Photography is not a crime

This is going to be ranty and unlike this tumblelog style (not that there really is a strict style)

Today, a bunch of friends and me went urban exploring at a place just south of my city. This place is near a popular attraction that most locals would recognise if I name. This place is very historical and used to be government owned, but was sold off thirteen years ago. There were no fences stopping us from driving in from the main road. We didn’t break and enter any buildings, and even though people live on the property we made sure to steer well clear of disturbing anybody. Generally, we were peaceful. We took only photos and left footprints.

As we were heading back to the car (sorry if this seems disjointed or incorrect, I’m not much of an author), we were politely approached by an employee of said attraction, and reminded of the fact that we were trespassing on private property and that we weren’t allowed to take photos. This is okay, we were expecting to be hassled.

She threatened that she could force us to remove images from our camera and smash them.

Which is actually completely untrue (at least in New Zealand). While yes, technically she could take our cameras and smash them, this is called theft and coercion. Basically, I was mostly pissed off that this scare tactic was being used in the first place. Two wrongs don’t make a right. As a photographer, you do not have to delete your content (somewhat depending on what it’s of). It’s your work, and as soon as you press the shutter the copyright is automatically in your name. We didn’t need to explain ourselves (we did) and they have little legal right to detain us (could be considered harassment).

Other than that, she was mild mannered about the situation (which I got all on video). Tomorrow I will be calling the property owner and requesting permission to release my photography as well as future access to their land.

Photography is not a crime.

nb: I am not a lawyer.