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 have a good friend who is French/Acadian Canadian, and is darker complected. He also looks like he could be from half the countries in the world. We’re always busting a gut whenever someone assumes yet another country he is from - so far, we’ve heard Mexico, Italy, Lebanon and more. Poor guy - he’s actually just Canadian!
I was taking pictures of the Lackawanna terminal building in Hoboken, when a Port Authority cop walked up to me, unlatched her holster and put her hand on her gun, and started aggressivley and loudly grilling me about having a permit.
Almost the same thing happened to me when I was photographing the Jersey City powerhouse. A powerhouse that has been decommissioned since 1929, one year before the camera I was photographing it with, a medium format Voightlander Bessa (the one with the bellows) film camera. I don't think most terrorists casing a place are going to do so with 120 film.
Having lived in, and photographed New York for a decade, I have a looooot of stories like this.
And I'm white as a sheet.
Sometime people aren't jerks because of racism. They're jerks because they're jerks, and that's all there is to it.
Correct. Many times they are jerks to some people more than others.
"unlatched her holster and put her hand on her gun"
Definitely file a complaint against her for threatening behavior. Threats of deadly force over a PERMIT = not cool.
Yeah, that was pretty over the top., unprofessional, and dangerous for her. You don't unsafe your weapon unless you think you are likely to have to use it. She also got up in my face, which means she was inside my reach with an available weapon.
If she really thought I was a terrorist she should have challenged me from some distance. But of course she didn't, she just wanted to flex a little. Some folks are like that.
Of course, some folks actually are racist, and not just run of the mill scumbags, but it's difficult to tell because the observable behavior is similar.
Sorry Dude - that's the way the world works. No, it's not fair, and I feel bad you've had to experience that. But if white Canadians (which I am) suddenly had a major increase in terrorist activity, and on-going plots to do so; I would fully expect that I would face increased scrutiny in security-related situations. You mention below you are not middle-eastern, but that would have been my guess based on your name and appearance. French people are rude, Americans are idiots, English people are prudes, Irish people are drunks, Aussies are crazy, Asians are smart, the Swiss are passive, Russians are corrupt, Africans are primitive, Arabs are terrorists, and you probably assume I'm super nice since I'm Canadian. Get my drift?
I was a manager of a ritz camera store for about one year, we had a practice of taking applications and placing them in a file in the order they were received and we would interview every applicant despite their level of experience. One day a black man came to submit an application and I said we call every applicant in for an interview, he then stated "I don't think you are going to call me in" I said yes we interview all applicants, why do think we will not call you. He said "because I'm black" Some people predispose themselves to racism.
Perhaps that guy opened his American history book that morning.
Ok let's talk about black people who have been so severely oppressed, Colin Powel, Condalisa Rice, President Obama, shall I go on.
That is perhaps the most simplistic and wrong reasoning I've encountered here so far.
You're forgetting Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan, Ervin Johnson, Oprah Winfrey, Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee and a host of other successful people of color. Would you actually read a list of all the people of color that were, at best, excluded from full participation and who lost their lives for just speaking up? Crack a history book friend and dive right in.
Wow! I must have touched a nerve.
This article speaks to me but more than that, comments section scream out exactly what Wasim Ahmad is trying to say.
Mr. Ahmad, I have a solution to your problem. Wear a red MAGA baseball cap while you are photographing, and I'll bet you a box of donuts that none of those steadfast gatekeepers of security will bother you again. If I'm wrong, just email me with an address to which to send the Dunkin Donuts coupon.
It worked for Larry David LoL
LOL. I'm almost tempted to test that.
Hi Wasim,
Intersting, this is the second recent article from you in the lines of SJW. Are you okay? That being said, this one is more justifiable than the previous one (the one with white male domination thing). Yes, I have come across this few times and I have a different take than what you have mentioned.
We (human beings), profile people differently, based on our thoughts, persception of threats and that builds our sense of alertness and/or fear. It is purely psychological. It becomes a racial thing when you deny something for another person based on the skin color, ethinicity, gender despite ruling out the threat factor.
I don't have any issues when I am questioned by an individual (or security folks) in a white country (i.e. Canada - where I lieve) because people have to take precaution to protect themselves or their loved ones, but I will start having issues if the security, individual or police won't allow me to shoot based on my 'look' and not based on the threat that I pose (or do not pose).
I don't believe we will ever eliminate racism and we shouldn't eliminate 'psychological profiling'.
When I visit a place where people are not familiar with my 'type', they will definitely look at me suspecious (because they have never seen me or my type that often, previous encounters, etc.). However, most of them mind their own business once they talk to you (I have experienced this many times in non-brown dominated remote places, including in India - my own country) and eliminate the suspecision.
