War on Photography

Yesterday I posted an item about a photographer who received a nice call from the FBI. I received an email from a reader relaying his own experience with law enforcement and he was nice enough to let me share it on the blog :

I was making a series of night scapes my third year at CalArts. They were all of power plants, concrete plants, and oil refineries, in LA county. I choose one night to photograph the famous american flag refinery in the Long Beach harbor. I made a few different shots, all very long exposures around the area, and then headed to the front to photograph the main view. I set up my camera (4x5), on the sidewalk across the small bridge from the refinery. I started taking black and white polaroids for exposure tests.

At this point, a security guard in a small pickup pulled up next to me. He told me i could not be taking pictures, and that i needed to leave. I responded nicely by saying i was on the sidewalk (public property) and wasn't doing any harm. I had been making photographs around the city for a while now, but this was really my first encounter with someone who told me to leave. He said he was going to come back in 10 minutes, and if i still was there, he would call the cops.

So i stayed, and at that point slid in a readyload neg into the camera and started exposing. 5 minutes later, a squad car pulled up and asked to see my ID. I gave them it and explained my situation of being an art student and making these photographs for a project. He told me straight up i couldn't be photographing this subject (the refinery). He told me it did not matter that i was standing on public property, that the refinery was protected under 911 laws. I didn't have a clue of my rights at that point beyond where i was standing, and wasn't going to argue with the police.

He saw the black and white polaroid laying on my gear and asked for it. He assumed that was the only picture i had made there so far. But during the entire conversation with the officer, my readyload was still in the camera, exposing. He said i needed to pack up my stuff and leave, and that he would be keeping the black and white polaroid. So, i packed up my stuff, keeping the neg in the film holder and drove off. ..... I still not sure as of today what my actual rights were at the time, and i'm pretty sure the officer had no right to keep my polaroid. But that incident certainly wasn't the last time i had a run in with the law for photographing in Los Angeles. Anyways, thought i would share my story.

- Jeff McLane

Thanks for sharing Jeff ! I'm interested in hearing other stories around here in the Southland. Please feel free to leave comments below and if you don't want your name out there, you can always do it anonymously.