#298 People, and rules of photographing people in public

Recently, I purchased a 75mm-300mm telephoto lens for my DSLR. Eager to click, I set out with my kit. I clicked a lot of pics, hundreds of pics on my first two outings with it. I got some good shots. Clicking pics like the ones above, is not called ‘stalking’. I knew about this as I had Googled earlier, but here are the rules if you do not know:
1. If you are in a public place that does not explicitly prohibit photography, you are free to shoot anything and anyone. However, you may not shoot people especially kids if they are engaged in sexual activities.

2. You do not violate human rights of anyone by taking their photographs without permission. This really means that you are violating their freedom of privacy, which honestly does not exist anywhere beyond their homes and private indoor spaces.

3. You do not violate their privacy if you click their photos in a public space. There is no right to privacy in a public place, with the exceptions of public toilets. Talk of CCTV cameras in public places!

4. You however need to ensure that you are allowed to take photographs on the land you or your subjects are standing.

5. You do not harass anyone by taking their photographs. However, repeatedly and deliberately chasing a person around clicking photos is considered harassment.

6. You do not need the subjects’ permissions to publish the photographs, unless it is for a commercial purpose.

7. Publishing photographs of people with captions could land you in trouble if you misidentify the subject or if the caption is unduly mocking or in false light.

Read some more rules here: http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm

This, for the United States, perhaps one of the more liberal countries. For other nations, it is best to look up the rules and social customs. Even in the US, laws differ slightly for each state: for example in Texas, you cannot take a picture if it is for someone’s sexual gratification, like a shot on a nude beach!

In general, it is not illegal to take pictures of people in public settings. If I go to the Mumbai Marathon as a photographer, I cannot possibly ask permission from each and every of the hundreds of runners! It is still the best and the safest to ask people if you can click their picture, in my tiny history, I have got a 100% positive response.

#297 Colorado Rocky Mountains

You have perhaps seen prettier photographs, but this is what I saw :) I am not sure if a 1000 words would be enough to justify the beauty of the place I visited. I thought San Francisco was the prettiest place I have ever visited, till I visited Colorado. Thanks Patrik Da, thanks to you I could enjoy the landscape and have a great trip!

So it all began from Denver on a clear Saturday morning. A malfunctioning phone charging point in the rented car, meant we got a free upgrade to a Volvo S60. Till then, I had only traveled in Volvo buses. But this, was pleasure to the ass!

Colorado is beautiful. The landscape is heavenly, and empty roads add just another level of charm.

This place, was our first stop: Steamboat Springs. It is one of the most famous Ski Towns in the US. At an altitude of 6500 feet, it is a very very pretty little town.

It was getting quite difficult to take pictures with so much sunshine. We literally had to grab any opportunity with clouds covering the sun!

Steamboat Springs is named so because one of the black sulphur springs here sounded like a chugging steamboat to early settlers. Thanks to some landscaping and construction, that sound has almost disappeared.

Even a town with barely 8000 people, had perhaps the best Indian restaurant I have so far been to in the United States. It was also the largest, the spiciest and played the best music inside (AR Rahman!!!!).

This is me and Patrik Da, in perhaps the one standard pose I click of myself wherever I travel! This, is Vail. At 8000 odd feet above sea it is yet another ski resort, highly commercialised, and built in a pretty European style.

When the snow is not enough for skiing, some other activities are biking, or golf…

Anando and Patrik Da, with the bigger da… Einstein Da!

A brilliantly worked out 2 days trip, covering over 500 kms and traveling over highways at an altitude of 11,000 feet, this was a superb trip. I cannot thank Patrik Da enough for this :) Btw, he calls me Anando… ask me why? He also becomes the only other person after Roshnai to understand my camera and take my pictures :)

Patrik Da, I could not capture the hours we spent in the Strawberry Hot Water Springs bathing and jumping around the hot water pools and the cold water river, or the awesome photography sessions we had by the pseudo railway station and in Vail, or those tiny little towns like “Bond” and State Bridge… but I can surely leave this blog to aptly end with this song… (click here)

#296 Chicago, etc

Willis (Sears) Tower, from the Grant Park

Seen at the Millennium Park

 
Polish Rally at Grant Park. 1 of every 12 Americans is of Polish descent.

#295 Tulips on the Magnificent Mile

The first time I heard or read the word Tulip was sometime in kindergarten. As with all uncommon flowers, I did not care to remember what they looked like in the book. There was also a guy named Tulip in my college, and I think Tulip Joshi is one of the prettiest persons I have seen in Bollywood. But honestly, I did not know what tulips looked like, till last month! In Spring, you can find Tulips almost everywhere in and around Chicago. I am not sure of other places. One particular place in Chicago has been well advertised for tourism: The Michigan Avenue, or the Magnificent Mile.

#294 Chicago in Black and White