Being a photographer with a “real” camera always carries risk. People well within their rights to photograph in public are harassed online all the time. I’d argue, though, that being a brown person in the United States adds an extra layer of risk that other photographers don’t face, namely fears that you’re a terrorist taking photographs to plan for a future attack.
If it was just one time and one story, I wouldn’t say that. But it’s definitely not just one time. I’ll start with a story of my time as a graduate student, where I took this photo:
Syracuse University from a publicly accessible area that was made a little less public just for me.
The photo was taken from the top of the Syracuse University’s Crouse-Hinds Hall, in a hallway in the building that houses classrooms and administrative offices. No one is barred access to any of the hallway and classroom areas during business hours, so I took the elevator up to the eighth floor and placed my camera against a window overlooking the campus. I was aiming for a time-lapse.
Ten minutes pass, and a janitor walks past, but no one else. Ten minutes later, an officer from the Department of Public Safety walks up and informs me that only faculty and staff are allowed up in the hallway. I knew where this was going, but I gamely showed him my ID anyway, since I was adjunct faculty even before I was a graduate student. My ID card said as much. He seemed to short-circuit, fumbling through some words about how someone reported a suspicious person in the hallway and that I needed to leave.
Like I do in any interaction with police officers, I pondered whether I should challenge the assertion that I was a suspicious person, but I determined that I already had the photo I wanted and that the better play was to back down. I packed up and walked away.
Another time, when flying out from Buffalo Niagara International Airport with camera gear I needed to shoot a wedding, I got stopped and searched six ways to Sunday when going through the security checkpoint. That was not unexpected, given the amount of hardware I was packing. What was unexpected, was that after I had packed everything back up and put my belt back on, was that I was stopped and searched again in the same manner after walking five feet away from where I had previously been searched, without explanation. I complied, again. That said, I’ve been “randomly” searched most times I’ve been through the airport, gear or not.
When Taking Photos Is Really (Not) Encouraged
Sometimes, the stories just cross into the territory of asinine. Take this example from the Destiny USA Mall in Syracuse:
The tweet does most of the talking, but in short, I had my Fujifilm X-T1 with the XF 35mm lens (a diminutive setup as far as cameras go), and I was still stopped by mall employees and told to stop shooting. There’s a picture of a DSLR right on the sign, for crying out loud.
All of that brings me to the most recent incident from just this previous week, where I photographed a fixture in Bridgeport that I’ve photographed numerous times before, a power plant by the water.
A power plant that sits on the harbor in Bridgeport, easily viewable from everywhere.
I ride this ferry to work every day, many times taking photos, without incident. On weekends, there are parents, mostly not minorities, riding the ferry and taking pictures left and right. In the case of the photos above, I was using a 14-year-old Canon Rebel XTi, a camera that arguably takes worse quality photos than the Google Pixel 3a XL in my pocket. To make it a point, I started photographing with my cell phone first for a few minutes before switching to my DSLR. That was when I was asked by a ferry employee to stop and to not take photos. After I pointed out that people take plenty of photos with their cell phones, she relented and told me to not take photos of the (very visible from all angles everywhere) power plant. There didn’t seem to really be any rhyme or reason to any of it. If I was trying to be sneaky to get photos of the plant to blow it up later, I’d use something a little less conspicuous than a silver DSLR. Or I’d just use Google Maps. It’s not really a secret power plant.
Either way, as the ferry is a private business, I complied with the request to put the camera away, but if you look at the photos above, can you even tell which one was a cell phone and which a DSLR? I'd argue you can glean the same information out of either photo.
Am I Being Singled Out?
Maybe I’m making a big deal out of what may be isolated incidents and individual people. There’s no way I’d know without A/B testing, since I only have the skin I have. But all of it adds up and wears me down over the years. While race isn’t mentioned in the article where Hilary Duff confronts a black photographer for photographing her kids, the encounter is dripping with racist undertones. Brown and black folks will understand exactly what’s going on here. The photographer didn’t look like the other people on the soccer field and was then singled out by Duff for scrutiny. It’s doubtful he’d get the same treatment if he was white.