The profiling is essential for individual survival, however, that is the boundary where we draw. Otherwise, it is going to create a victim mentality, stop you from progressing, being fearful and worse-case, hatred.
But yeah, be extra cautious (and be prepared to respond friendly) in a place where you are new and not the majority (including brown countries - this is applicable there as well - in my experience).
I hope you will do well.
Interesting comment Rhonald, and well written. I spent a few months in Ethiopia, and (as a white person) if I had taken all the "profiling" that I encountered and called it racism, I don't know how I would have kept my mind. From being charged higher fares on the bus than locals, from hearing kids yell out "Ferengi" (foreigner) every 10 seconds when I walked somewhere . . . but it was alright, you know? Profiling (assumptions about someone), while sometimes frustrating is definitely not the same thing as racism (hate for someone).
If you think that video by Hilary Duff is "dripping with racist undertones" I feel sorry for you, man. Make no mistake, there's plenty of racism not only here in America but all over the world and it's deplorable, despicable, and very sad. But this is a mom getting creeped out by a photographer taking pictures of her kids. That's it. If you want to see anything else in it, go for it. Hopefully we can all start giving a little more benefit of the doubt in situations like these and even some of the things that happened to you that you mention in your article.
Thank you! I was thinking the same thing, but didn't want to say anything in regards to Ms. Duff. Now there a folks that see her point of view. Truthfully, it's difficult to take candid pics of folks without them looking at you crazy or asking you if you took their picture.
I'm sorry you have to live and deal with this ignorance and racial stereotyping. I'm fortunate to have and work with photographers of color and I know they all have had issues in places I would not. Once you open your eyes you can't not see it.
I think a lot of people of color recognize this as something Damon Young wrote about https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/nigga-neurosis-explained-1822523234
This made me recall something that happened a number of years ago. There was a period where I had some interest in super-fruits, you know acai, black currants, blood oranges, etc. (i.e., anthocyanin pigment containing fruits especially). In any case I was at the market looking at a display of grapes- green, red, and black. There was a black guy there doing the same, and thinking in super-fruit terms I casually muttered, "black are the best". He turned angrily to me and said "what did you say". Realizing what just occurred, I kind of smiled and said 'grapes, black grapes are the best'. He relaxed and we went our way.
Honestly, I find the very term “people of colour” to be an extremely racist concept. So what, there’s two groups in the world: everyone on the planet . . . and white people? White people aren’t people of colour, like their skin tone doesn’t count as a colour? Do they become people of colour when they visit non-white countries? What a divisive, “them vs us” term honestly.
Regarding the article though, it was an enjoyable read, and I’m sure a very real reality for minorities.
I once visited the Native American museum in Washington, DC. The museum's ceiling is made up of a number of concentric circles with a circular skylight in the center. I set up my tripod low to the ground and laid beneath it for a couple of hours trying to capture something. With hunger getting the best of me and failure at capturing an image with "that feeling", I packed up my gear and left. About 50 ft from the exit, a security guard calls after me (quite politely) and asks me if I was part of the film crew that was in the museum. I answered no. I figured this was a permit type thing. There were several follow up questions which made no sense and had nothing to do with a permit. Then, he asks if I wouldn't mind returning to the museum. Personal alarm bells began going off and I actually minded quite a bit. But, I figure, hey, I haven't done anything and to not return would have caused me a world of hurt. We go back in and meet up with the head of that camera crew. As they whispered a few things out of my hearing I stood there as calmly as I could with F-bombs reverberating off the inside of my skull. After their silent exchange, I'm free to go. I never truly understood what happened that day. But, I haven't been back to that museum since. I felt like contacting my congress person about the incident. But, meh.
I am not a lawyer. But, this is how I'd approach it.
"Am I being detained? Am I free to go?" If "no" and "yes", leave. If "yes" and "no", "Do you have legal authority to detain me? Are you a law enforcement officer?" If "no", leave. If an effort is made to detain me by someone who is not law enforcement, I announce my intention to call the police, point out that an effort to prevent me from doing so is illegal, and make the call. If "yes", "Please identify yourself" and ""On what grounds am I being detained?" then comply and gather information to challenge potentially unlawful detainment after the fact.
Oh, the security guard was law enforcement: federal police. I'm quiet and unassuming. So, if you're armed with a badge and you approach me, my cockles go up. I don't want to belabor this because it can be exhausting, even to me. But, questioning law enforcement, even with cause, can land me a whole world of trouble and the society at large will side with the officer.Those rights really don't fully apply to me. Well, they do theoretically. But, in practice, not so much.
