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photography is not a crime

Removing The Camera Drone from the Scene of the NYC Gas Explosion Was the Right Thing to Do

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On Wednesday, Harlem’s community suffered tremendously when a gas leak explosion brought down two apartment buildings, killing 8 people and leaving over 70 injured. The NYPD was again faced with the task of digging through rubble to find any signs of survivors in a demolished area, bringing back memories to many people of what happened back on 9/11. A bizarre incident, however, did manage to make an appearance in the midst of everything when one photographer, Brian Wilson, caught some attention for his camera’s setup; it was on a flying drone.

The flying drone, a DJI Phantom 2 quadcopter, managed to take a (pretty well done, might I add) aerial shot of the debris from the explosion that morning, and the photo was posted to the photographer’s Instagram account. It wasn’t, however, until the drone caught the attention of the NYPD that things got slightly controversial. I take that back; it already started turning heads of other people before it got noticed by the police, and even the people themselves got worried.

Photographers and Their Constitutional Rights: A Few Words from an NPPA Attorney

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With cameras becoming more accessible and easier to use, we have more of an incentive to film anything interesting that’s happening within our view. It’s not just CCTV or a security camera that’s catching crimes happening on the street, and it’s not just LiveLeak that’s giving us videos of people acting out of line. And for every good cop out there, there’s a cop that feels threatened by the fact that his actions are more likely to be put on record.

Right now, it’s more important than ever that people know their rights when photographing anything; NPPA Attorney (National Press Photographer’s Association) Mickey H. Osterreicher recently sat down with PDN Pulse last thursday to give a few tips on the matter.

End Of A Tale. Seattle Officer Who Threatened To Arrest News Editor For Taking A Picture Gets The Sack

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Back in July, 2013 we reported an incident where Seattle’s The Stranger news editor – Dominic Holden – was threatened to be arrested for photographing a person on the street along with the cops around him.

Usually those incidents get some media buzz. Sometime a police spokesman will issue a statement, and this is it. But this story, after going viral has a more conclusive ending.

Six months after the incident, the threatening officer – deputy Patrick “K.C.” Saulet – was fired by King County sheriff John Urquhart.

The News Editor Of Seattle’s The Stranger Threatened by Cops For Photographing. Makes a Great Story

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It is not uncommon for police to harass citizens for taking pictures. In fact, if you head over to photography is not a crime you’ll find some stories that will make you pretty sad on the inside. Sometimes those stories hit the news, sometimes they don’t.

But you can be pretty sure that when a news editor gets harassed for snapping an iPhone pictures, it will be on the news.

Seattle’s The Stranger‘s news editor, Dominic Holden was recently one of the sides in a photographer-police skirmish.

According to his news story, Holden was snapping an iPhone picture of some police officers huddling around a young black guy, when he was threatened to leave the scene or get arrested. According to Holden, no other pedestrians were asked to leave.

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