I can’t be the only photographer of color to have experienced this. Have you? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
I thought I was the only one who made the "iPhone vs. DSLR" check in my head before going somewhere, but yes, I do have the same train of thought when I go out.
Thank you very much for writing this article and putting it out there first of all, despite the predictable reactions of everyone else who this isn't even written for. I appreciate it and can relate to much of your experiences, with or without a camera in hand. As Khalid has mentioned, im also not a pro photographer and yet still have to think about a lot of these things when depending on what it is and where im going to photograph. Even if it really is unnecessary sometimes, and everything is fine and nobody says anything, all those other micro agressions make it something to constantly consider.
I make the same decision at times, phone or DSLR? But my concerns are more of can I get away with traveling extremely light, or will I miss having a great shot by not have my DSLR with me...
Your article is, as I am sure you knew, would be controversial. By the amount of comments left here, I would say the subject is a "hot spot" with a lot of people.
The lack of common sense is insane. Did you even go through and read my prior comments and look through Wasim's prior articles? I bet not.
Privileged WHITE male... racist but keep going. People who look like Wasim are deemed terrorists in the worlds eye... but the KKK & IRA aren't? ok.
When have I ever said racism isn't real? You clearly haven't read through my other posts. This is why you can't have rational arguments with people online because they don't pay attention...
Funny how when someone like Wasim sheds a light on it, someone like you automatically go into defense mode and try to push the fault back to the victim." Clearly didn't read my other comments or maybe you did and you're intentionally choosing to ignore the content of those so make your incorrect point.. got it.
I love the stupidity and hypocrisy of people saying you're hiding behind your computer as you type this on your computer.... lol
"The lack of common sense... " seems to be your favorite 5 words, yet you seem to be in the same boat as everyone else you're claiming has no common sense. I read your prior comments, yes, and I suppose I "lack the common sense" to see how they're relevant to anything.
Truly, there is no point in trying to argue with someone who lacks the capacity to understand what is trying to be said. I have enough common sense to see that and to end the stupid here. Good day to you Andrew.
lol I prove him wrong and he runs away like everyone else... shocking.
Not running away and the only thing you proved is that you're an arrogant ass. It's just not worth my time and effort arguing with someone who wouldn't ever see someone else's side. But tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night.
lol "It's just not worth my time and effort arguing with someone who wouldn't ever see someone else's side" isn't willing to see my side but makes claim like this.... HAHAHAHA stupidity everywhere.
Andrew Johnson, Have you ever had the integrity to truly question why you fear, disregard, or react the way you have here to people's experiences such as Wasim? Does the reality of racial politics in this country make you insecure to the point where you simply deny? do you not know how to intellectually/morally come to terms with that?
In any case, perhaps this article wasn't really written for you anyways, but rather people like Wasim and myself and many others who know what they're talking about and are rightfully expressing it, have a good day :)
lol why i fear the experience of other people... yeah that makes sense.
The lack of common sense here is unreal. You also clearly haven't read my other comments to make a wildly ignorant comment like "Does the reality of racial politics in this country make you insecure to the point where you simply deny?"
It's a sad day when people like you make arguments based on assumptions. How pathetic.
IOW, "It doesn't happen to me, so it's not a problem."
Clearly you didn't read through my other comments. Once again another ignorant comment from an uninformed person. Sad
Maybe I read too fast. This thread is getting complicated, and it's hard to follow one person's posts from start to finish. If I mischaracterized your intent, I apologize.
Andrew, How right you are. I could not have said it better.
Searched multiple times at the same airport?
Stop shooting the Power Plant when others are shooting with their camera phones?
Yup, Brown,
And here we have victim shaming and blaming. I think we're going to get every kind of awful person in this comment section.
