Know Your Rights As A Photographer

A few months back, I had a run-in with a security patrol. I was in a business park, walking around various buildings, tripod in hand, taking photos of various concrete walls for my texture library. On the front of one building, I saw a "no photography" sign, which I honored.

I had no idea some of the buildings in the area are government.

Two minutes after passing in front of that "no photo" building, a security patrolman pulled up to ask me questions. "What's with the camera? What are you taking photos of? What are you using them for?" I was so glad I'd watched the video below. I explained what I was doing, and immediately offered to show my photos. I was courteous, polite, respectful. I did not provide my full name or present my identification as I'm not required to by law. All was resolved within a few minutes.

My encounter was nowhere near as harrowing as Andrew's, as you'll see in his video. Even if you're not a street photographer, take the 11 minutes and watch this video.