did not
> satisfy the ranger who invariably brought an invisible camera to his or
her
> eyes, clicked an imaginary shutter button, pointed to my tripod, and said,
> "but you must be a commercial photographer". When asked to show me the
> applicable regulation and its definition of commercial photography, none
of
> the rangers was able to satisfy my request. When I asked where I was
> supposed to have obtained this permit, the answer was, "from Sacramento"
> (the state capital).
> Making the taxpayer prove a negative (no pun intended) seems to be an
> ingrained habit of mindless bureaucrats.
> Oliver Bryk

I've had similar experience here in Marin in the Tamalpais State Park,
particularly along Ridgecrest Blvd. where a great number of automobile
advertisements are shot.  However, I just tell them I'm a weekend
photographer (which I am) and show them my business card showing my
employer's name, which is a bank.