just curious... @summerfield and i have run into this comment twice this past week... no - you aren't allowed to use a tripod... only professionals use tripods and professionals must have permission to shoot here... or you have a tripod and a dslr, clearly your professionals and professionals must have permission to shoot here... apparently if we're not professionals, we're clearly building our portfolios and that amounts to the same thing ;p
anyway, i'm curious... i can understand no tripods for safety reasons... and i can understand requiring those shooting for commercial purposes to get permission in some locations... but the logic behind equating tripods with professionalism intrigues me...
Idijits!!!! I don't have a problem with them banning tripods for safety reasons, but then they should also ban professionals from using them...surely the same safety rules should apply.
I've run into that in places in Chicago and thought it was ridiculous. But I generally was speechless and couldn't figure out how to argue with such an obviously flawed way of thinking! It was particularly annoying at one of the botanical gardens -- I wanted to take a family photo and they were going to charge over $100.00 because to do that (with me in it which meant having to use tripod and timer) meant I was a professional. No tripods because that was their definition of professional.
Only professionals use tripods?? Really. Then I've been a professional for years. I thought smart photographers used tripods. Going somewhere today and I am no wondering if I will get told I can't take my tripod.
Wow - I never heard that before. I use my tripod here and there but in no way consider myself a professional lol. Interesting though to hear this ... I'll have to keep an ear out. I use a monopod at all my girls' soccer games and nothing has ever been said to me and I stand on the field - not in the stands with everyone else but if nobody says anything, why not?!
Some idiots just equal dslr with professionals. No need to use a tripod. Some years ago, I had an entry-level dslr and went to a local park with my sister to try it. No tripod, no external flash, nothing fancy at all, just my sister acting as a model and me (trying to learn how to use the camera). Until an idiotic security guard appeared and, having decided that of course we were professionals because we had 'a big, black camera' and we were required to ask for a permission and to pay a fee. (We just moved to a different park, then we wrote an angry letter to the park manager, which was never answered).
I was listening to a self acclaimed "professional" photographer talking to his friend, on the train, a few months back. The gist of his conversation was that no professional photographer uses a tripod. My initial thought was "What a £@$%er." but now, a few months, I have changed my mind and changed that to "What a stupid, stupid £@$%er."
Well, in one of our historic areas, there is a nitice that you may be asked to show your pro permit for the area. But tripod, no, does not mean pro. I take my tripod often to places but not during busy times. Ibwould shrug it off. You clearly have more chances without having an encounter than not.
thanks guys... yeah, this isn't something i stress over - more that i remain baffled and amused...
altho' in some respects i do get a bit of the tortured logic... if a view is a commodity and i "own" the view, how do i ensure that no one "steals" it from me? or perhaps more to the point, i might be able to say that this category of folks definitely must be asked to pay for the privilege, but where is the line?
if i am given a commission to shoot in a location for pay, then yes, i am a professional and perhaps require permission...
if i am not given a commission, but i regularly sell prints of my photos, and i hang my shingle out as a photog, then i am presumably a professional and perhaps require permission...
if photography is my hobby and i have a website to show my work, have had exhibits and perhaps the occasional sale - am i a "professional"?
if photography is my hobby and there is a chance that i might one day be able to sell something, am i a "professional"?
and even if we here can agree on where the line lies or even if there should be a line, the average joe out there won't "get" it, and is likely following instructions of a boss that has made up the answers as they are confronted with different situations and probably not all of their decisions are good ones... and y'know, that's life... everyone picks their battles...
I'm just getting around to this thread, and I've run into the same thing a few times. With a tripod I was asked to pay a fee, standing in the street with just the camera was okay.....go figure!
Yeah I ran into this a few months ago when I shot the image below.
It was shot at the top of a shopping centre - there's a bar there with lots of security guards roaming around. My take on this is :
- a lot of places now think they can generate some revenue from this.
- they're worried about their buildings / structures being in the image in case of possible bad publicity
- safety issues from someone scoping out the place
- too many people starting to do it and taking up space from potential customers
We were actually approached by security and I mentioned to the security that the images were just for our portfolios and were not for commercial use. They didn't mind this until we pulled out a few flashes etc when hey approached us again. Luckily my mate was a post grad at uni and showed his uni card :)
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altho' in some respects i do get a bit of the tortured logic... if a view is a commodity and i "own" the view, how do i ensure that no one "steals" it from me? or perhaps more to the point, i might be able to say that this category of folks definitely must be asked to pay for the privilege, but where is the line?
if i am given a commission to shoot in a location for pay, then yes, i am a professional and perhaps require permission...
if i am not given a commission, but i regularly sell prints of my photos, and i hang my shingle out as a photog, then i am presumably a professional and perhaps require permission...
if photography is my hobby and i have a website to show my work, have had exhibits and perhaps the occasional sale - am i a "professional"?
if photography is my hobby and there is a chance that i might one day be able to sell something, am i a "professional"?
and even if we here can agree on where the line lies or even if there should be a line, the average joe out there won't "get" it, and is likely following instructions of a boss that has made up the answers as they are confronted with different situations and probably not all of their decisions are good ones... and y'know, that's life... everyone picks their battles...
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It was shot at the top of a shopping centre - there's a bar there with lots of security guards roaming around. My take on this is :
- a lot of places now think they can generate some revenue from this.
- they're worried about their buildings / structures being in the image in case of possible bad publicity
- safety issues from someone scoping out the place
- too many people starting to do it and taking up space from potential customers
We were actually approached by security and I mentioned to the security that the images were just for our portfolios and were not for commercial use. They didn't mind this until we pulled out a few flashes etc when hey approached us again. Luckily my mate was a post grad at uni and showed his uni card :)
the profile of this photographer says he "can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand." if he can do that aside from taking good photos, my hats off to him he's a real professional photographer!
ps - i note the photog's profile also says he is based in Toronto... perhaps we should find him and ask him the tripod question?