JosephSF Loc: Sonoma County CA

Just because you walk around with a camera it does not excuse you for being stupid. My word, just when you don't think you can be surprised any more you read something as ignorant as this. I'm not sure what you were trying to accomplish with your hounding the police the next day but that sure seems weird as well.

mymike Loc: Tucson, AZ

I am a Public Information Officer for the Anerican Red Cross and am frequently at disaster sites to interact with media and to take still images for internal use. I use discretion when taking photos and always ask for permission and get a signed release if anyone is identifiable in the picture. Discretion and common sense always prevail over the photo op. I have been a PIO for 6 years now and see others taking photos who were doing it on their own property, but never have seen someone who did not belong there (emergency personnel and media excluded) taking photos. Someone's disaster is very personal and not a tourist/ or otherwise photo op.

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

When my neighbor's house was on fire, I called 911 first and then grabbed the camera. I took photos from inside my house, then went outside and got my hose ready in case it spread.

Then I was out there documenting the owner's relatives illegally living in a mobile home on the property, keeping horses there that trashed my yard, and loading up the back yard with junk cars.

When the fire department burns what's left for training, I'll be out there with the camera.

Edmund Dworakowski

Do you news photographers take pictures of cats up a tree ?

Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

Then you'd better lobby to send many if not most photojournalists to the loony bin. As well as most war photographers, both the honest and the crooked ones.

I'm reminded of the San Jose Mercury "newspaper." Years ago, they were proud to announce they'd gained the ability to do full color cover photos. Their inaugural photo, printed huge on the top of the first page, was an image of a blood-soaked woman and her child, injured in a car crash.

There's an old newsroom motto: "If it bleeds, it leads."

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

n3eg, NOBODY is THAT anal!
So your just KIDDING...., right?!?! :lol:
SS

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Huh?

Would you go out to watch the fire and gawk at other people's misfortunes?

We had an empty house on our street go up in flames. It had sold and the owner was having it renovated. The fire was accidentally started by a workman. Fire was reaching out of the roof and smoke was billowing into the sky. The neighborhood gathered to see the sad sight and yes, I grabbed my camera to document the event....both the fire and the first responders. My thought was that the owner might actually like photos.

Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

johneccles wrote:
I think it's rather sick to take photographs of other peoples misfortune...

==================

One issue is that such photos may be invaluable to victims. For example, photos showing an accident scene before cars are moved might help the real victim in seeking restitution from the person who caused the accident. Who will predictably lie about what happened.

Similarly, grisly photos of a sports injury caused by an idiot gym teacher will help the student later obtain reimbursement from a school which minimizes the injury, lies about whether it was painful or not, and is dishonest throughout. I am familiar with exactly such an incident that happened at my High School and the lack of good photos kept the victim from being properly compensated for a compound fracture which caused lifetime pain and minor disability.

Photos of "misfortune" may also lead to public sympathy and govt. action to improve matters. Eg., the famous "Farm Bureau" images shot during the depression.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Just curious, L.A.S., how was a sports injury the fault of a coach? Should I sue because I lost teeth making a tackle and didn't have the best faceguard.....which I did the next year?

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

They cut down half of one of my trees so it wouldn't scratch their moss-covered filthy mobile home.

Their horse crapped all over my yard and tore out wires running along my fence.

Their blackberries were overgrowing into my yard.

Their garage was housing numerous assortments of wasps.

They previously revved engines of their crap rebuilt cars so loud that when they over-revved it and threw a rod I ran outside and cheered.

They let their 500 foot back yard get so overgrown that the fire dept. declared it a fire hazard and fined them.

The city finally evicted them and their mobile home after they served jail time for contempt.

Next comes the neighbor in the middle of the block who set off illegal fireworks all week. He's got a junk car with no wheels or engine (it runs on rust?) sitting right in front of his house.

I'm not a complete Adam Henry. I give one of my retired neighbors free firewood from cutting down trees in my back yard.

debbie wrazen Loc: Western New York

Americans live in a very different world now since 9/11. Our TV programs promote characters who constantly question rules, as do internet forums and blogs but the bottom line is to be very careful if you are not carrying a photographer's press card. I sense your sincerity as a street photographer but the officers are paid to do a job and that includes a certain level of apprehension about the public's behavior (police work is a hard job and the divorce rate is very high-fallout from the job). There is no such thing as being a 'quirky character' anymore. 'Quirky characters' can turn out to be very dangerous to a community. Sorry if this sounds preachy. I've had dogs turned loose on me when phtographing someone's chicken coop from the road!

cbabcock

It is a different world. It's not about questioning rules, but about whether we are willing to relinquish our freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, fourth amendment rights, and other rights guaranteed by the Constitution to the police. Those rights were put there to protect citizens from an overreaching government and its agents. Sometimes it seems that people believe only the second amendment exists.
There is no exclusive province for those with "photographer's press cards" to take pictures of things happening in public places.
Individuals have a right of privacy, subject to some exceptions, which might be violated by photographing and publishing their pictures, even those taken in a public place. The police have no such right of privacy while they are doing their jobs.

Los-Angeles-Shooter Loc: Los Angeles

The same coach had a series of incidents where he caused injury. One stunt was forcing regular P.E. students -- not athletes to race through high hurdles without training, instruction, or even stretching. Caused one bad sprain, one greenstick fracture in a single class.

But the injury I mentioned happened when he forced a regular P.E. class to do a "mob wrestling" contest on the rubber mats -- barefoot. The mats are high-friction which is why wrestlers wear shoes; otherwise broken toes and worse injuries are guaranteed. Judo people do their thing barefoot, but they do it on lower-friction tatami or pseudo-tatami mats. When they have to use wrestling mats they cover the rubber surface with canvas to minimize the danger.

Predictably, a student's big toe caught on the surface and was almost torn from his body. Absolutely predictably. As anyone with a brain or common sense could have predicted. This was not something that was unforeseeable or unavoidable; it was directly caused by the negligence/stupidity of a teacher who had a lengthy history of stupidity and negligence.

The school did not call an ambulance. The student had to wait around for a parent to fetch him and take him to a hospital. If the student had gotten good photos he could have nuked the school and the teacher, especially since the teacher's history of causing injury would have come out. These days every kid has a smart phone; that happened in the days of film.

The same teacher's stupidity also caused a near-drowning, but I was not present at that incident like I was at the high hurdles and wrestling mat incident.

I was just a high school kid and didn't have a clue how the law works. But the takeaway is to document, document, document the matter.

Oh, yeah, the wrestling mat kid? Permanently stiff toe, which caused problems in sports, some pain for years in walking, and other issues.

The school, to my knowledge, never disciplined or did anything to the gym teacher. He kept his sinecure, kept doing stupid things. And oh, yeah, he was also a notorious bully. And made a habit of "monitoring" the boys in the shower and locker room. And what that "monitoring" means you may speculate on for yourself.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

The school had a problem in administration. The best trait of a good administrator is making good hires and knowing how to get rid of the bad apples.

LiamRowan Loc: Michigan

This is a more balanced reply.

I can guarantee you were a suspect; it is common for arsonists to hang around the scene for the thrills and to get a "memento." A photo or other trinket. I'm surprised you didn't get a barrage of questions from the police. Perhaps your demeanor and answer put them at ease.