Comments on: Chicago Transit Authority urges commuters to report photographers

By: Pam Toll

Pam Toll — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:54:52 +0000

Im sure their concern is ..wow you might catch our phony conductors allowing africans to gangstalk a witness and triple clipping her 10 ride ticket for the others who didnt pay. and or while she is being sexual harrassed by phonies claiming to be with the national guard. we cant catch the faces of the true perps who work for an illegal alien somolian woman using the name NABEEL.. cause now shes AMY and working for the CIA!!

By: Jason Epstein

Jason Epstein — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:12:07 +0000

Having photographed many of Chicago’s trains I can say this is dissapointing. No one ever harrassed me or called the cops. I was asked to stop photographing a courthouse which is likely not legal but I didnt press it as I had already taken the photos I wanted.

By: mr k

mr k — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:20:34 +0000

As long as I’m not trespassing or being in areas where I’m not allowed or interfering with passenger traffic I will continue to take as many photographs as I damn well want, as this still is the last time I checked the United States of America, and not some Communist run country the CTA wishes it was period.

By: akagoldfish

akagoldfish — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:00:32 +0000

Kay, I think your attitude is probably pretty representative of most CPD offices on this subject. It’s not a fun prospect to be asked to be asked to come in and investigate some guy with a camera who obviously isn’t doing anything wrong, because some CTA station agent is worried pictures of him napping on the job will show up on the internet.

Last time a CTA worker got really on me for photographing at a station, I asked to see his supervisor, and he said he was going to call the police. I had to restrain myself from saying “yeah, good luck with that.”

No, the cops never showed. If he in fact did call them, I suspect they knew it was BS and found a way to make it a 19 paul and go back to doing something useful.

The only time I can think that the CPD has actually gotten involved in fighting the CTA’s war on photography for them is in the incident at the O’Hare station where a photographer ended up being detained and having his images deleted (he recovered them). But given it was in the run up to the Olympics bid, and I suspect being a CPD officer stationed at O’Hare involves some heavy clout, that incident had politics involved in that makes it less than typical.

By: Kay

Kay — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:16:04 +0000

I’m a Chicago cop. Believe me, I don’t want to be bothered with “Joe Railfan” shooting a few pictures anymore than he wants me bothering him.

I can’t speak for all cops, just myself.

By: DXO

DXO — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:02:45 +0000

Here’s how much the CTA hates photographers: http://www.flickr.com/groups/chitransit/pool/. 1,200 members and 11,000 photos, with more uploaded every day.

By: Michaelk42

Michaelk42 — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:14:38 +0000

But looking out for “excessive” photographers lets people feel like they’re useful! And feel like they’re doing something! And feel like they’re safer!

Security Theater, the feel-good hit of the 21st Century.
Michaelk42´s last blog ..Again with the cluelessness

By: Damon

Damon — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:35:28 +0000

I wondered what was up when a conductor leaned out of a train window on Sunday to tell me: “OK, here’s the trick. You can take as many photos as you want, but you can’t use a tripod.”

I was bent down on one knee at the Roosevelt platform. I had a digicam on a mini-tripod at my feet. I had been taking photos of the Moon and the twilight sky before the train stopped and blocked the view.

After he said the bit about taking as many photos as I cared to as long as I didn’t use a tripod, I just laughed. What’s the sense in that (esp. given this caution about “excessive” photography)? And how else am I going to take a one-second exposure of the Moon?

“Now you can laugh,” he responded, “but that’s the rule.”

“OK.” And then when the train left, I went right back to what I’d been doing. Here’s one image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocean_of_stars/4283829740/

By: Theywantyoufired

Theywantyoufired — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:14:56 +0000

Photographers actually fight terrorism. Lots of photos taken before an incident provides valuable evidence. If I were running the country I would ask everyone to photograph any suspicious activity. It might just discourage terrorists altogether. Also, what constitutes a “large camera”? Does that mean a full frame DSLR, a medium format camera (digital or film back), or do they mean large format (4×5 and up)? They need to be more specific. Cops and security guards all have their own ideas.