Photographer faces $1,000 fine and jail time for shooting a wedding during COVID-19 emergency order
May 15, 2020
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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A wedding photographer from New Jersey was recently charged with violating the coronavirus emergency orders. He was photographing a backyard ceremony with a family of six, and he is now facing up to $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
According to Tap Into Hillsborough, the wedding ceremony took place on 21 April and the police responded to a call to investigate it. Officers reportedly found a van in the driveway with two adults and three children inside. The driver claimed that she was there for family photos for a wedding, the same source writes. Upon entering the backyard, the officers found the photographer Yakov Makukha as he was photographing a family of six. According to the same source, they were charged with violating the emergency orders, and the police issued summonses to all the adults present.
Tap Into Hillsborough explains that anyone who is charged by a summons doesn’t get arrested and the cases will be adjudicated in municipal court. Violations of the emergency orders carry a potential sentence of up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000, as mentioned above. “However,” the same source writes, “violators can potentially face criminal charges including second, third, and fourth degree indictable offenses.”
I must admit that I don’t understand the urge to get married at all costs and risk getting arrested at your own wedding. But I won’t go there. As for photographing a wedding under these circumstances, I can understand the photographer who took the gig. I don’t support violating the law, but I understand the motives. The coronavirus crisis has left many photographers completely without work, meaning that they have no income. So, it looks like some of them are willing to take any risk.
What do you think of this situation? As a photographer, would you take the gig?
[via FStoppers]
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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19 responses to “Photographer faces $1,000 fine and jail time for shooting a wedding during COVID-19 emergency order”
Ummm No!!!
Not sure how this would pan out in the UK. You can work as long as you can adhere to the two meter rule so theoretically you could shoot weddings.
You mean England. What Bojo said doesn’t apply in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. :)
Not sure how this would pan out in the UK. You can work as long as you can adhere to the two meter rule so theoretically you could shoot weddings.
Gayle Bevan “In the latest government lockdown guidelines, Boris Johnson has updated previous advice, stating that people who cannot work from home should now be “actively encouraged” to return to work.
But when does this come into place and who does it include?
Here’s what you need to know.
What did Boris Johnson say about returning to work?
In his address to the nation on Sunday evening (10 May) the prime minister explained the government was changing its coronavirus guidance in regards to working from home.
Johnson said people should work from home if they can, but that they should return to work if they cannot do their job from home, which is a change from previous guidelines.
Johnson said: “We said that you should work from home if you can, and only go to work if you must.
“We now need to stress that anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work.” he uses construction and manufacturing as examples but to me it says if you can’t work from home and you can go to work safely bthen you should.
I’m annoyed at the blanket ban in photography. I’m a portrait photographer and shoot mostly out doors. I can meet up with a friend if I adhere to social distance, yet I can’t do a shoot one to one with a zoom lens. I get it for Wedding Photography, but the solo workers like me, it makes no sense. There will be a lot of people ignoring this if they work alone like me. I follow rules when they make sense, but struggle with blanket, one size fits all rules.
Leave New York…or better yet…leave ANY State run by a Democrat…you are now seeing who they REALLY are…
surely if you don’t like it you should leave – i heard alabama is a great alternative to new york or perhaps arkansas or louisiana or mississippi – all states where they would likely appreciate your political and economic sensibility
Michelle Smith your a partisan idiot!
Richard Bierman ??…keep drinking the kook aid if it makes you feel better…???
450,000 have already left New York.
I am from Finland. I´ve been reading everything from Breitbart to CNN. The state of USA seems terrible and totally split. The deep hate everywhere is going to destroy Your country totally.
How misslead can people be like this pseudonym Michelle Smith is. IF the photographer had covid-19 without symptoms and he infected the family and everybody dies – then is it the fault of the democrats, Michelle? now the state of mind of people really shows. Me me me me me..nothing else. That thought has destroyed nations during centuries.
I would not like to live in any state at this moment. USA is proving to be quite a disgraceful country and an example not to follow by any country the last 4 years, and especially the last 3 months. With this I’m not saying was way better before, the bad it already was, just turned into worse. And that’s sad. ?
Hater!
The best thing about this terrible epidemic is the “lockdown forever” people are making it so easy to identify those who can’t grasp basic scientific principles. It’s lovely to see all the government employees who wish they could grow up to be Stasi identify themselves also
i heard a ‘karen’ whining about how the epidemic was going to spoil her wedding… she has been living with a guy for three years and has to be married this summer… oh i feel your pain, how rude for millions of suffering and thousands of dead people to spoil your plans – probably on purpose because they hate you – and you couldn’t do something like wait 6 months — get over yourself is my only response – sorry
If the state wants to mandate that, then they need to cover lost income since the outbreak should have been prevented and is one of the main reasons we pay tax money to our government.
Make stupid choices, win stupid prizes. Should have been smarter!
There’s nothing more dangerous to human rights, justice, freedom of thought religion, free speech and basic human decency than a libtard hoard or lynch mob on a mission to tell others what they can or cannot do…