"he asks if I wouldn't mind returning to the museum."
"Am I being detained?" It's worth getting it on the record.
Thank you for sharing your perspective
Thanks for sharing, stories like yours should be heard. Life goes by fast and we seldom slow down to place ourselves in other's shoes. Your experiences and sharing help change your surroundings.
First off I'm sorry you feel this way. I'm also brownish - but more Spanish looking; although I have no such heritage. I must say I get quite a lot of aggressive approaches on the streets as well - but I don't think it is my skin colour and more to do with people feeling scared of tripods and big gear. they don't know whether that sort of 'professional' shot is allowed even if it is and specifically say so. They want to err on the side where they do not get into trouble (security guards for example) and as a result they're overzealous. I can say with certainty that the longer I do it the more assured I look, the less likely I get approached and when I do I have my answers ready and look the part.
I think we are being told that much is about race, gender, and so on. But at the end of the day merit, persistence, and hard work overcomes any such differences.
Perhaps there are some disadvantages and there are also clearly bigots out there. But a lot of that is also controllable.
That said I'm not sure about the US and how Trump has changed things over there. I don't think it is a country I would want to live in anytime soon.
Just my 2 cents.
I thought this was a site for photography.
There is an intersection between photography and life.
Great article, and a very important one.
Regarding the Duff article - I wish I'd given it more time and thought when writing up. There was so much there to unpack that I didn't want to dig too deeply into it because at the time I thought it needed time to breathe.
I’ll just say this. Gordon Parks, one of the first black iconic award winning photographers, started his career in the 1940s and was shooting for Life Magazine by the 1950s. He was an amazing photojournalist at a time when America was a legally segregated society where lynch mobs and intimidation of black citizens were the order of the day. Photography, like so many other professions, had a high barrier of entry for blacks. Gordon Parks said that he would let nothing stop him from reaching his dreams. It was unfortunate that you were “asked” to move on. However, Nobody arrested you, hit you or spat upon you. In short, because of heightened tensions, you were discriminated against. Keep your camera on F8 and keep shooting. Neither of those shots will make or break your career. To keep shooting and improving, like Mr. Parks will make you successful.
I ironically had some guy with a thick middle eastern accent tail me for a couple blocks in nyc. When I confronted him it was pretty clear he thought I was a terrorist (takes photos on the street with a professional camera, must be a terrorist #logic). Theres not much you can do besides politely telling people to leave you alone. And if they won't, remind them that while it is not illegal to take street photos, it is illegal to follow someone as it can be deemed as harassment.
It sucks if you feel that getting profiled is an ongoing problem for you, the best thing you can do is get the police involved if you think someone is trying to bully you, as the cops will almost always side with you if you are within your rights to shoot photos where you are. It's also a good exercise to discourage people from pulling their concerned citizens act with other people.
I dunno if you're being singled out, but I've encountered the same bias against cameras many times in NYC and elsewhere, particularly after 9/11. So many self-appointed "public safety" vigilantes have tried to stop me from photographing all kinds of things. Ironically (in light of the Duff debacle), I've never encountered this when photographing adult or minor strangers in public places. I have, though, had the cops called on me while photographing grain silos down south, and various doormen, gate guards, and random strangers have told me I can't photograph a building, the Harlem River, or my friend in Brooklyn Bridge Park, seemingly because I was using an interchangeable-lens camera. It's happened so often that I now carry a photocopy of Bert Krage's PDF "The Photographer's Right" (http://www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf), as well as NYC's permit requirements (no, you don't any longer need a permit to use a tripod if you aren't obstructing public access) to give to anyone who seeks to stop me.
When there are potentially multiple biases at play (ethnicity, gender, size of camera, ad infinitum), it can be hard or impossible to determine which are in effect, and it's possible the answer is "all of the above".
It would definitely be worthwhile to go to the mall's management and ask them why you, of all people, would be denied access to the publicly identified "photo spot". Sounds like their employees need training, and management would undoubtedly like to avoid potentially costly litigation and/or publicity over such misbehavior.
I believe, most of the photographers have gone through that experience. Some are harmless since people fear what they don't understand (due to various factors) and once they understand, they move on.
That sucks you are treated that way when you have a camera hanging from your neck vs a cell phone in your hand. Maybe your skin tone attracts those who are racist and paranoid just as Hillary Duff seems to be. Always thought photography was open to all race and creed no matter skin tone. You are correct, many will judge you for your tone of skin and that my friend is not right. There have been times I have been asked who and what by others while taking photos at my sons sporting events just because I have a camera around my neck and a big lens to boot. I would have to say that is more concern for the young children that what people question you on. Don't give up hope, keep doing what you love and maybe one day this country will not judge you on the size of your camera or skin tone.
