Photo Crimes

There is an interesting read in the New York Times Lens Blog about how photography in public places is being criminalized. It is an interview with  James Estrin a lawyer with the National Press Photographers Association.

Estrin rightly points out that police are restricting access of press photographers and misleading the public about where images can be taken in a post 9/11 world. Basically if you are on a public street and are not interfering with anyone you can snap away to your hearts content. It's still a free country!

When I worked as a photojournalist I had a few conflicts with EMS and police about if I could take photographs at a spot news event. One guy told me I needed to respect peoples privacy. My response was that if you wrap your car around a telephone pole on a public street it isn't private anymore.

Sometimes I think we've given up to much freedom in order to be "safe" in a country founded on individual rights.

Scoopshot is a bad idea.

I just saw a link to the website Scoopshot a way for mobile photographers to upload their images so that they can be used by news organizations. So now an army of people with a cell phone camera can descend on a Spot News event and snap away. You might even make a few bucks.

Sorry, but if you come across an accident or house fire do what you can to help someone out. Even most full-time paid photojournalists are people first and photographers second.

If you don't know how to help then get out of the way of the people who know what they are doing.

My thoughts on the matter.

Screw up your Courage Clean your Sensor!

Today I undertook the task of cleaning the sensor on my Nikon D7000 for the first time and am very pleased with the results. I had an accumulation of crud all over the sensor.

(Note to sell avoid changing lenses in the rain ..... never mind)

I used the sensor swab kit from Photographic Solutions and found their kit to be a cost effective way to clean my camera.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to working on my camera. I took apart the AP/Kodak NC2000e press camera more times than I can remember to replace batteries and fix connections.

It's just when it's my personal camera and if I mess it up I need to fix it I think twice before facing a sensor replacement bill. One things I miss about not being in the photojournalist world anymore were the free annual clean and checks by Nikon. I could have sent it off to a camera service department to have it cleaned but that would cost more than the kit I ordered off of Amazon.

Chick-fil-a & Historical Archives

I'm not going to weigh in on the Chick-fil-a debate on who is right and who is wrong.

As a person who's worked in archiving I'm more interested in how, ten years from now, this event will be remembered.

I wonder if all of the Facebook disagreements I've seen will come back to haunt the posters.

Will a comment, made in the heat of anger, come back as a proof of being intolerant or discriminatory? Will those comments be used against the posters? Will we even care?

I do think the visuals from today will get more play in the media because they are more dynamic in content. An image of a crowded restaurant is at best a ho-hum photograph when compared to the exchange of a kiss between two same-sex individuals. It will be interesting to see how the story plays out in the news media.