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Happy Veteran’s Day

November 11, 2009 by 9 Comments

Help Portrait

Just a few quick items for your consideration today.  First is a little follow-up from Scott Kelby’s post yesterday about Help-Portrait.  I had heard about the project some time ago but today I followed up and actually took some time to visit the Help-Portrait site and found a group of for Northern VA.  I have registered for the group and hopefully will be able to attend the meeting that is scheduled for this Thursday night at 7:30pm at Ballston Common Mall in the Food Court (by the Chick-fil-A) in Arlington.  On the agenda is discussion about what organization(s) to work with for the event on Dec. 12.  I was pleased to see a couple of photographers in the group that I already know and I encourage my other photog friends in the area to join in and help out in this very worthwhile cause.  Here’s the link to the Northern VA / Washington DC page.

Another Photographer’s Rights Dust Up

I saw this last night and I have mixed views on the incident.  The photographer who runs the blog Discarted had a little bit of a run in with some LA Sheriffs Deputies last week in the metro station as he photographed some turnstiles.  On the one hand, the deputy in the video (yes, the whole thing is on video) was a little full of himself and seemed to be trying to flex his terrorism crimefighter muscles.  On the other hand, I have a ton of respect for anyone that puts on a uniform and will put themselves in harms way to protect me.  I understand the importance of standing up for photographer’s rights but there also needs to be an understanding that law enforcement officers have to deal with more stress and danger in a single day than many folks face in a lifetime.  Somewhere in the middle is the way this should have been handled by both parties.  But that’s just my opinion.  Check out the video to decide for yourself.

FotoWeekDC

FWDC

This weekend marked the start of FotoWeekDC, a festival founded in 2008 to celebrate the power of photography.  Last year’s festival drew in about 20,000 people and this year’s promises to be even bigger.  There are tons of events planned for the week including exhibitions, lectures, workshops, gallery showings, a tech pavilion, and more.  To find out all the details on this weeks events make sure you head to the official website.  But hurry, FotoWeek ends on November 17th.

Thanks

Finally today I would like to take a moment to say thank you to all of the men and women who have formerly or are currently serving in my nation’s armed forces.  You sacrifice and service for your country is greatly appreciated.  Bless you and your families!

Related posts:

  1. FotoWeekDC Kicks Off This Friday
  2. Help Portrait Tomorrow
  3. FotoWeek DC Starts Today
  4. Flickr Group for Festival of Lights Photowalk
  5. Happy President’s Day
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  • http://photoblog.johnharmonwright.com John Wright

    Hey Jeff,

    I have to agree with you in regards to the photographer/officer interaction. I’m sure if the photographer had simply indicated he was just out on a photowalk and taking artistic images this whole thing would never have happened. His immediate reaction to state “it’s not illegal to take pictures here” and refusal to answer even the initial questions helped escalate this incident. Clearly the officer handled this very poorly and should never have threatened the photographer. And all law enforcement personnel should know the law and quote it correctly.

  • Alan B.

    Well said on the “dust up” situation.

  • http://mannedspace.my-expressions.com/index.html mannedspace

    Pissy photo guy verses officer… I guess I’m old school regarding law enforcement. These guys deal with scum-of-the-earth-with-lawyers every day. They are under-trained, over-worked, and under-paid. Laws are changing with every appointed political hack judge rulings. Now you have some pissy photo guy asking 100s/1000s/Xs to call and complain so the said officer can sit through hundreds of hours of ‘diversity’ training is just frigg’n great. Let’s pull another officer off the streets because he offended some pussy clown with a hidden camera.

    If an officer tells me to do something, I say ‘yes, sir’ and move along so he can focus on scum bags screaming “allahu akbar” before they collect their 40 virgins.

    Sorry, exit soap box in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

    God bless the men in uniform in this great country!

  • http://williambeem.com William Beem

    I understand your position. Those who put on a uniform also put on a larger set of responsibilities. Facing larger problems does not give them the right to treat anyone else as a smaller, less important person. That’s disrespectful to others who wear the uniform, as well as to all the parties involved here. Asserting your rights does not make you a trouble-maker. It makes you American.

  • Dean Cams

    Hi,
    In the light of all the terrorist activity going on in the current international climate, I cant believe this ‘photographer’ has gone out of his way to be arrogant and rude to law enforcement officers. It seems apparent that this was a set up, video cam working, voice record etc. This gives a bad name to us all. I for one am extremely pleased that I can walk around the london tube network safe in the knowledge that my safety is being looked after and that extra eyes and ears are safe guarding us all.
    The ‘photographer’ mentions that images were not taken as part of the london tube bombings of 7/7. Wrong, they were as hostile reconnaissance is always pat of any plot or plan prior to its activation. I could bag on all day about it but I wont. Yesterday, Wooton Bassett in the UK received five more service personnel in coffins from doing a job they love and most of us hate. This type of reporting from an ‘idiot’ really makes me wonder that the message just isn’t getting out to everyone.
    If you are stopped and challenged, then be polite, interact and show examples of what you have been doing. Don’t act like a complete plank like this fool.
    My support goes to the officer and his professional approach and commitment to keeping your tube network safe for you all to use.
    Lock the other fool up!!!
    How embarrassing to be associated with this idiot who calls himself a photographer!!

  • http://www.rekphoto.com robert

    Jeff,

    I was happy to see your name turn up on my alerts today for Help-Portrait. See you in a couple of hours!

    robert

  • http://korwelphotography.com Iza

    I agree with you, Jeff, that both parties did not handle the situation in the right way. If the photographer was not confrontational from the beginning, maybe we would not hear all the crap… The whole movie is distasteful.