Wasim, I feel for you, but you are indeed making a big deal about isolated incidents and individual peoples. Congrats on all the clicks though... you will make Fstopper's top fee for this post!!!
As a lilly-white (in the winter) guy who's been shooting for 20 years, I get stopped and questioned a dozen times a year or more. I'd love to hide behind my skin color, but it's loitering with a camera that makes us stand out above all else, not our skin tones.
When I am in Ghana shooting, or Egypt or Mexico or Haiti, and I get stopped and questioned, it is not my whiteness that I point to, even though I am the only white guy around, it is my camera that I point to. Would an individual of the same tonality as the locals have also been stopped in those circumstances? I don't know... perhaps not... but I still blame the camera, because without it I most definitely would not have been stopped... just as you would not have been stopped on the 8th floor of your university, on the ferry, or at the airport if it wasn't for your camera.
When I am at the State Fair in Iowa, one of the whitest places in America, and get stopped and questioned for doing my job... you get the point.
All that being said, I am certain that your skin color makes some people more uncomfortable than others... welcome to earth... and you know what helps to perpetuate this? People of all colors pointing it out over and over and over again...
Wasim teaches Journalism. That says it all. More fake news. What a disgrace. Just more social media BS,
What does his teaching subject have to do with fake news?
Nothing. David's just a hater.
I'm white, and I've copped it, multiple times. Not saying you haven't experienced racism. Just that western societies have a media that pushes fear monger-bait, and this has made people paranoid about photographers. When I've gone to Asia, I've noticed no one cares.
I think it is just because you are a “man” with a big camera but because you have brown skin you think it’s racism. People don’t have to be racist to be ignorant assholes which there are a lot of out there. I’m as white as can be but have had been harassed even more than you have described. The TSA even going through my laptop that was with my camera gear.
I’ve been asked not to photograph my own children at gymnastics and sports games well a dozen mothers have been there photographing their children with phones right next to me. Believe me I got very upset in these situations but apparently some mums had “concerns” and I would have ended up arrested if I didn’t stop. That’s my own children at a sports game, I wasn’t a random person taking pics of children.
Security got called on me for taking pics in a mall of a display and security mentioned terrorism. Man with a large camera my friend. But I guess I could have also been experiencing racism and discrimination which believe it or not is not exclusive to people of “colour” in today’s society I’m pretty much considered a blue eyed devil wherever I go. Oh and I’m straight to which means I’m extra evil and could not possibly understand the struggles and hardships of my fellow man especially with the bucketloads of privileged I was born into.
Life is not easy for ANYBODY we all have tough times to deal with and ignorant people to deal with, it’s not exclusive to any skin tone.
Why can't you just say it might be racism and it might be cameraism and you really don't know, and leave it at that? You have no basis for concluding whether it's either or both.
You’re right I don’t know but if I just wrote “I don’t know why shit happens to you Bro” it would have been a much more boring post and in a thread of 209+ comments. So thanks for your feedback but I’m still satisfied with what I originally posted.
Have a great Day my friend!
Don't feel too bad, I'm as white as a slice of Wonder Bread and I've been hit with this insanity many times. The whole thing seems to be about using a "real camera" but if there's any reasoning behind that I don't know what it is. You can stand there all day with a phone but bring out a black camera with a lens and they're on you like horseflies.
I think it's really more about petty bureaucrats wanting to "control access" to their domains and the assumption is you're a "professional photographer" who's using their site in some way "without authorization". If you ask why people are obviously allowed to use phone cameras, they don't know how to reply accept to repeat the speech about "the policy".
You can't win in these situations, so I've developed some techniques to avoid the guards and get the photo I want. Basically, compose ahead of time with the phone, know the shutter, aperture and ISO you want, and only pull out the camera for the few seconds it takes to shoot. Then walk away quickly.
That depends on the people you run into. I walk around town in the deep south (Upstate South Carolina area) with my camera sometimes, and sometimes with a big white 70-200 f/2.8 lens. I don't randomly just take photos of strangers, and usually, I ask people, and assure them that I won't take their photos against their will out of respect. Usually, the camera/lens sparks conversations, and for the most part, people are curious when they see the quality of their photos that they ask for my contact information. I take to people and they realize I am not a creep. I do notice that most discrimination are against "use of big camera/lens" as opposed to using small camera such as a smart phone. But in general people usually love good photos, which
If I had that situation with Hillary Duff, I would have asked her to take a look at the photos, and tell me which ones are for her kids if she wanted them removed. That would put her on the spot, show her I respect her wished, and she might actually like some of them, and ask for my contact info which can open possibilities.