I came here to read the white folk comments who are going to try and justify the behavior described in this article that points to an actual, and serious, problem whether it happens once or a thousand times.
The point of the article is great, and the story about the mall is maybe the most prime example.
Labels people based on race in his own comment and acts self righteous about morality. You are part of the problem. The level of ignorance and hypocrisy is embarrassing.
Well so far your replies have seemed pretty ignorant to me. I'm guessing others here are reading your comments the same way.
Really how so? Go back and look a prior articles that Wasim has posted over the last couple of years and explain exactly how I am wrong. It would be one thing to say here are my experiences and a few of them may have been a result of racial judgement's in my opinion with those specific people. It's another thing entirely to claim that an entire country full of hundreds of millions of people should be vilified because of 3-4 potentially bad exchanges.... In the last two years I've been stopped five times and questioned about what I was doing. Four times by the police and once by private security. All of these scenarios were in public places and I was doing nothing more than shooting photos. I didn't complain about it I understood that talking photos with a larger camera does concern some people and while i think that's ridiculous I still understand it and didn't make generalized claims about the intentions or judgments of everyone else with a different skin color than me.
What makes you an expert on Wahim's intentions and whether people of color are treated differently in the US? Your experiences? That's called anecdotal evidence and it's not valid proof of anything. People of color are treated differently in this country. It's pretty well documented. The US does have a race problem. Not believing that really is part of the problem.
People all over the world irregardless of their skin tone are treated differently depending on where they are not just in the US. Typically it's due to cultural differences not race. Also every country has a race problem. Don't act like it's only here because that is 100% false. Also where in anything that I wrote can you find me saying I don't think there are problems in the world with racism? One of the problems with it is when someone like Wasim who likely at some point in his life has genuinely dealt with racism then takes those experiences and twists them to start doing the exact same thing to others that is the most twisted perversion of racism there is and it's disgusting. Also to address your first sentence... What makes Wasim an expert of other people intentions? You see how that goes both ways??? Exactly
So detailing incidents he feels are examples of racist behavior makes him racist? Talk about twisting facts around to blame the victim. Dude you have a real problem. No I don't see how it goes both ways. I see you desperately trying to justify your very problematic position.
Wasim is right to point out where problems exist. It's how we deal with it. For one we see who people really are by how they respond to the conversations started in cases like this one.
lol ok so you clearly didn't go back and look at any of Wasim's prior articles did you? got it. Yeah twisting facts isn't labeling assumptions about people without evidence right?
If you don't see how that goes both ways you are choosing to be arrogant about the point I'm making and the hypocrisy with you statement.
Also i agree it is right to point out where problems exist, what's not right is when you start making claims about people based on their identity or nationality simply based on your assumptions without evidence. Strange that that seems to be hard to understand....
Dude you need to stop commenting as you dig yourself deeper with each comment, people of color have different experiences from "wypipo" and your WP just keeps shining through, instead of taking a moment to think that what happened to the writer is wrong and need not happen , you've twisted it and made him the racist, please give up your arguments and go walk in his shoes for a day , just one day :-(
lol makes racist comment in an argument against racism, this is stupidity of the highest level.
I have yet to see one comment justifying the behavior, actually. Sorry you are disappointed.
Dude I feel ya....I get similar all the time in Canada and USA.
Whenever I'm in Europe that disappears... but funny that guy thought you were middle eastern...without even asking. And Therein lies part of the issue.
The appearance and name strongly suggest that. My point is there is a general fear of Middle Easterners since 9/11. I admitted I was wrong- he could easily be of Indian ethnicity or many other places, even with his name. Is it really that big a stretch to assume that a person named Wasim Ahmad with his appearance may be middle eastern? Is it an insult to assume that? I made a mistake, but it was not out of malice, and certainly an understandable one. I am trying to join the conversation. In fact in Arabic, Wasim means "good looking".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasim
Let me clear it up so there's no stereotyping basic on looks here. My family is of Scottish heritage for nine generations. I just happen to have an excellent tan (it's hard to tell, since my profile photo is black and white, I know). Also, Wasim Ahmad is merely a nickname. My actual name is John Smith, I just go by Wasim Ahmad. I just don't get why people don't see my Scottish heritage while I'm taking photographs, it boggles my mind.
