wanting to give up

[laurence]

the last week or so have been a struggle.

there's been little things that have kept me going - yesterday i saw great crested grebes hatch in their nest.

anyway. today i was by the Thames at Kingston. part of me wanted to jump in. i was watching people feeding the birds and just trying to calm down. then i spotted a grebe. i followed it upstream, it was coming close to the bank, so i took some pictures. i decided to head back and on the way i saw its mate, calling to it. so i followed again and got some shots of them greeting each other... and then followed them downstream to see if i could see any nest site.

they were both diving for food and i could get pretty close, so i was snapping away.

then along came two community support officers. they stopped me and wanted my details. why? because i was photographing "possible terrorist targets" which were "the bridge and the riverside". i explained i was on public property and snapping birds, one said "i can't see any birds" - this on the Thames at Kingston!

they basically accused me of being a terrorist and threatened me with further action if i didn't give them my name. i told them of my rights and re-itterated that i was free to take pictures, i even showed them the supposed bridge shots were actually of a grebe eating a fish and refused to tell them my name.

as the grebes had moved off, so did i. i found their (possible) nest site, but my heart had gone out of taking pictures.

what was turning out to be an ok day has now been turned into one of despair. i really don't know why i bother, i hate the world - well, mainly the humans that infest it.

i can lose myself when taking pictures, i hide behind the camera and see the world in a better light. not any more.

 

[walker]

funny thing sort of along the same lines. Me and my mates and had this conversation with FIL. I've passed a few kids, mainly girls, on the floor crying having fallen off their bike, scooter etc. I wanted to stop to see if they have been alright but in the back of my mind was 'if I stop and help her and someone see's me would they think I was a peodophile and think I was enjoying touching this girls leg etc' and its surprising how many others have been in this situation and the world has just gone mad.

 

[Crackle]

Well done Laurence for standing your ground and not losing your patience. Even reading that story fills me with anger that our current society allows this to even be.

Funnily enough I read a story about this very subject the other day. In that instance a man was actually pulled out of a crowd at an event to be questioned by police about his camera. There is I believe an online petition asking for the law to clarified on this but right now there is nothing that stops you taking pictures in public places nor should there be. It is a ridiculous state of affairs and luckily you knew your rights, many don't.

I too would feel deflated after something like this, don't let it get you down, you were in the right, they were a couple of muppets, clueless muppets at that.

Let's see some of those Grebe shots. Did you get any of the chicks yesterday, meant to ask but forgot?

 

[Arch]

That's awful. There was a similar story on Breakfast this morning and an expert saying we have a right to take photos in public and anything said to the contrary is bollocks. What are they going to do, stop tourist photographing Big Ben? And who wants to bomb Kingston, FFS?

I know how you feel. I often despair of this world and this country, and if it weren't for the little things, like you say, and a few really good mates, I'd have jumped in the Ouse by now. I console myself with the idea that one day I'll move somewhere nicer.

I may not be online all the time, but if you ever need to let off steam or whinge or have a complete stranger listen and say " I know how you feel", PM me, really. I've been lifted out of some dark places by people just being willing to listen.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Laurence - sounds like you really are in the dumps.
Take some time off whatever you think you HAVE to do and go off and do just what you WANT to do. Like get on your bike, take the camera into a quiet (unpatrolled) place - whatever.

We all get depressed from time to time. The trick is to know what to do about it.

But don't give up.

 

[simonali]

Just remember, the police are all knobs. They go to Hendon as human beings, have their brains removed and come out idiots. I've had them stop me loads of times when I've been doing nothing wrong e.g riding a stolen bike (which was mine!), walking home from the pub, driving my car perfectly normally and having an unmarked car tailgating me trying to make me speed up so I can be done for going too fast.

Never had a good experience when it comes to the police. Even when I had a car stereo stolen, they caught the bloke the same night with a holdall full of radios, but I never got my stereo back. It went missing from the arresting officer's station. I was informed that he was the only one who could sign it out from the evidence room, so one would have to assume that the f***er stole it!

 

[John the Monkey]

Write to your mp and ask them to support this;

Early Day Motion 1155

Photography in Public Areas

Mitchell, Austin
That this House is concerned to encourage the spread and enjoyment of photography as the most genuine and accessible people's art; deplores the apparent increase in the number of reported incidents in which the police, police community support officers (PCSOs) or wardens attempt to stop street photography and order the deletion of photographs or the confiscation of cards, cameras or film on various specious ground such as claims that some public buildings are strategic or sensitive, that children and adults can only be photographed with their written permission, that photographs of police and PCSOs are illegal, or that photographs may be used by terrorists; points out that photography in public places and streets is not only enjoyable but perfectly legal; regrets all such efforts to stop, discourage or inhibit amateur photographers taking pictures in public places, many of which are in any case festooned with closed circuit television cameras; and urges the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers to agree on a photography code for the information of officers on the ground, setting out the public's right to photograph public places thus allowing photographers to enjoy their hobby without officious interference or unjustified suspicion.

 

[wafflycat]

Alas, jobs such as 'community support officers' will attract a certain type of individual that's not exactly interested in supporting anything other than their own feeble power-driven ego... Comisserations Laurence.

 

[Kirstie]

Very very sadly, this is the result of the met's new 'anti terror' campaign, which smacks of the stasi to me. Taking photos, having a mobile phone, and having lots of people round your house is now suspicious. I mean how TF can you have a 'suspicious house'? Check out the posters on this page.

http://www.met.police.uk/campaigns/campaign_ct_2008.htm

On the more satirical side, here are some funny piss takes.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/05/remixing-the-london.html

Hang on Walker I'm coming with you!!!

 

[alecstilleyedye]

my daughter plays for a u10s football team. they are playing the semi and final of a cup competition tomorrow. would be great to get some shots of her playing in what could be the first final she has played in. but i'd probably get mistaken for a paedo snapping young girls in shorts

 

[Arch]

To think, how long the image of the British bobby has been something tourists stop to take pictures of..

To balance it a bit, and I can't believe all police are bad, or I'd have to give up and die, my Ulster colleague was saying his Dad came over to protest at the Torch relay. Having been in Ulster in the 70's and on CND marches later, and seen the uglier side of policing, he was rather impressed when a policeman (complete in woodentop hat) stopped him at Downing Street and asked "have you come to protest?" "oh yes" says the guy's dad, in strong Catholic Irish accent. "Ok, well, sir, if you could stand on that side of the road please, behind the barrier, let me show you". Whatever we moan about, there's a lot of places you wouldn't get that sympathetic a response.

 

[wafflycat]

Ooh-arr, we country bumpkin-types had better not be gettin' on the railway to go to London! Arrr... we could be taking pictures of the nation's capital in all its glory to provide a crumb of comfort to look at when we're in our dotage at the 'Bide-a-wee' rest home in the village and instead we end up in 'Bide-a-while-in-Belmarsh' for 42 days as we've taken a photo of the changing of the guard...

 

[4F]

Funnily enough I read a story about this very subject the other day. In that instance a man was actually pulled out of a crowd at an event to be questioned by police about his camera.

Yes the event in question happened in Ipswich. I understand that the police office concerned has now undergone some "re-training"

 

[Arch]

On the more satirical side, here are some funny piss takes.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/05/remixing-the-london.html

Hang on Walker I'm coming with you!!!

Love the LOLcats one!

 

[Kirstie]

Love the LOLcats one!

it's spot on, isn't it?