(Edit: Mark, definitely not coming down on you, I know that you didn't mean it out of malice, but I am trying to make a point about assumptions here - no one knows my name when I photograph, they just see my skin color).
Now you are having fun with it! Ok. With your little picture all I see is the full face beard and moustache plus the great tan. Maybe in person it would be obvious. Maybe you are doing this to make a point, but my response was reasonable given the knowledge I had, but given that you are saying that your harassers would see you as a tan Scottish guy, I kind of wonder why you made the brown comment? I mean, yes, tan is brown, but you are implying that you are of a recognized minority, and being a tan Scot is a bit misleading; though you did indicate that you appear Middle Eastern to some people. I think I am done here.
LOL that's pretty funny stuff. Nice tan.
Nothing suggested that. However I'm not coming down on you. It's a fact of our society that we think Americans are "white".
I still get people asking where in Africa I'm from whenever I visit the lower 48. I was born a raised in Texas. Lived in 5 different countries and traveled to many more. The USA is the most racist/bigoted.
I lost several friends in the 9/11 attacks. Guys I knew from short pants to Wall Street suits. None of them were white, all American though.
Do you presume that some Blacks, Latins, Asians, American Indians, etc. might not have a general fear of Middle Eastern people sometimes, especially after 9/11? Where did I say Americans are all white?
Actually in other countries people are pretty damn racist, even more explicit then here, but few say anything about it. The USA actually took steps to address it. I really do not buy that America is the MOST racist/bigoted at all. Yes, there is racism and bigotry, but we are not the worst, and we have tried to solve the problem (often probably making it worse). I see bigotry in Central America (towards the native population) and it occurs in India (i.e., caste system). Much worse and more explicit. When it is your experience, I can understand it really does not matter that it is the worst or not, it is just bad.
Listen you were doing alright before. I understood where you were coming from etc...
And for the record the "Americans" were the indigenous people we stole the land from. Even they aren't commonly thought of as Americans.
I think the writers point is the inherent double standard people of colour face for even the most insignificant things. Like talking in an SBUX and having the service staff call the police on ya. Or being pulled over for a busted tail light that ends in an officer involved shooting.
Just leave it there bro...I got your point the first time round'.
I understand his original point, but I think it got muddled at this point, and the presentation came across as (possibly unintentionally) deceptive.
Sorry, but I was born in America as were my parents. My grandparents arrived here just after WW1 started. We didn't steal anything from anyone.
There we go trying to normalize this SMH
"Is it really that big a stretch to assume that a person with Wasim Ahmad with his appearance may be middle eastern? Is it an insult to assume that?"
The point is that these types of assumptions are not productive and are a part of the stereotyping that holds us back from constructive conversations about real problems.
You're owning up to your mistake which is great! No one is saying that you're intentionally trying to generalize. Backing up why you make the mistake as an excuse is not necessarily a good way to show that you understand. It's only going to come accross as justification.
"Is it an insult to assume that?"
Maybe not an intentional one but it's certainly dismissive of who he actually is.
Essentially this boils down to assumptions make a fool of all of us. Assuming that he is of Middle Eastern decent to bring up the fact that people in the US might be scared of people from that region, only points to how big the problem really is.
I have no doubt it was only good intentions. I've been in the same exact boat.
"Maybe not an intentional one but it's certainly dismissive of who he actually is."
You mean a tan Scot with a nickname of Wasim Ahmad?
"The point is that these types of assumptions are not productive and are a part of the stereotyping that holds us back from constructive conversations about real problems.
The point is that these types of assumptions are not productive and are a part of the stereotyping that holds us back from constructive conversations about real problems."
Whether intentional or not, he presented himself as a guy named Wasim Ahmad, whose picture is consistent with being Middle Eastern, then calls himself "brown", which in common parlance means he is a protected minority or a "person of color", etc., but neglects to tell us he is actually a tan Scot named John Smith ( I am giving him the benefit of the doubt here that this is actually the case just as I gave him the benefit of the doubt when he said he was not Middle Eastern)!
Sorry, it is he who set this up. If we were all in person, my response may have been much different. I think due to the deception (again, whether intentional or not), he did not even make a point, but had he handled it differently he may have accomplished making a point. I thought we were actually going to have an intelligent conversation about things like race, ethnicity, stereotypes, a general fear of cameras, etc. This is a shell game at this point.
OK I can't tell if you actually believe this or not, but you can Google me. I'm not a tan Scot and my name isn't John Smith. What is being a Scot mean anyway? It's all lines drawn on a map made by man. I could be Scot and non-white, but to be clear, I'm not Scottish.
Jeesh you really like to muddle things up to make a point about race/ethnicity/etc. Are you a Democrat?
Not his fault you're from that subset of Americans who lack the ability to detect sarcasm.
I'm an extremely conservative libertarian who votes Republican, because I don't want to throw away my vote. I am the farthest thing from a Democrat you might imagine. I support ALL of the bill of rights. I have great respect for anyone willing to stand up to people who seek to infringe on their rights. People need to be reeducated. The homeland security act was an infringement of people's rights. The FISA court's abuses are just a tiny example. The fact that the no-fly list lacks due process is unconstitutional. People are going mad destroying freedom, liberty, and rights in order to try to gain an imaginary security. You don't protect our country by denying our citizens their rights.
Photography is a free speech right, and worthy of protection. That includes the educational efforts of photographers to do photography in public.
I am actually no longer going to give the benefit of the doubt when you make a statement, but I suggest that if you want an intelligent and meaningful conversation you say what you mean and mean what you say. It's free advice so take it for what its worth. Any point you are trying to make got so muddled in "wokeness", "virtue signalling" and maybe an attempt at subtle humor (that I do not mind) that it is all but lost. I actually intended to enter the conversation as a serious one, but it is clearly some type of parody at this point.
And being Scottish is a nationality, and can indicate a historical and even current cultural heritage for many people. And yes, people of other ethnic backgrounds that are born in or immigrate to Scotland could take part in that heritage.
Googled you. Ok. The muddling occurred in the comments section. I did not feel that I had to Google someone to have a conversation with them! Especially the author. I do have to give you some credit for humor, but in this case it was not helpful over all.
I thought it was pretty over the top as to be very, very obvious, but apologies that it wasn't clear to you. I'm not Scottish, but I'm not Middle Eastern either. As far as these imaginary distinctions in the human race go, anyway.
Looking in retrospect, I can see that. I was working and occasionally seeing the notification pop up, so I hopped over and shot back responses. I also know I erred in calling you Middle Eastener (I have been to places like India, and know there are non-Middle Easteners with Arabic based names, and am sure there are other places), so I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt going forward. Note I started saying things like "alleged Scot" etc., so I was partially tuned to it, but having doubts. Plus your humor is pretty subtle overall, and I was not expecting humor from the author of a pretty serious topic.
My main point was that if in some of these situations (if not all of them) you were being harassed because of looks, I suspect the "apparent" Middle Eastern factor may be bigger than the "brown" factor. And I attribute that to 9/11 as well as our activities in the Middle East plus media coverage of said activities. Many Americans (of many ethnicities, etc.) are effected by that. Apologies if I added to the muddling, but from a humor perspective it has been fun. I initially expected it to stay serious, as your article was of a serious nature. Cheers.
"As far as these imaginary distinctions in the human race go..."
Interesting. A few times in the past during a census or on some form where it asked for racial information, I have been known to add an extra box, write "Human Race" next to it then check that box. I do believe the nation state has a place in the world.